Perrywinkle's Fine Jewelry — Local services in Burlington

I'm editing this review because of a phone call I had with Zev who works in the Watch Shop at Perrywinkle's, which served to clarify some of the issues I had after I left my initial less-than-positive review (below).

Zev called me not long after I left my review to explain a few things:

First, they do service watches in-house when possible, which I think is a great option to have locally. I was mistaken in my assumption that all watches are sent out. It seems they have a triage system to ensure the right person is servicing the right watch in an appropriate amount of time.

Zev also agreed that some more communication could be offered to people dropping off watches for service, such as when the watch will leave the building (if that's needed for off-premise service).

In the future I think that people who are as neurotic as I am about knowing what's going on with their watches will have a little more insight from the start, which in and of itself improves the service as far as I'm concerned.

I do think the timeline estimation could be a bit more conservative to avoid frustration, but I understand that these things are sometimes difficult to predict.

All that said, my conversation with Zev after picking up my watch did reassure me that it was handled by people who care about watches and the services they're offering, which is a big deal for people like myself. I do appreciate when businesses take the care to reach out when customers aren't satisfied, and I'm amending my review to reflect that.

If having a watch serviced locally by people who care about what they're offering, I think that Perrywinkle's is your best local option. Just make sure to talk to them if you have any questions going into it ; )

INITIAL REVIEW BELOW:

Normally I don’t write negative reviews, especially of local businesses, but I had an unfortunate experience with Perrywinkle’s watch repair service.

I do want to start out by saying that everyone I spoke to at the shop was helpful and pleasant. I had nice conversations with people who did seem to be knowledgeable about watches and happy to help me out.

My initial reason for bringing my watch to Perrywinkles to be repaired was in the hope that the repair would be carried out locally. I dropped the watch off under the assumption that it would be looked at in town, but when I was contacted about the required repairs I learned that it had been shipped somewhere else. I should have clarified that this was the case before I handed off the watch, but despite that, I would have liked if the process was made clear to me when I dropped off the timepiece.

I had a rough idea of the estimate, which was somewhat substantially higher than other mail-out (US based) services, but I was okay with that while I was under the impression that it would be repaired in town/state.

When I was contacted with the final estimate, I inquired about the turnaround time so I could compare it to mailing the watch to the manufacturer (in Europe) for service, where it would have been much less expensive, but their timing estimate was about 6 weeks for repair. I was told that the estimated turnaround time was 4 weeks. At the 4 week mark, I called the watch shop and was told that I would be lucky to expect the watch by the end of the year (I dropped the watch off in October, approved service at the beginning of November, and called in the beginning of December). When I called to check on the service, they told me the turnaround estimate was 6-8 weeks. This brings the total service time estimate to about 10 weeks, at this point I would have paid about 35% more money and waited 20% longer to have the watch serviced off-premises. Luckily I did receive a surprise call that my watch was ready in the beginning of December, so it did end up being within that ‘revised’ 6-8 week estimate.

Ultimately I regret choosing Perrywinkles for service and wish I had instead sent the watch back to the original manufacturer for service as it would have saved me both...

The short story is that I had a really good experience with the Perywinkle's jeweller and that I'm very happy with all they've done for me. Here's the long story. After 50 years of wear, my (my father's) white gold men's Rolex Oyster Perpetual needed some repairs. I had it serviced before only once many years ago (1998) by the Torrini jeweller in Florence. Already then they had made a note that the gold bracelet (all-white gold Jubilee bracelet) was very worn out. Now, many years later, it started to lose time and while the mechanical "self-winding” (automatic) movement was working, the manual rewind was not; if I didn't wear the watch for some time I couldn't use the crown to rewind it. Also the crystal had quite a few scratches. Then one day it happened that I couldn't wear the watch at all because the clasp of the bracelet had finally broken off at the hinges. That's when I contacted the Perywinkle's Rolex dealer in Burlington VT. I talked to the Watch-shop Director Zev Werts, who proved himself a wonderful person. From some reading I'd done, I knew that Rolex wouldn't accept to just replace the clasp when the watch bracelet itself was badly worn out. So it was time to replace the whole bracelet. I explained to Zev Werts how important it was to me to have on my men's Oyster Perpetual: 1) the Jubilee style bracelet, and 2) in all-white gold. But....problem, Rolex doesn't make anymore a men's white gold Oyster Perpetual watch with an all-white gold Jubilee bracelet; in men's white gold watches, a white gold jubilee bracelet is available only in combination with Oystersteel. Right what I didn't want... So it was a matter of finding a Rolex-certified second wrist Jubilee men's bracelet, all-white gold in perfect condition. And that is exactly what the the Perywinkle's jeweller was able to do for me. To me having the Jubilee style bracelet in all-white gold was the most important thing, so as to preserve as much as possible the watch my father had given me. Peryiwinkle's also performed the complete service of the watch (overhaul) and the substitution of the crystal. As to my old white gold Jubilee watch band, they proposed to make a bracelet out of it. And so it was done—very elegant, I'm very pleased with that too. In all this story I didn't mention that for various reasons it would not have been easy for me to travel all the way to Burlington VT, and how grateful I am to the shop Director Zev Werts also for having offered to meet always when and how it was convenient for me. The next thing I asked Periwinkle's jeweller was to service my Vacheron Constantin (Quartz) and repair its battery strap—broken by me when trying to change the battery..... In conclusion I'm a very happy customer and very grateful for the care and concern they showed for my wishes. Thank you Zev, thank you...

This store is by far the best jewelry buying experience, hands down. I originally stopped in here after researching Triton men's wedding bands and discovering that they were sold here. Not only did they custom order the ring I was looking for, but they were nearly $150 less expensive than another jeweler, where I originally found it. Not only that, but the customer service was absolutely incredible. We were offered coffee, soft drinks, and snacks and they even cleaned my fiancé's jewelry while we waited!

Because of that great experience we came here again a few weeks later to ask about my fiancé's engagement ring, because we felt the insurance appraisal we received from the store we originally purchased it from was unfairly low. They wouldn't go so far as to comment on the other store's practices (which in my opinion, speaks to their integrity), but we decided while we were there to look at what they had available because we were uncomfortable with how the other store was treating us when we raised our concerns. Carly was impeccably patient with us, as it was not a trivial decision we were making to return my fiancé's original ring and purchase a new one from a jeweler that treated us fairly. Without the guarantee of a sale, she still took the time to find the perfect ring, and lo and behold, we found a custom setting and loose stone that went together perfectly and were the same price as the other store, despite being more than double the total diamond weight!! I guess what I'm saying is that the value is as excellent as the service. However, we were still struggling with the decision to return the old ring, as it had a certain amount of sentimental value, and Carly left us completely alone to make that decision. Ultimately, we decided to go for it, owing to the fantastic service and excellent quality.

This piece had to be custom made, from scratch, but the beautiful thing about Perrywinkle's is that they do that work in-store! We had the new piece within 3 weeks, and it is as beautiful as it is well-made. Add to that the fact that Carly recognizes and greets us as soon as she sees us makes this one of the best purchasing experiences we have ever had. We plan on purchasing all of our future jewelry here as well, and their layaway program is excellent and flexible, so you can pay for the pieces you fall in love with over any length of...