# Glycine repair



## Mikey777 (Mar 26, 2016)

I recently bought a glycine combat sub through Massdrop. Now there is some slipping while winding. Contacted Massdrop who says it's still under warranty through:

GSD Global
International Watch Service Center
9298 South 500 West
Sandy, UT 84070

Flat service charge of $30 to take a look at the watch. Has anyone had experience sending in a watch for repair with this service? I'd appreciate any feedback.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

I'm actually dealing with them right now and my experience hasn't been great. I bought a combat 6 from an AD on ebay. It showed up with a blemish or something in the sapphire crystal. I contacted Glycine who contacted Invicta who contacted this place with a request that they check out and replace it the crystal if necessary. They also requested that I be exempted from that service charge. I got an email from the customer service manager asking me to send the watch in and confirming that I wouldn't be charged for it. Later that day the manager asked me to create a ticket using their website and that it would charge me the fee and generate a shipping label. I thought Ok no big deal, I'll create a ticket, ship the watch and they'll refund me that service charge. I tried creating a ticket twice. I tried paying with PayPal and both times the transaction failed immediately after sending the payment but before the ticket could be completed or shipping label generated. *edit:I just wanted to add that their website crashed both times returning from Paypal* I emailed the manager about this and offered to ship it using USPS thinking I would just be refunded those payments from the failed transactions. This was all last week, I shipped it USPS on Friday. On Tuesday the customer service manager got back to me and immediately refunded me for one of the charges. When I asked about the second charge he told me he was going to keep that for the service fee. When I asked why he was charging me the service fee when he originally agreed to exempt me from it he stopped replying to my email.

The other issue I'm having is that I shipped it out on Friday and it was scheduled to be delivered Tuesday. It was out for delivery on Tuesday according to the last time the tracking info was updated Tuesday morning. It hasn't been updated since then. I have no idea what happened to the package. I tried calling and emailing this place (International Watch Service Center) yesterday and nobody answered the phone or responded to my email.

So... I don't know what to think right now. I'm hoping the trouble I'm having is an exception and not the norm but this is the first time I've dealt with this place and the few reviews I've found googling haven't been very good...


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## Mikey777 (Mar 26, 2016)

Wow, that is not good news. I wanted to move the watch along to a new owner, but don’t feel right passing on this headache to someone else. I would appreciate if you could keep me updated on this thread.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

Sure, I can do that. It's been about 24 hours since I contacted the service center and I still haven't heard back from them. It sucks because I had only had the Combat 6 in my possession for about a week before sending it out. I'm really hoping my watch hasn't gotten lost or stolen. This whole experience makes me want to avoid Glycine as a brand so that I don't have to deal with this place ever again.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

Hi, so I finally heard back from the repair center. They did receive my watch, it looks like USPS just never updated their tracking to show it was delivered. So, other than the weird issue with customer service manager, I would say their communication needs work but, otherwise things seem ok. I'll wait to reserve final judgement until my watch is back in my hands in better condition than when i sent it in, so I can update this thread again once they ship the watch back to me.


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## chawya22 (Mar 15, 2006)

Mikey777 said:


> I recently bought a glycine combat sub through Massdrop. Now there is some slipping while winding. Contacted Massdrop who says it's still under warranty through:
> 
> GSD Global
> International Watch Service Center
> ...


I was directed to, International Watch Service Center by Glycine in Switzerland, as the US service provider. It seems that the company goes by many different names but all have the same Utah address. I did some research and the reviews I read weren't very promising. Since the issue I'm having isn't critical at this point, I'll wait but when needed, I'll find another repair facility.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

Just wanted to update this thread once I got my Combat 6 back. I picked it up from USPS today and while I can't give the repair center a glowing review they did a good job cleaning up whatever was on the crystal and putting the watch back together. So if you're still thinking about sending in your Combat Sub, as long as it's under warranty you should probably be ok.



Mikey777 said:


> I recently bought a glycine combat sub through Massdrop. Now there is some slipping while winding. Contacted Massdrop who says it's still under warranty through:
> 
> GSD Global
> International Watch Service Center
> ...


