Nixon Watch - A Great Brand Story

Amazing, customer service and the tale of a surf watch.

If you happen to like any combination of these things: sports; watches; design; good customer service; or web usability, then visit Nixon at www.nixonnow.com. My great experience (as opposed to the crap experience of trying to get a Bugaboo stroller repaired) with Nixon began a number of years ago when I was back home at the beach on Ocracoke Island.

I bought a Nixon watch at a surf shop, and after a year of wearing it almost every day, some of the screws holding down the face came out and were lost. So I went through a quick and easy process of sending in my watch, and got the watch back in a few short days (they're located in Southern California). No charge, no hassle.

So after a few more years of wear and tear, the rubber watch band tore, and I went online to get a service order in to replace the band. No problem. One of the things that I really liked about the web form was it asked if the watch had sentimental value. It was $14 to replace the band, plus $7 in return shipping. Well worth it.

I got an email a few days after sending it in (an easy process in itself) telling me that unfortunately the band was out of stock and while they would normally then replace the entire watch, the model was discontinued. So they gave me the retail value of the watch as a credit on the site, and would replace the watch for the original cost of the band with a watch of equal value. Or, if I preferred a more expensive watch, they would just charge me the difference. All this was done in personal emails back and forth with a real customer service rep, who also gave me his phone number. I found the watch I wanted from the site, emailed the rep with the information and 2 days later, I unboxed it as you see here.

This isn't a Rolex: it's a well built $120 waterproof sport watch backed by a company that clearly understands the importance and relationship between customer service and brand loyalty.

Nice job, Nixon.