Agreed and a whole lot more . . .
Let's get something straight; the Omega warranty is 1 year. After that year, all repairs to watches purchased from Ashford or an authorized dealer fall into the same category: a NON-warranty repair. End of story. After that first year, Omega will fix your Ashford purchase, but you must pay for this service. Exactly what you must do if you bought from an authorized dealer. (One possible caveat is the serial number. All Ashford purchases are serialized and will even replace older non-serialized purchases with serialized ones).
True there are perks from buying from the local jeweler like free service, cleaning, simple adjustments and so forth. I personally like Shreve and Co of San Francisco. But many of these services are inexpensive anyway. And lastly, there are NO guarantees from buying from these storefronts either. I am sure there are some good ones out there, but there are many stories of shoddy ones as well.
On a related note, the Ashford warranty is 3 years. I had a problem with my SeaMaster Chrono (the minute hand of the chrono was not registering the passing minutes), so I sent it to Ashford. Admittedly, I was apprehensive, but I decided to test their repair services, if I wasn't happy, I would send it to Omega, pay for the adjustment and chalk the whole thing up as an expensive learning experience. Well, after 2.5 weeks, they repaired my chrono (needed a lever adjustment of the chrono/minute dial) and FedEx'd it back to me. I called them back to ask about the specifics of the repair, and they told me that the watch was even pressure tested to ensure its water tightness (I suggest calling Ashford if you want more specifics about this process). All in all, I am completely satisfied with the repair, and am happy to report that my chrono is 100% dead on since its return.
But here's the bottom line: do what you want. If you feel more secure about purchasing from an authorized dealer and you can justify this, then fine.
If you have come to the conclusion the benefits of ordering from Ashford outweigh those from the authorized dealer, then take JoeS' coupon number and save yourself an additional $200 off their standard 35% discount.