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## tylehman (Nov 6, 2012)

this was my unfortunate story with this repair center

https://www.watchuseek.com/f18/well-i-get-try-out-glycine-warranty-4436802.html

however in the end my watch has been working well. i really don't think that they do any repair, just replace movements, with very little understanding of how the watch works. (read my thread to see it all) i have read of may that had fine results, but my experience was not good. 
in the US that is really the only option for a warranty repair, believe me i tried to find other options, i even tried writing to the company in Switzerland.

in the end my watch had chipped paint in the bezel but i just wore my airman 18 on a panama cruise and use the bezel for the ships time as i want through the time zones. when got home my time was ~+20 seconds after a little over 2 weeks of constant wear.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

So I want to update again to say that I take back anything good I said about the International Watch Service Center in Utah. I sent it in for one issue and they sent it back to me with another issue. I finally was able to capture what I thought I was being paranoid about. When they put the watch back together they installed the dial slightly crooked. If you follow the grid lines and then look at the case you can see they are definitely not aligned. When the case is straight the dial is crooked and vice versa.


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## ccwatchmaker (Nov 28, 2015)

It is difficult to visualize how the movement could be shifted in the case. The stem hole in the movement must line up with the stem hole in the case, otherwise, it would be impossible to insert the stem through the case tube and into the movement. Such a manufacturing error would render the movement unusable.

However, it is possible for the dial to be misaligned. The dial is attached to the movement with two pegs (dial feet) perpendicular to the dial. They fit with minimum clearance into holes in the movement and are fastened with either screws or in the case of modern ETA movements, clamps. The chances of the holes in the movement being incorrectly positioned are just about zero, but the dial feet, which are welded to the back of the dial, could be incorrectly oriented, which could result in the condition you are seeing. These dials are likely made in China. Not to say that the Chinese cannot make quality dials, but it depends on the contractor and the level of quality control.

Assuming all was correct before the watch was sent to the repair center, Is it possible that the dial was replaced as part of the recent repair?

Also, a dial foot could be bent or broken. In the photograph, the minute hand is mostly obscuring the calendar window. If the dial is misaligned relative to the movement, then the date would not be correctly centered in the opening; although this is not absolute; sometimes the calendar disks are a bit sloppy too.

James Sadilek -- ccwatchmaker


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

Thanks for your input, does that mean you are seeing what I am seeing as well? It's hard to capture in pictures because of how slight it is but it is much more noticeable when you're holding the watch up to your face. The date seems perfectly centered in the calendar window. I do know for a fact that the dial was aligned perfectly when I sent the watch in (my OCD causes me to inspect any new watch like a madman when I first get it) but it is possible that the dial was replaced. The amount of communication I received from the repair center was pretty much the bare minimum. I know that they cleaned the dial so it is possible they could have swapped in a new dial but the one thing that makes me question that possibility is that this dial has the older style logo. What are the chances that they would still have those in stock to use as replacements?



ccwatchmaker said:


> It is difficult to visualize how the movement could be shifted in the case. The stem hole in the movement must line up with the stem hole in the case, otherwise, it would be impossible to insert the stem through the case tube and into the movement. Such a manufacturing error would render the movement unusable.
> 
> However, it is possible for the dial to be misaligned. The dial is attached to the movement with two pegs (dial feet) perpendicular to the dial. They fit with minimum clearance into holes in the movement and are fastened with either screws or in the case of modern ETA movements, clamps. The chances of the holes in the movement being incorrectly positioned are just about zero, but the dial feet, which are welded to the back of the dial, could be incorrectly oriented, which could result in the condition you are seeing. These dials are likely made in China. Not to say that the Chinese cannot make quality dials, but it depends on the contractor and the level of quality control.
> 
> ...


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## ccwatchmaker (Nov 28, 2015)

They cleaned the dial? Except for very light brushing to remove dust, I know of no way to clean a dial without destroying it. It is possible to have a dial refinished, but it seems doubtful that a service center would do that. Cost to refinish would be well over $100; a new replacement dial would be much less expensive. Perhaps they replaced the dial and mentioned that they cleaned it in order not to need to answer why they replaced it.

Why would the service center even mention the dial unless there was a problem? Is it possible that the dial was damaged as a result of the service? If the date is centered in the window, then it seems unlikely that the problem is misplaced dial feet. If the white border around the date window is centered, then that would seem to eliminate the possibility that the dial was printed incorrectly.

I admit that I don't have an answer, but the photograph does appear to display a problem.

James Sadilek -- ccwatchmaker.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

That's ok, I really appreciate your input on this. Any request for more information from this place has been met with silence. Here's what I originally sent it in for: https://www.watchuseek.com/f6/anyone-have-any-idea-how-sapphire-can-have-mark-crystal-4637479.html

I contacted Glycine who forwarded my issue to this repair center with a request to have them check it out and do whatever they needed to under warranty. Once they got the watch and created a ticket for it, the only thing it says is "Dial Cleaning, Gasket and H20". I know they tested they water resistance because they included the print out of the test but other than that I have no other information about what they did.


