OOPS!!! Sorry CaptWill, I didn't mean to leave you hanging.
Actually I got an email today from this site (pretty cool feature) telling me ya'll were all lonely and bored since I hadn't been here in a while.
I got my watch back the week after Christmas, and so far so good. They ended up replacing the entire case which ran them around $1,100. I could have stood my ground and demanded a new watch, but what the heck?
As long as it looks right and keeps ticking, what else could a man as for in an $8K watch?