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IWC service woes

Apr 05, 2021,16:20 PM
 

I sent in my Titanium GST Aquatimer for a routine movement service. I got the watch back and it was running great but I noticed the bars that connect the strap to the case are polished on their ends instead of blasted, like the rest. I contacted the friendly concierge who said she needed to ask the technical team. I finally got a reply and I was dumbfounded. They looked at my photos and said that all the rest of the pins are just discolored from my oils and sweat! I removed one of the original pins and compared with the new ones and it is very obvious that the new pins are from a polished steel version of the watch. I’ve replied that I’ll return the watch for them to see the difference, but it seems absurd that they are not correcting what was obviously a human error on their part. I verified from pictures of the watch before service that it had blasted pins when I sent it in for service.








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Richemont service strikes again.

 
 By: M4 : April 5th, 2021-16:27

lol, those were the exact words that went through my head

 
 By: Fastwong : April 5th, 2021-17:00

So where are the pictures from before you sent the watch?

 
 By: India Whiskey Charlie : April 5th, 2021-16:37

A picture from the Internet - How do these pins look compared to yours?

 
 By: India Whiskey Charlie : April 5th, 2021-16:46
...  

Polished

 
 By: roundel : April 5th, 2021-16:50
The new pins are highly polished. My old pins were like in your photo. Here are two photos from the seller showing the pins matching the rest of the case and other pins. ...  

IWC Pins

 
 By: cazalea : April 5th, 2021-16:53
Over the past 19 years I have had at least a dozen GST watches on bracelets, most titanium but about 5 stainless steel. The bracelets are one of the best things about the watch. I went back through 700 images and found one that shows a shiny link pin in m...  

Thanks

 
 By: roundel : April 5th, 2021-17:02
Thank you for your reply. When I removed an old and a new shiny pin, I used a magnet to see if I could prove they were different material, but neither were attracted by the magnet. If IWC won’t agree to help me, I’ll try to blast the ends myself. Harbor F... 

Sorry to hear that, and glad you had pictures before sending it in! It's always sad to hear similar experiences....Mistakes can (sometimes) happen, but then even blaming a customer rather than apologizing is downright unacceptable ;-)

 
 By: FabR : April 5th, 2021-17:13
IWC owes you to re-do the job now, and also a pretty big, double apology. I'm not sure if you received that reply in writing or via phone from the "technical team", but frankly, if it were me, whoever authored that reply (and possibly his/her higher up) s... 

Polite

 
 By: roundel : April 5th, 2021-17:21
She was certainly polite, just quite incorrect. ...  

Yes, I think you dealt with someone very much at the bottom of the food chain there, and she was channeling someone else's words from this "technical team".

 
 By: FabR : April 5th, 2021-17:30
Regardless, she/they are incorrectly blaming the customer, though you're right they did it politely (i.e., no curses or insults in their company's letterhead! ;-)) Hope you'll get this sorted out to your full satisfaction!

Sorry to hear about your experience but thank you for posting, the more we shed light on the failures of the Richemont service experience the more motivation they have to improve.

 
 By: Fastwong : April 5th, 2021-19:07

Last month i got my GST alarm serviced from IWC Switzerland (sent through Richemont Singapore). All the pins including on the lugs are sandblasted (whether they are steel or titanium, i don't know).

 
 By: hoseachandra1 : April 5th, 2021-21:57
I've had 2 watches serviced by Richemont, and all were good, albeit the re-finish job on brushed parts is not as good as Rolex has done.

Pffffffff.... I will tell you the silliest answer I had, one day, when I unveil the watch in question. :)

 
 By: amanico : April 5th, 2021-23:24

They probably changed the pins to the steel shiny stainless steel version rather than the blasted SS titanium bracelet and would not admit their mistake !

 
 By: montres1 : April 6th, 2021-03:51
If you see the SS version, the bracelet is much shinier than the titanium one (I am sure you know ) What is striking is that they probably replaced them and either the "technical department" does not know the difference between the 2 versions, or they den... 

Polish

 
 By: roundel : April 6th, 2021-04:24
When replying to their service estimate, I too declined the polish. I cannot determine if the original pins are titanium, but I would think it would be problematic to have dissimilar metals touching, which would lead to galvanic corrosion. I suspect the s... 

Galvanic chart

 
 By: roundel : April 6th, 2021-06:07
...  

I own three GST watches, including the 2000m. All pins have brushed ends.

 
 By: Sardna : April 6th, 2021-06:31

Last time I serviced one of the GSTs it came back running 30 seconds fast per day...

 
 By: Sardna : April 6th, 2021-06:41

Have you tried Superior?

 
 By: Mostel : April 11th, 2021-17:48
IWC auth service, I had good luck with them. Dealing with 'the company' is often surprisingly pathetic...

Superior

 
 By: roundel : April 12th, 2021-07:58
I have used Jack years ago for a Heuer 1550. He is great, but I’ve had good results with IWCs Texas facility before. I ended up just abrading the ends with a sandpaper sponge. It’s not perfect, but awfully close.

Richemont Dallas service is VERY unpredicatable

 
 By: India Whiskey Charlie : April 12th, 2021-10:01
I've had half a dozen experiences with them (all brands) that range from a watch getting destroyed to perfect service and everything in between. The worst part of watch collecting is when servicing/repair is required.