Hello, forum noob here.
I joined to give some current (December 2020) experience on ordering a Panerai homage from Hong Kong seller Getat Watches.
I have a modest collection of 'affordable' watches, including Panerai homages from Parnis and Geervo, purchased from mywatchcode and Aliexpress respectively. These are all in 47mm Radiomir style cases, which I rather like and are all getting plenty of wrist time.
For a higher quality example in a Luminor style case and after reading the positive review on WatchDig and taking note of the delivery issues noted there and in many other on-line comments, I bit the bullet and ordered a 44mm Marina Militare homage from getatwatch.com.
I wanted a homage rather than a replica, so went with the automatic with date and brown sandwich dial in a brushed case with polished bezel and crown protector, with brown strap and pre-Vendome brushed buckle. I'm not certain whether that particular combination was offered as a specific PAM model, but hey, I like it.
Order placed on 10-Oct-20 (11-Oct-20 in HK)
Invoice received by email on 11-Oct-20. The email stated that the watch would be sent 'about 5 days after payment received'
Paid by PayPal on 11-Oct-20 (USD190 + USD12 postage = GBP162. Payment was to the email address
wendyfishlee22@gmail.com rather than to Getat, which did worry me a little.
Email received on 26-Oct-20 saying the watch had been shipped via Hong Kong Post and giving a tracking number.
By 18-Nov-20 (3 weeks + later) the tracking number still showed 'Sender is preparing item for posting' so I sent an email to the address the previous emails had arrived from,
info@getatwatch.com asking for confirmation the watch had been posted.
Things then started moving. The item was posted on 19-Nov-20 at NCW (I understand this is Ngau Choi Wan, the local post office for the huge Choi Wan public housing estate in New Kowloon).
It arrived in the UK on 9-Dec-20 at Langley (that's Heathrow World Distribution Centre, the giant Royal Mail / Customs principal UK incoming postal hub).
I received it on 11-Dec-20. That's a total of 2 months after placing the order,
So yes, Getat is still in business and sending out watches, albeit slowly.
The watch was not particularly well protected in transit. The case was covered in the usual plastic film, the watch wrapped in a couple of layers of bubble wrap & sticky tape, placed in an A4 paper envelope (with a sticker with my name and order details), then placed in a bubble lined outer plastic envelope with a combined customs declaration form and address label. The sender (Tat himself, assuming he's male?) is named as Lau Tat Wai with an address on the Choi Tak estate. So Getat Watches seems to be Mr Lau.
As for the watch, this is - or could be, read on - a really nice homage. It weighs in at a hefty 160g, with a sapphire glass and a mineral glass display back (checked with a thermal conductivity gadget). The only rough finishing is sharp edges to the crown lockdown lever. There is a recessed quick date setting pusher at the 8 o'clock position (which no Panerai would have) for the Sea-Gull ST2530 movement. The movement appears well finished with perlage decoration. The lume is a bit disappointing given that the watch has a sandwich dial with supposed C3 Super-LumiNova and the date is hard to read. The strap is a good quality thick leather and nicely flexible. Generally I would have been pleased with the watch BUT - and it's a big BUT,,,
...as received, the movement is faulty. On receipt, I set the time and date and wound the movement by hand and left it to settle. It gained one hour in the first 12 hours. I put it on the timegrapher. This couldn't automatically determine the beat rate as it was so erratic, so I set it to 21600bph and the gadget then displayed a very erratic, very random 'spotty' graph. There is clearly a problem with the escapement. I emailed Getat on 12-Dec-20 describing the problem - while it may have been damaged in transit, in a new watch such problems are down to the supplier to put right. There was, as usual(?), a lengthy delay in reply.
I used the delay to try some simple steps to resolve the problem as I really don't fancy the uncertainty of returning the watch to Hong Kong and waiting for a replacement. My first thought was that the watch may have become magnetised. A test against a gauss meter app on my Android phone didn't show anything, but I degaussed the watch anyway using the usual cheapo Chinese demagnetiser gadget. No improvement.
The next thought was that the balance might be 'stuck' in some way (surely not oil on the hairspring?), so I gently shook the watch a few times to see if that would free it. No improvement.
There had been no reply from Getat, so on 14-Dec-20 I sent a second email about the problem, this time with a pic of the timegrapher trace. I got a reply on 15-Dec-20 asking me to try shaking the watch. I had already tried this, but gave it another go. No improvement.
I've emailed Getat again saying his suggestion hadn't improved things, so now I'm waiting. A further day has gone by - I wonder how long I'll have to wait? It's now been 4 days since I first reported the problem.
The true test of any supplier's customer service is how they deal with you when there's a problem. I appreciate that Getat Watches is essentially a one man band and there's an 8 hour time difference between the UK and Hong Kong plus potential language difficulties, but so far I'm underwhelmed...
