3rd Year Warranty

[cdnyc]

Hey guys,
I believe this was the first 41mm ROC on the forum and, since time's flown by since the 40th anniversary, it's time to send it in for water testing to get that 3rd year warranty. So what's the opinion these days on:

(1) whether one should send it straight to Clearwater VS take it to the AP Boutique to send it in (I live very close to a Boutique, so no hassle there -- but heard stories of scratches happening).

(2) do you guys generally get a refinishing done at this ~2 year mark? I don't have any highly noticeable marks, but I'd like to get it refinished if it were just an issue of money, but I don't want to be too wasteful of the limited number of refinishings before bezel/case replacement is needed.

Thanks,