Jaeger-LeCoultre

I had placed my JLC Master Perpetual in a Sentry Fire safe last December and took it out today to wear only to find that my Moon phase dial has lost it's blue color and is now tarnished to a nice all Gold finish

Here it is before:

and now as it looks today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice! So, is this a common issue with these safes and any idea what a repair to the wheel may cost me?

I'm gonna go finish crying.........

Keith

 

Hello Keith,

Sorry to hear about your JLC.  Do you have any dessicant or de-humidifyer inside your safe?  Which model Sentry do you have?  Do you have cash/papers/documents inside as well?  Lots of things will cause humidity inside of a safe.

-MW
This message has been edited by DRMW on 2009-07-02 18:31:12

Hi MW

The safe is a small UL rated unit model number AX-618988 and is 24"x18"x16" bolted to the floor and heavy. I keep passports, will/trust copies, kid's birth certs, etc. in there. It has always seemed to be somewhat "moist" inside and I assumed it was the chemicals from the substance that seals it off in case of fire. I have no dessicant in there.

I guess I wrongfully assumed that the watch would be airtight enough to avoid this issue. In any regard I am just amazed at how the moon phase dial has been completely tarnished. Oh well, the watch seems to run fine.

I am in Chicago and if you or anyone who may read this know where I should take it to get an estimate for a fix I would appreciate it. I can't believe my naivete with trying to protect this timepiece has now created this big problem. I'm really bummed out.....

Keith

Hello Keith,

The problem is not from the sealant, you must have something to dehumidify the inside otherwise you will encounter the moisture problems you have now. 

I use and order from Brownells: www.brownells.com S

It's easy to reactivate every few months and there is a red dot indicator (at least on the larger ones) to tell you when it needs it.  Hope this helps.

-MW

Ok, Thanks for that very useful link and I will order up this stuff right now to get rid of this moisture issue.

Not sure how best to contact JLC for a fix and where to send the watch. I see Virginia and NYC sales/support and wonder if those are the service contact hubs. Any help appreciated.

Best to contact a JLC AD in your city or JLC USA to see what they recommend.  FYI, PER FORUM RULES Other recommendations should be PM'd to you only. 

BTW, I also recommend a separate safe for just jewelry/watches and the other for your documents/cash/papers.

Good luck and please update us how your JLC turns out.  Good luck.

-MW
This message has been edited by DRMW on 2009-07-02 19:02:34

happened to this marvel?

well, for a bad surprise, this is a bad surprise.
but first of all, I want to say that you are the lucky owner of a very desirable watch. (I wish my budget for "m beautiful next watch" was in the range of the price of these QP beauties)

now, where has the blue paint gone?

It is unlikely that it was caused by humidity in the safe that would somehow end up in the watch. the watch is waterproof (I suppose to 3atm or 30m) so, unless your crown was pulled when you put it in the safe, there is little chance that air inside the safe would end up inside the watch.
Humidity would not target only the moondisk, I think.

paint is not as sensitive to humidity as it is sensitive to UV light. then again, nobody expects a lot of UV light inside the safe.

you do have a piece of a small mystery for physics sciences, I think.

Hopefully, the disk will soon be replaced and you will be able to wear the watchas nice as it looked the first time you received it.

let us know the progress.

(you my want to drop an email to sentrysafe, first to let them know, and secondly to ask if they have record of anybody else experiencing the same problem)

This is unbelievable!

Ming is correct, you should contact your nearest JLC AD to change your moonphase disk.

Keep us updated, please.

Best,

Nicolas

Does the watch have a display back so you can see the movement? Does it look ok?

Yeah, I have already thought about that and unfortunately this model in Rose Gold has a solid case. You can see the hands and other finishes on the face appear to be fine so maybe I will get lucky and the damage will be limited to the Moon dial. If not, then I have a nice new paperweight

The crown was not pulled when I put it in the safe, so I am still perplexed how this could occur. It appears that Tourneau is my local JLC AD in Chicago and I will be contacting them to start the process of the repair. My wife said that there should be some kind of warning label on the safe to inform dummies like me to be careful with jewelry and trapped humidity. I agree, but I guess common sense should have prevailed.  I have ordered a dessicant now, but no jewelry will ever see the inside of this safe again!

I'm just heartbroken, but will get it back to new. Thank you all for writing and your help. I appreciate it very much.

Keith

 

drop on the www.jaeger-lecoultre.com website a message similar to the one you posted here. at least to inform them of this problem. Again, may be somewhere else, someone else has had the problem ( but did not post on this forum).

Although I can only read a crystal ball, I would not worry about the movement of your watch, I would more bet on a problem with the paint of the moon disk that deteriorated quickly.

I will drop a note on the JLC site and see if they have any knowledge of this happening with other moon discs. I have had the watch running now for a day or so and it seems to be running just fine and appreciate your last comment that hopefully the blue just went on a holiday and the remainder of the internals are fine

to hear about it and I hope that the disc is the only problem

Please let us know

Cheers

Difference in temperature causes humid/moist in safes. My guess is a slight humidity can't cause the blue to vanish, unless the temperature difference from low to high is tremendous, then it may do something rare.

I really hope you will get a good repair/replacement disc for this amazing timepiece. Best of luck.

Andy