On 14 May, the Swiss luxury watchmaker Longines went viral on social media in China, especially Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. But for all the wrong reasons.
The story starts off with an “avoid” (避雷) review. One netizen from Hunan Province, Central China, bought a Longines watch from the La Grande Classique collection at Harbour City in Hong Kong in 2023. The watch cost them 11,500 RMB (1,595.81 USD) at the time. However, they recently discovered that the dial, along with its movement, and all the parts that make up the watch, are gone. A metal baseplate with the engraving “Longines” remains on the band.
- #浪还在琴没了 Lon is here but Gines is gone: 110 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
- #浪琴回应网友购入手表后其表盘丢失Longines responds to netizen misplacing dial after buying watch: 11.33 million views on Weibo, ranking number 8 on the Hot Search list
It went viral after several netizens reported similar problems. Even a watchsmith commented that it was a common issue with the La Grande Classique series of watches, known as the “thinnest mechanical watch” with a thickness of just 4.3 millimetres and screws only 2.5 millimetres in diameter holding it together. However, the response journalists received from Longines’s customer service was that they had “never seen anything like this” and “please send the remaining band to a repair point for discussion”.
The build quality of luxury and premium items has long been a thorny issue among Chinese consumers. With the price point, most expect a flawless build and impeccable customer service. Some noted that the purported “free repair” only works when you still have the movement and dial, and you also need to prove that the watch was not damaged due to human error. For the netizen who also happens to have lost the dial, perhaps because it broke off when they wore it outside, there seems to be very little support from Longines.
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