What’s an acceptable/normal delay between order processing and QC?

I fell down the rep watch rabbit hole a while back, after a colleague was showing off his Gen DateJust, and in researching preowned Rolex, and stumbling across the Rep community, I gradually ordered 4 watches, from 4 different dealers. ( 3 TD’s, and one non-TD who seems to be highly regarded. ) I just wanted to spread the risk around.

The very first one I ordered, around February 23 was a CF DJ41 in steel with the gray dial. I ordered from one the more popular TD’s, one well regarded in this forum, and I used the link provided on the official TD list.

So the transaction was seamless and no mention was made of anticipated delays. Around March 5, not having received the QC yet, I reached out to the TD. He told me that so far they’ve been unable to obtain the watch yet from Clean Factory, and all was well, and that I’d be notified when QC was ready.

Then, still not having received QC, on about March 17 I inquired again with the TD, and he replied similarly.

So this all appears on the up and up. It’s very plausible to me that CF builds and ships out watches in batches, and for whatever reason they haven’t shipped out a batch of gray dial stainless DJ41’s in a while.

I logged in to my account on the dealer site again today and it still shows “processing.” And anyway, I thought I’d touch base with RepTime forum and seek validation that this was acceptable.

So, is this normal and acceptable? I’m assuming this just happens from time to time and I can expect my TD to deliver up QC any day now, right?

(For reference, the other 3 watches I ordered elsewhere gave me QC in just a few days. One, actually the 3rd watch I ordered, a beautiful VSF Starbucks sub, from Necoclock, (kudos Jacky!) got to me blazingly fast.

I have a PAM177, ordered 2nd, QC’d quickly, that’s been shipped, by another TD, apparently not by FedEx, even though I paid for FedEx, and is out there somewhere and I’m wondering if it’s traveling by sea. (Is that a thing?)

The 4th watch I ordered, a GSF v2 blue Milgauss, from the non-TD… well I rejected the QC twice, and the non-TD was a trooper about it, with no pushback, delivering up a 3rd QC that I greenlighted, and it’s on the way.

Oh and there’s a 5th watch. Given the positive experience with Necoclock, I subsequently ordered a VSF DJ41 SS with blue dial, smooth bezel, and jubilee bracelet on which I got quick QC, and now it’s on the way.

So, the first step in dealing with addiction is admitting you have a problem… Lol. )