Patek Philippe

Finally got my 5960P, waited 2 week before breaking the seal.  And SADLY, it doesn't work properly -  The power indicator doesn't reach the "+" sign.  It stops midway between "-" and "+."  Has everyone experienced this ?  Everything else seems to be working properly.

I've owned 5 Pateks, and this is the 2nd time I have to bring a brand new watch in for service.  Bummer...  I think I'm giving up on Patek.

The power indicator does continue moving to the "+" sign. 

The reason it stopped was b/c I was winding the watch manually, and the winder broke.  But when I put it in a watchwinder, I can see the indicator moving, thus showing that the watch is capable of winding automatically.

When I first took it out of the box, I decided to wind it up a little.

I thought I was stopping midway, but in actuality the winder broke (I was wondering why the winder was so smooth, little did I know it stopped working).

Can anyone tell me what broke, apparently the winding gear isn't "catching."   With my other Pateks, I can hear the gears when winding.

Is this difficult to repair?

I don't think it is that hard to repair but with 5960P it needs to be sent back which the turn around time might be 6 months!!

I bought a 5960P from the Geneva Salon in April 2007 (I ordered it in Jan 06). When I got home to NY, I noticed the crown completely unscreweed when setting time. HSA in NY could fix it (didn't have th watch key) so I called PP Geneva and they has an employee bring one to the US a few days later (he coming anyway) with a new 5960P. HSA then put in the strap and all has been well since.

But, then last June, I bought a 5136/1J from Geneva Salon. Again, a problem. The moon phase is not working correctly and the date pusher is not consistent. Since that is an old model, I couldn't get a new one from Geneva (unless I wanted a German dial; I didn't. Mine is French.) HSA is fixing now.

Last week, I just purchased a 5124G. So far, so good.

I have 9 PPs bought over the years since 1989 and these are the only two problems upon purchase I have had. Dealing with the Salon is definitely an advantage. Fortunately, I get to Switzerland often on business so it is easy to get watches there and have them serviced there. But I do wonder about recent QC.

I tried winding my 5960p the following day after playing around with the chronograph functions.  And to my surprise, I noticed the power indicator moving very slowly to the plus sign.

For reassurance, I went ahead and brought it in to Patek NYC and was told the watch seems to be fine and that I should test it out the next few weeks (let the power go to zero and rewind to see if indicator reaches "+".)

Maybe some 5960 owners can help me out.  Questions with winding 5960P manually:

1)  One full wind (crown at tip of thumb to base of thumb), I hear gears clicking 4 times.  My other pateks, the gears click continuously.

With my 5960P, the crown winds smoothly compared to other models such as 5146 , 5396 and 5130.  I don't sense the gears rotating as much with the 5960P.

With the annual calendars and World times (5130), the sound of the gears winding is very noticeable.  Can someone with these watches make this comparison for me?

2) Fully winding the watch from 0% to 100% requires approx. 50 winds, can someone confirm this?

My suspicion is that the winding gear isn't fully catching.

Obviously the safest way to confirm this is by sending the watch to Geneva.  I waited over a year for this watch, it would be upsetting to have to wait another 6 months for the repair.