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## debussychopin (Feb 16, 2018)

Mikey777 said:


> I recently bought a glycine combat sub through Massdrop. Now there is some slipping while winding. Contacted Massdrop who says it's still under warranty through:
> 
> GSD Global
> International Watch Service Center
> ...


why couldnt you have just returned it to massdrop for an exchange as it was defective? was it outside of the return period? concerning with these massdrop glycines.


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## Hotblack Desiato (Mar 7, 2018)

debussychopin said:


> why couldnt you have just returned it to massdrop for an exchange as it was defective? was it outside of the return period? concerning with these massdrop glycines.


It makes me worry that Massdrop might be exclusively selling returned items from all manufacturers. Is this possible?


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## debussychopin (Feb 16, 2018)

I hope not. That sounds possible. and if so, it may be so for all their other products offered.


--
Unless the price is a huge difference, any amount of $30-50 over the massdrop price I would just purchase from jomashop or amazon or what have you. At least youll get the item quick and you'll be guaranteed it is a brand new item (jomashop is real strict w these brand new items and amazon works w you all the way if you have any dissatisfaction over anything).


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## Hotblack Desiato (Mar 7, 2018)

debussychopin said:


> I hope not. That sounds possible. and if so, it may be so for all their other products offered.


I just now skimmed an article in Business Insider magazine, and it mentioned how Massdrop is not technically a retailer, since they make everyone sign up. That allows them to sidestep normal vendor/customer obligations.


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## RobFedorafield (Feb 19, 2018)

I was wondering that about massdrop, they have the glycine airman dc-4 purist for ~$100 less than anyplace else, and i was thinking grey market is grey market, but maybe that's not the case. I'm usually a sub $200 for a watch kind of guy, but i really love their 24 hour dials.


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## debussychopin (Feb 16, 2018)

Hotblack Desiato said:


> I just now skimmed an article in Business Insider magazine, and it mentioned how Massdrop is not technically a retailer, since they make everyone sign up. That allows them to sidestep normal vendor/customer obligations.


This is good info. I hope we can get further information on massdrop, for most cases, im sure they are fine. But when it comes to certain one-off cases , someone can really end up being screwed if it is a high dollar purchase.

If you peruse a lot of the discussion on the massdrop item, you will read a varied/inconsistent purchase experience. That sounds like a non retailer, as even grey market retailers are very consistent in their delivery and packaging and so forth. 
On mass drop, one person I read got his glycine just in a box unprotected fumbling around. And others get theirs like as it came straight from the manufacturer untouched. Some people reporting same type of defect from get-go, and others saying the watch is fine (no longevity yet of course) but this is strange variance.


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## Hotblack Desiato (Mar 7, 2018)

RobFedorafield said:


> I was wondering that about massdrop, they have the glycine airman dc-4 purist for ~$100 less than anyplace else, and i was thinking grey market is grey market, but maybe that's not the case. I'm usually a sub $200 for a watch kind of guy, but i really love their 24 hour dials.


Think about it this way: Massdrop contacts a dealer and offers to do a Drop on stuff they have in inventory. What is the dealer going to send them? Their ****tiest inventory (returns for repair, returns from cold feet buyers, etc), because then that dealer won't have to deal with any of the headaches of those products anymore. Now all returns, repairs, etc are Massdrop's problem.


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## SuperOrbital (Sep 21, 2017)

And Massdrop returns are a pain. Essentially, you have 30 days and the product has to be defective.


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## flaccidaardvark (Jan 20, 2013)

I wanted to update this thread as I was finally able to get all my issues resolved and fixed. I worked with Bailey from the service center customer support who was actually really great. I hopelessly contacted him about the crooked dial issue not expecting anything but after looking at the pictures I sent him he allowed me to send the watch back to them free of charge so that they could try to fix the dial. When they tried to fix it the feet that fit into the movement broke and they had to order a brand new dial from Glycine. So they ended up replacing the dial under warranty and sending it back to me all free of charge. I won't deny this has been a very frustrating experience and initially my interaction with this place was awful but in the end this service center made things right so I am a satisfied customer.


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## jashotwe1 (Aug 8, 2013)

Before finding this thread, I Googled "authorized Glycine watch service and repair USA". The search located Watch Repairs USA, Schaumburg, IL. I have a Glycine timepiece in need of repair/service. Has anyone had experience with this company. Appreciate the feedback.


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