and I know this from personal experience. Awhile back, I had the crown fall off of my Nightflight Vintage, but this was after nearly one year of wearing it more than all of my other watches combined. I suspect this happened because I had been manually winding it almost daily, as this was before I fully understood how destructive it can be to do this to an automatic movement. Limes' awesome US distributor, Mr. Steven Walker, promptly took care of the problem despite my having mailed it back to him ON THE LAST DAY THAT IT WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY.
Then, last Saturday, I received a Titan Limited Edition, of which only 42 had been produced, with a vintage PUW (Pforzheimer Uhren Rohwerke) movement inside. I'm not sure if it got damaged in shipment or what, but it made a jangling sound when I shook it to spin the rotor and, within 5 minutes of removing it from the box, the entire winding and setting portion of the movement was fairly jammed. I was beginning to think that maybe I'd be happier with a model with a more modern movement and said so in my e-mail to Limes. Herr Ickler personally replied the same day, apologetically offering a full refund should I opt for it, and readily agreeing to exchange the Limited Edition for something else should I remain intent on that approach.
Sociologists are constantly moaning about how bad customer service has become in Germany, but I guess those so-called "experts" haven't studied Ickler GmbH.
I have never had the least bit of trouble with my Nightflight 2 Zeiger/Datum or my Principio Finesse, which I also purchased new. Both of those watches get a lot of use too -- the Finesse is almost always on a watchwinder. The used Limes watches that I have bought, sold, or traded these past couple years have had an impressive record also, some of them having had multiple owners ahead of me and most keeping accurate time within a couple seconds per day! The sorry fact is that any good company is going to mess up once in a great while, and not even Limes can be totally exempt from Murphy's Law. Considering how many LIMES watches I've gone through before having anything like this crop up on me, however, I'm still pleased by Limes' quality and integrity, and would unhesitatingly do business with them again . . . and probably will!
As for the Limited Edition, I still haven't decided what to do. It will take 5 - 8 days for the watch to make it back to the Vaterland, which will give me some time to decide. I still like the Titan model and, if the old movement can be made to operate as smoothly as one of to-day's ETA marvels, I'd love to have it back. On the other hand, I also like the Vintage Chrono, and it sells at the same exact price. I feel like a kid in a candy store shopping around on the website for a comparable replacement. The one I really like is the Pharo moonphase chronograph in high palladium-content 18-kt. white gold . . . but I'd have to save my Wundertütten wrappers for some while to buy that
By the way, speaking of candy, the two packets of Goldbären that LIMES included with the latest shipment made for a very friendly and much appreciated gesture, but I don't think Haribo is a Pforzheim outfit . . . is it?
