tldr; Magrette were also sold brass alloy as CuSn8 a la Helson/Benarus

UPDATE Alloy test

Dear Regattare Bronze customers,

After our colleagues from Helson and Benarus recently announced that their bronze watches appeared to be made from a different alloy than advertised, we decided to have our cases tested as well.

Yesterday we got the final results back from an independent laboratory in New Zealand. We had several cases tested to make sure we got results that were representative of the different batches we received from our supplier.

Like with our colleagues, it appears that our supplier did not deliver us what was promised and confirmed by them more than once to be CuSn8, a bronze alloy that has a high amount of copper, some tin and very little other metals.
The alloy that was found in our cases is a high level brass alloy. That contains a lower percentage of copper, zinc and a tiny bit of lead. The same material saxophones, trumpets, trombones are made of.

Fact is that we unwillingly and unknowingly have been selling the watch cases as CuSn8 bronze. We are currently considering several options of solving this to the full satisfaction of our customers. We now think this will be possible, but need confirmation of several scenarios before being able to present our ideas to you in full.

We hope you understand this is quite a special situation and that it involves close communication with our suppliers and other parties to reach a solution that will be workable, that minimizes the business impact to our small company and that makes our faithful customers happy.

As soon as we will be able to present a viable solution in full, we will communicate it on our magrette.com and magrette.eu web sites, as well on the facebook/magrette.eu page and in the larger watch community forums. We want to communicate openly about this and appreciate you sharing this info within the watch community.

It does not suffice to say that we feel a victim ourselves because of our good faith in our business partners. We feel we have to make this right, staying true to our own values and beliefs.

Needless to say we will contact all buyers of this model by email as soon as we have a detailed plan. We will also contact all people who have reserved this model for purchase with some clear options as soon as possible.

We probably will not be able to answer all individual questions at this point in time, but will try to answer most asked question on forums/facebook whenever possible. We need to spend time sorting this out, so we can continue doing what we like much more: introducing new models and sell these to our customers.

With kind regards,

Dion McAsey
Founder Magrette Timepieces

Stephan Trimbos
Magrette Timepieces Europe

I'm still wanting to keep my reservation, but I suppose this will push things back quite a bit.

Thanks for that. Any other alloy and I might of kept it as is. But as it contains lead (a "little bit" may not be deadly but don't fancy finding out) think it will go back, refund if necessary but if the option to have it recased will go for that.

I'm going to keep mine just as-is. It's aging very nicely, and also develops a very nice shine if I care to give it one. Not worried about the lead content as I'm sure I'll meet my demise at the hand of a jealous husband.

I have to say, I'm disappointed by this. This revelation will make the watch much harder to flip if not impossible. Maybe I'd get lucky and someone would want it as a rarity, but I have trouble seeing that happen.

I doubt I'll be wearing the watch much if at all anymore with this news. Recasing seems like the only way that I'll want to keep and wear it. A refund would also be fine.

If you recall, a few weeks ago I pondered upon this for Magrette as well as the others. I do have some foresight it appears Think I read somewhere that the brass used can be detrimental to your health if worn in close proximity for periods... such as a watch!

It absolutely sucks that this has happened, and moreso that some bugger at the various watch co's didn't realise this material is brass not bronze, I always thought it "looked" wrong. But, I'm no expert and these guys are supposed to be! I hate to be so cynical, but what's the betting that this material is cheaper than the correct stuff and someone, somewhere, has made a few quid out of it all.

I foresee financial problems for these companies if they have to re-case all the watches sold - it'll cost them a bloody fortune in labour and postage alone. Bear in mind, that even if they get the correct material supplied foc, they will still have to pay to have the cases made as the suppliers will claim that their financial responsibility ends with the bronze itself.

I'm pretty sure that Helson and Benarus had sold bronze watches in the 'dozens' and therefore its easier to manage. Why is a little voice in my head saying that the magrette sold 500 in the first batch of their bronze?

If right that could be very hard to rectify for a small business.

Hours of reading on this subject on Watchuseek. It is my opinion that Magrette will make things right in the long run, although it matters little to me as I'm keeping mine as-is.

Hold the bus. Back up.

Mr Rick wrote:I'm sure I'll meet my demise at the hand of a jealous husband.

I think we missed this important statement that needs some explanation.

ianblyth wrote:Hold the bus. Back up.

Mr Rick wrote:I'm sure I'll meet my demise at the hand of a jealous husband.

I think we missed this important statement that needs some explanation.

Mr Rick wrote:Hours of reading on this subject on Watchuseek. It is my opinion that Magrette will make things right in the long run, although it matters little to me as I'm keeping mine as-is.

How refreshing that in this day and age a company would investigate on a suspicion, inform their customers of the unhappy news and then promise to make everybody whole.

Well done!

Magrette are only selling bronze watches in the new batch - reservees have been notified and can accept or decline at their whim.

They said 'probably' they will provide cusn8 watches for sale later - they are busy doing the case replacements from brass returns.

I will wait for if/when cusn8 is available.

