SARB033 / 6R15 failure after 6 weeks

[billbaytoven]

This is my first post on any watch forum ever, but my disgust and bum-out is such that I simply must share it around. Bought a SARB033 right around time they discontinued. Wore the SKX for years in all weathers and all activities. I am very much a one-watch person. I like the smaller size of the SARB and intended it to be the one watch. My specimen contains the 6r15D variant of that movement.

Received it, loved it, wore it exclusively. Have had it about 6 weeks so far. Two days ago I looked down and it had stopped about an hour before. That's the whole story. Watch simply dead on wrist. It remains so. Not on wrist though. Now dead on side table. I've switched back to my beat-to-hell SKX, which runs better than ever and seems, in the last few days, somehow more accurate than it was before I took it off.

The SARB was not treated roughly. It shows no indication of water ingress and has been so far in no more demanding an environment than a shower. It was not knocked or dropped or given any shock. I have been near nothing which might have magnetised it. It did not run funky or weird or gain or lose odd amounts of time leading up to its breakdown. I had not fiddled with it, re-set the time or date prior to its failure. I am a very active person and it did not die from stasis. I have tried winding it both by hand (via crown) and by movement, and nothing re-animates it. The hands move via the crown as supposed to. The date clicks over via crown as designed. Nothing seems stuck or fouled. The thing simply won't run. The balance wheel is not trapped or jammed, it pivots freely if I swirl the watch about. It doesn't oscillate though, or continue running.

I don't have the tools or knowhow to crack the thing open and poke around myself. I am currently on a farm in extremely rural Spain and no watchmakers in vicinity, but at end of May will be in Berlin for 2+ months and will deliver it to a shop for diagnosis.

I am very disappointed by this experience. I have never had a watch simply die on my wrist without cause before. Certainly not one which is essentially brand new (serial # indicates production in July 2017). I bought from an ebay seller in japan with copious and excellent feedback. Alas, the seller's return policy is 14 days after purchase. The warranty card asserts warranty valid only in japan. I was aware of all of this before purchasing a JDM model. But having owned a couple of the lower-tier models of Seiko before, and having never had any problem or hiccough from any of them, I assumed the same would be true of a slightly higher grade model.

I don't suppose there is any advice to be given. I am only really submitting this report for the record and to broadcast my disgust. Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around some.

I suppose if I have any question here it would be does anyone know if one has ANY recourse at all to warranty claim, though the warranty card clearly states valid in Japan only? Does the fact that the watch is built by Seiko and has completely died in fewer than two months' wear mean nothing? I expect these days it means exactly that, but would be happy to hear otherwise.

Additionally, has anyone else experienced a watch simply going dead on the wrist suddenly without cause and then absolutely refusing to start again?