Ingenieur Crown Slipped Off

Hey all, have a question about servicing an Ingenieur when the problem child is a crown that fell off.Yesterday the crown on my watch basically just slipped off - it's more like a cap that is put over the crown, giving it a larger diameter and surface area making winding and everything easier. I never pulled out the crown in a strong manner.

I'm not sure what really happened - I've had the watch for 11 months and I don't know if some kind of adhesive is used to glue the "cap" onto the crown and, if so, whether the adhesive broke down. The cap has zero grip on the crown now and it basically just spins around freely when turning-the-crown-movements are done.

I will take the watch to a boutique to see what's up but I'm wondering from the communities experience, what can I expect from this process, if this falls under the warranty (I think it does since it's a mechanical failure not due to user fault), what are your experiences with a crown falling off - first time it's happened to me, and information of this sort.

Thanks in advance!

Why are you not just taking a good glue?

Are there any glues you'd recommend - that will be able to be easily removed when I do send it in for a full service - and will that void any warranties?

I realize glue is an easy and probably a solid option, but I'd prefer to fix the problem from the manufacture side of possible.

I wouldn't touch it without contacting an AD first. He might advise you on the actions you can take yourself without putting your warranty in danger. He might even advise you on the glue to use. But I personally would not do anything, I could make mistakes that could be harmful to the watch. I would go to the AD with it, as much as I would go to the dentist when a crown falls down there too.

Kind regards,
Paul

Francis it happened to me as well, just take the watch to your AD and it will be solved.
Since it is still under warranty it will not cost you anything too I believe.

There is no way I would try and glue it myself. Zero chance. AD is the way to go!

So the small number of this limited edition seems to be the cause - in mass production such issues rarely arise. No reason to worry, your AD will fix it.

Don't to anything by yourself, IWC has to know about this problem, its the only way they can improve it in the future...so your AD will send it to IWC...anyway, something like that shouldn't happen for a 20K+$ watch...

I've had it happen to Patek and Breguet watches. It is an easy fix to a commonly vulnerable part. Please do not use glue.

Hi Argiris,

Too bad this happened to you as well but great to know it was all taken care of! Which watch of yours did the crown slip off on?

Thanks for all the responses guy!

A couple questions - I bought the watch at a boutique and I'll take it to a boutique tomorrow so they can see it - I guess this isn't much different than taking it to an AD?

When I am bringing up the issue at the boutique, can I request that it be sent to Schaffhausen for the repair? I'd much prefer that - get some Swiss treatment for the watch.

Also I have written about this before, but the crown would, not daily but more frequently than it should, unscrew itself and thus not be screwed in tightly. I've developed a habit to check the crown often, when I wash my hands or even just at random, just to make sure it is screwed tight. Would this request be additional work covered/not covered by the warranty? In addition my watch has been running slowly so would an adjustment be acceptable as well?

I (as well as everyone here) hate to part with my watch for what could be a couple of months but I guess it's a must...sigh.

I guess IWC will know the problem from my statement? Any suggestions on what are some vital pieces of information to provide?

Do you really think it could be limited editions potentially have more issues? I was thinking the opposite (at time of purchase too) - since they are not quite as mass produced, maybe there is more human interaction and attention to the limited-series models.

It could be the case too though since mass produced models must have an amazing assembly and production process simply just to ensure that the ratio of failure for all those pieces just work! There is just something to be said about guaranteeing quality for high-volume items.

Quick update:

I took my watch to the flagship boutique in HK and requested it to be sent to Schaffhausen. The friendly boutique staff member suggested that HK's service center was trained and up to par with Schaffhausen but I still prefer it being sent out. She said the HK service center would look at it and they would more or less determine if it would be sent to Schaffhausen or not, so I don't know where priority will go to and how importantly my request will be considered. It's not so much that I believe the HK service center will do a less than good job, it's more that I just would prefer for it to go back to IWC HQ.

The HK service center will take about 10 days to examine the watch and probably another 30 to repair - total turnaround time of about 40 days. If they do decide to send it to Schaffhausen they could skip the 10 day examination period thus saving me some time.

If it's sent to Schaffhausen then the total turn around time could be approximately 11 weeks, which is so long away, but I still prefer giving it the royal treatment. Seems like an awfully long time to just fix a crown but if the other things I mentioned are also taken care of then I guess it could be worth it - just hope the crown is secured this time!

Sorry to hear what happened, Francis.

Hope it will get fixed soon.

I suppose now you are in need of a daily watch... how about that plasticky that we looked at last time we were at the boutique? :)

Limited edition has nothing to do with your issue. The crown is not a limited edition. And have you read about all the complaints made, on this Forum, about the Hong Kong Service Center? Get it to Schaffhausen with a letter expressing every concern/issue you have.

Francis it happened on my Ingenieur Laureus model.
It was sent to Munich service centre not Schaffhausen, then it was stollen on the way back and replaced by IWC with another watch but this is a different story. It is on you if you want to send it to Schaffhausen the only drawback is that it ll take very long time to get back much more compared to the HK service option. No need to worry in my opinion in any case.

I suggest you try the HK service center first for this repair, simply because it is a very easy repair. There are times when you need to call out the artillery for a repair, but honestly --and I'm not minimizing your concern-- a crown that comes off is not one of them.