Any update on this? It looks like the Magrette web site is saying that customers can send their watch to be recased in the proper CuSn8 material. Has any taken advantage of this?

I've e-mailed Dion with some questions. We'll see what I get back.

Peteo wrote:Any update on this? It looks like the Magrette web site is saying that customers can send their watch to be recased in the proper CuSn8 material. Has any taken advantage of this?

I've e-mailed Dion with some questions. We'll see what I get back.

Owners were sent the following email.

This email was sent from the European distributor, but the same was sent from Magrette to those who bought direct.

Important service message

[DEUTSCHE VERSION HIER]

Dear customer,

You are receiving this mail as you purchased a “Regattare Bronze” model via our web store between September 2011 and March 2012.
Please read below message in full, as it contains information that requires some action on your part.

Recently, two other small watch manufacturers noticed that their “bronze” watch cases did not have the exact bronze alloy as was confirmed to them by their suppliers. As soon as we heard this news we immediately had the alloy of our cases tested in an independent laboratory.

The results of this test show that also our alloy is not the CuSn8 (Copper/Tin) compound referred to as “bronze”, but an alloy of CuZn (Copper/Zinc). This means our cases are made from high quality “brass”, the same material that, for example saxophones and trumpets are made of.

What does this mean for you?

This does not mean that your watch is defective, however it means that the case material is different from what we unknowingly advertised. We quickly decided to communicate about this openly and we have posted messages on our web site, facebook page and several watch forums. We now are contacting you directly via email, as we want to propose a solution as a result of the test results.

It’s important to us to make things right and to do so, we offer two options for you to choose from:

A: Keep the watch.
You were happy with the watch. Why should that change now? We will gladly send you a high-quality, brown leather Magrette strap with a buckle that matches the case of your watch.







In addition to the strap, you will receive acoupon code that gives you a 15 % discount on another watch purchased in our web store until the end of the year (engraved models excluded, only one watch per coupon code). Bear in mind, we will offer two exciting new chronograph models from May onwards (more details to be announced soon!)




B: We swap the case.
You specifically wanted a CuSn8 bronze case, and you still want a CuSn8 bronze case. We do understand: we believed we sold you one! In this option, you send us back the watch without strap attached (we pay shipping OR send you a dark chocolate brown strap free of charge) and we will exchange it for a Bronze, certified and tested CuSn8 case.

The bronze for this watch will be sourced from Germany where we have an assured and authenticated CuSn8 supplier. We have also spiced up the water resistance from 5 to 10 ATM in the process. You will get a new case back with kauri wood showing your original serial number. The sapphire will also be new. Rest assured it will have the same finish as the old case, but the material will look a bit more reddish and will age differently. At this time we do not have photographs, but when available you can review and at any time you can change your mind and revert to option A.

Did you sell the watch to another watch enthusiast in the meantime? No worries: please forward this email to the new owner, so he/she can contact us. We will also replace units that have found new owners to make sure these transactions are restored to their original intention.

Please note: The downside of the case-swap option is time. The supplier we found is trustworthy and will make the new bronze cases but is fully booked because of his work for bigger companies. We expect to be able to finalize the case swaps within 5-6 months from now including shipments (based upon first estimation of the supplier). Of course you still can enjoy the watch until we ask you to send it in for replacement.

If you choose to have your case swapped, we will send you detailed shipping instructions by separate mail.


Now comes the part where YOUR ACTION IS REQUIRED

We ask you kindly to click the following link: UPDATE MY DATA

On the new page that will open, you can update your info with the details below:

1. Name/delivery address/phone number (to ensure proper delivery in all countries)
2. Option A (keep) or B (swap)
3. Serial number of the watch (can be found on the case back and in the guarantee documentation)
4. The email address we can use for further communication

If you want to be added to our regular news letter to receive more info about the new chronograph models and remain informed about other Magrette news, please visit this link to subscribe: Subscribe to Newsletter

You are also welcome to “like” our face book page and join the conversation onFACEBOOK

We apologize for causing you any disappointment but we are confident that the options in this mail reflect the best of the solutions our customers suggested in forums, via facebook and in many emails we received. We listen to our customers and we understand trust can only be earned. We thank you for your patience and hope to see you back again soon in our virtual shop.

With kind regards,

Stephan Trimbos
Magrette Timepieces Europe

Mr Rick wrote:

Peteo wrote:Any update on this? It looks like the Magrette web site is saying that customers can send their watch to be recased in the proper CuSn8 material. Has any taken advantage of this?

I've e-mailed Dion with some questions. We'll see what I get back.

Owners were sent the following email.

Odd that I have not received any communication from Magrette on this. I must not be on their list, or their e-mails must be getting killed by my spam filter.

Also should mention that while I was disappointed by the original revelation, this e-mail is definitely a good response to a unique set of circumstances. Dion and his crew should be commended.

if you're on facebook the info is there as well - there seems to be a slight disconnect between when things happen from eu/nz sites, but their facebook is pretty up-to-date