IWC quality control

Whilst its to be critical about the little things that crop up in watch quality control departments,I'm beginning to wonder if IWC is losing the plot with some of the recent issues presented on the forum.A case in question:Recently,when at an authorised IWC dealer in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia,I was looking at a BP 5009 with a view to purchasing.when giving the watch a critical eye,I noticed that one of the rivets on the strap had a raised gap of a thumb nail thickness.The other rivets fitted flush with the surface of the leather strap. I don't know if IWC manufacture straps for their watches,or whether they are outsourced. But the final product assembly is carried out by IWC.so my point is:Where is the critical eye for detail in the final phase of the IWC assembly line. IWC,give me a good reason to buy another timepiece.

Hi Kenneth,

As one who is intimately knowledgeable of IWC's quality control I can assure you that you need not be alarmed over the incident you experienced.

Although I have no sufficient reasons to blame the AD the fact is that watch had left the factory and was since handled by many hands. Perhaps the watch was shown and tried on by potential buyers then put back in the showcase without noticing the damage done. For example, if a person with a large wrist stretched the watch strap over his hand it might have affected the seating of the rivets.

Moreover, there is no need to jump to unreasonable conclusions and be critical over a single experience with an IWC timepiece which can happen with any other luxury watch. I don't see it as a flaw in quality control at the IWC factory.

Regards,
Jack Freedman

Most of the devoted IWC fans here will do the outmost to defend the brand and will claim that all the issues that were published here are extremely rare, exceptions, and that they do not deserve the importance of being presented here at all, as it is doing harm to the perception of the brand and maybe could lead to closing the forum because of criticism.

Still, there are things that will for sure have an impact on the quality of the watches. For example, the percentage of watches with inhouse movements has increased. They are by far more complex to produce and to service than the relatively standard ones used before. Then, the total number of watches produced has increased. This inevitably leads to challenges when it comes to quality control and services. It is not by just adding staff that you are able to control the quality better - it needs wisdom and experience; something you can't clone unless you are a mass factory like other brands are, producing everything in automated way.

So there is reason for me to believe that things are not that simple anymore as they were let's say 5 to 10 years ago. However, one must decide for herself / himself, if the emotional value is high enough to spend the money for the watches.

For once, again, I need to concur with Regulateur ;) Things are more complicated today. But I would add that IWC is dead serious about absolute quality control, as I described in several articles here including
www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/58188/
and also
www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/49990/

I will say that a large number of people in the factory --more than a handful--work exclusively in quality control and each step of the production process has someone assigned to check.

The two most recent incidents really are blown out of production. The dial with the wrong numbers was a huge goof, done by a supplier, and which no one admittedly caught --including the dealer and the purchaser! I probably would have missed such an incongruous error too. It is a real goof but statistically an .001% error.

The strap is another matter. Watches leave the factory without straps attached, and they are put on in the country when the watch arrives. I can't tell if the strap was defective (again by an outside supplier) or was mishandled when fitted or by the dealer or by the customer. It is an easy fix.

I am not excusing any such errors nor saying that IWC cannot do better. But if each watch has an average of 250 or 300 precision parts, and goes through dozens of factory processes and then hands in distribution, there will be some errors which, statistically are small. I have encountered problems with Patek, Breguet, Audemars, etc. --all of which can do better, but some of it is the nature of hand-produced complicated miniature machines.

Statistically, and compared to many other brands, IWC devotes more resources to, and gets better results regarding, quality control.

I appreciate your comment ;-) If we weren't interested in IWC, we would not be involved anymore.

Dear forum members.Firstly,allow me to thank you all for the evaluative responses to my post.I do welcome and appreciate comments from my peers.
Secondly,despite the comments that I made,remain a sincere aficionado of the IWC watch brand.Perhaps because of this I expect from IWC what I wouldn't expect from another watch brand-Perfection. I've already expressed my respect and admiration for services received from the IWC service centre in Sydney,Australia,in previous comment on the forum.those views are unlikely to change. One forum member has intimated that IWC might view "critical" comments on the forum as counter productive,and as a result,IWC could close down the forum. I don't think that this scenario is likely to happen. IWC is bigger than that. A democratic view at times needs to be expressed,and I believe that IWC is the sort of organisation that would welcome such feedback. As a matter of fact,I know that they do from previous correspondence that I've had with Schaffhausen.The nature of my dialogue with Schaffhausen,however,is not for public comment.
Sincere regards.
Kenneth.

I recently received a Portuguese Chronograph as a gift for my 40th birthday. To my shock and horror when I took it out of the box to wear it for the second time, the start/stop button at 2 o clock was missing. It had unwound off the pin and I could clearly see the threaded pin was intact and not damaged. I love my watch but it is very disappointing that this happened to a new watch and that I have to make the journey into the city to drop it off at the authorized dealer..