Purchased my all time favorite IWC, the Fliegeruhr Chrono, it died!

Hello all,

Recently purchased my all time favorite IWC, Pilot fliegeruhr chronograph.
A beautiful watch, very happy with it!

I bought it from a trusted fellow watch enthusiast. Two years old, including all papers, box, etc... Running perfectly on time, perfect two day power reserve and using it carefully and conform the manual...

However, just a few days ago it suddenly stopped running. And unfortunately the warranty period just expired by just 3 weeks..! I hope this will not be a major problem and that IWC will show their high quality standard in service as well and fix this problem. What do you think..?

I've always been making fun of my friends replica IWC watch, but this one has been running fine for 5 years now, so now he's laughing at my real IWC :-( I hope I can prove him wrong and show him that IWC not only makes great watches, but also provides great service!!

Best,
Jeroen

Welcome to the forum Jeroen,

You did indeed acquire IMO and many others one of the best looking classic Pilot Chrono's ever by IWC. Yes, all the Pilot Chrono's are stunning pieces, but this recently retired model I believe will become even more of a collector item as time goes on.

That said, I'm a bit confused regarding the circumstances you describe. You state that you purchased this from a trusted fellow watch enthusiast and it's been running fine for 5 years. However, you also are looking for IWC to consider fixing a problem ( for no charge ? ) after the warranty has expired. Please help us understand how this watch can be just 3 weeks out of a 2 year warranty yet it has been performing perfectly for 5 years. Something isn't matching up.

If it truly is 5 years old, normal servicing would be appropriate. If it is in fact just outside of IWC's 2 year coverage, check with the original place of purchase and perhaps they have the ability to determine if it is a easy fix and can assist with your customer support expectations.

IWC will surely service an authentic watch and provide you with a itemized list to bring it back to proper working order. You can then make a decision to what degree to proceed.

Hope things turn out well for you. Let us know the results.

Best,

Andy

Hello Andy,

Thanks for your reaction.

My watch is only 2 years old now, it was newly bought in October 2010.
The warranty has expired for 3 weeks now, unluckily. I indeed hope for courtesy by IWC to repair my watch... I will inform here for the results.

Sorry for the confusion concerning the age of the watch, I was referring to a 5 year old cheap watch of a friend, who now is joking about my 2 year old genuine and valuable IWC. I hope I can prove him wrong by showing high quality service of IWC as well!

Best,
Jeroen

I see you are a new poster here. I do not know if you are also new to mechanical watches. I do not mean my following comment to be funny - only a legitimate first question to try to help discover what is wrong.

Did you wind the watch fully before putting it on? And if it has now stopped, does it start again if you wind it, or does it still not function?

While automatic watches do have mechanisms to wind themselves from the motion of your arm and wrist, if the power reserve has run down they usually need to be wound before wear. The automatic feature is often efficient enough to keep the watch powered if it starts that way, but not efficient enough to fully wind a watch that has stopped or is almost out of power.

Please try giving the crown 25 or 30 turns and let us know what happns.

Hi Dick,

I have a few other automatic watches. Yes I handwind them about 15 turn when it has stopped, after not wearing it for a few days and than put it on.

The IWC ran fine and suddenly stopped during the day, not coming alive ever since... Tried also winding it a few turns, but nothing happened.

I have just took it into the a IWC dealer, Rene Kahle, in Holland. He will send it to IWC. I hope for the best....

In my opinion 15 turns is not enough, 30 turns I believe is stated in the manual and I like to turn 40 times.

David, you can usually feel it with your fingertips when the watch is fully handwound, it just feels a bit different, when the sliding mechanism of the mainspring gets alive. It is not too easy too feel this though, in case of the Valjoux 7750 it is usually possible. My experience is that it happens after cca. 25-30 turns of the winding crown after the watch has stopped.
Hope this helps.
Robert

Thanks for this advice, however it normally started to run already after a few turns. And on the day it stopped it ran fine in the morning and suddenly stopped during the day while wearing it... I tried winding it it, but no effect.

Hi Jeroen,
congratulations on your purchase and welcome to this fine forum.
Sorry to hear about this, please let us know the result of the check-up.
I never had this kind of problem with my chrono which runs on the same movement, au contraire this is my most accurate and reliable watch.
Nevertheless it would be good to know what caused your problem.

Dear all,

Happy to inform you that my watch was ready and I picked it up today.
It was repaired by IWC under warranty, so I am very pleased by the service I received! The exact problem was not clear, but my watch got a full service treatment and it works fine again.

Best regards,
Jeroen

Dear Jeroen,

good to read that you are satisfied with the service and thanks for the update. Now you have all the time in the world to enjoy!

Mechanical watches can be tricky. I have some that run fine and have never been serviced and others that tend to have problems which recur. Seems to be no pattern.

Dear Jeroen,

I am glad to hear that you got your watch back and moreover received immaculate service as one would expect from this fine company. Enjoy!!

Best regards
Mike

Good to hear you have your watch back and everything turned out fine. You can now start enjoying it.

Kind regards,

Clemens

Always wonderful to hear about terrific service! Enjoy your fabulous piece1