I share with you, by example of a photo of an IWC pilot watch, how a symptom of a reported problem can be misdiagnosed by an owner leading to question prior service done within the year.
At our service center we overhauled the same model watch shown a year ago and it ran fine without any problems. The customer returned it recently with a letter stating “I have worn the watch without incident. However, when it has run down, I’ve wound it a little, then placed it in my watch winder (it was set on clockwise/counterclockwise alternation). After being in the watch winder for a few days, it has stopped running.” And, so, he claimed the watch was covered by warranty (within the period following service).
A preliminary check, before opening the case, gave us reasonable suspicion that the problem was solely with a stiff winding “crown”. Once we opened the case and removed the crown completely we found what is very common with watches normally worn for a long time under all conditions. Not always visible to the naked eye was a buildup of gook and grime accumulated between the screw-down crown and the case. This clogged the crown and prevented a normally smooth manual winding thereby not allowing an adequate prior manual winding, as the customer noted, “I’ve wound it a little.
With the movement out of the case we manually wound it and the watch had a healthy amplitude. We proceeded to clean the case ultrasonically, rinsed it, and steam cleaned it. We brush cleaned the crown and re-lubricated the inner o-ring with silicone. The movement was placed back in the fresh clean case and the manual winding was now smooth as butter.
What many owners fail to pay attention to is that before wearing an automatic watch, it must be wound manually about 40 full turns in order to jump start and activate the movement. Following that manual winding, a traditional automatic watch relies on the movement motion of the wrist and is highly dependent on the activity level and wearing habits of each individual.
An automatic watch, when worn by a person active all day, should have a minimum power reserve of 24 hours. This means that you can take the watch off in the evening and expect it to run on time in the morning.
Be aware that automatic watches are not intended for everyone!
Some people’s daily existence are so sedentary that an automatic watch could routinely stop on their wrists. If the wearer is a person sitting at a desk all day at work i.e. computer work, or if the watch is not worn actively on a daily basis, the watch may not receive sufficient self winding and could stop in a short time.
Conclusion
We tested the above mentioned returned customer’s watch by first manually winding it and giving it 40 turns on the crown. Then we had it on our Windmill watch winder for 2 days to test the automatic winding mechanism. Upon removing the watch from the winder, the balance wheel amplitude was checked and it had an excellent high number indicating the automatic oscillating weight a.k.a. rotor was doing its proper job. Then we left the watch on the bench to see when it would come to a full stop. The watch continued to run without problems for the next 53 hours. This indicated there was no problem with our prior service of the movement.
It is, therefore, important to note that even expensive timepieces are subject to environmental changes affecting the case parts which often interfere with expected performance. These described symptoms can easily occur when a timepiece is exposed to other than clean free conditions.
Water resistance also depends on clean conditions of the rubber o-ring gaskets and the status of those are never permanent as they’re always in a compressed state. An annual check by an authorized service center for water resistance normally includes cleaning of the case and examination of the gaskets whether replacement is necessary.
It has been often stated on this forum that long distance diagnosis is unreliable, impractical, and often leads to erroneous statements. Which is why specific service questions are shunned and not always welcome. The above experience is one example why a physical inspection of the watch, as opposed to phone calls or online discussions, is critical to the correct diagnosis.
I hope you find my analysis with this discussion informative and useful.
Regards,
Jack Freedman
