A surveyor is suing Rolex for a skin allergy caused by a removable label at the back of a watch she bought last year.
Lee Ka-wai filed a claim at the Small Claims Tribunal in January against Rolex (Hong Kong) Ltd for $46,900 in damages.
She claims that she has suffered psychological trauma by having to wear long-sleeve shirts to cover her left arm, which appeared unsightly as a result of the allergy.
According to Ms Lee, she bought Rolex's Oyster Perpetual watch for $30,000 at Oriental Watch Company in August last year as a gift for herself after getting a job promotion.
She claims that red dots began to appear on her left wrist after wearing the watch for two weeks. Her left wrist also became itchy. She then wore the watch on her right wrist, but the same skin condition occurred.
Ms Lee told Adjudicator Katina Levy yesterday that the transparent label at the back of the watch caused the skin allergy. The label, which is removable, bears the model number of the watch.
Rolex was negligent for failing to remind consumers to remove the label when they bought the watch, Ms Lee argued.