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Misaligned hand on 5270 chrono sub dial
I was using the chrono on my new 5270/1R today and noticed the hand on the right chrono subdial for minutes passed is slightly misaligned on each indeces. The hand is consistently slightly left of each indece from all angles I look at it. Is this normal? How is it on your 5270? Is this something that I should get fixed under the warranty? Everything else with the watch is great. Here are some photos. 
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Misaligned hand on 5270 chrono sub dial
I was using the chrono on my new 5270/1R today and noticed the hand on the right chrono subdial for minutes passed is slightly misaligned on each indeces. The hand is consistently slightly left of each indece from all angles I look at it. Is this normal? ...
Personally, I am so obsessive about my watches
that I would have that addressed, especially on a watch of that magnitude
The problem with these things are...
Once you noticed it it will continue to bother you, pretty sure about that. Otherwise you probably wouldn’t ask. If I would notice, I would have it fixed. Br, Dirk
Yep, I'm sure official turnaround times are even longer than usual due to the lockdowns...Or you can at least try and ask an AD listed as having a "quick service center" (and there are in your area).
Even though this is technically a grand complication, maybe they can at least take a look? I'm no watchmaker, but this would seem to me a really simple matter ;-)
Ouch, I just saw this and it looks quite odd to me...frankly I would not expected the hand to be aligned at the start, given this issue.
So how does it work? At the first minute it jumps by roughly 1.1 units, or does it start later at some specific minute? And after this first "wrong jump", does it *always* jump again by 1 unit? As I said I'm no watchmaker, but this looks more strange than...
Luckily the misalignment is not that bad, and the watch seems to be functioning perfectly! Still, being the sticklers to detail we are, seems a bit odd that the amount by which the hand is off (or is not) varies.
I'm not a watchmaker, but something to do with (certain) spokes of the gears driving the chrono minute indication? Or just the amount of play in the gears. Certainly it cannot be that the printing of the markers is uneven - or can it? I'd assume they use ...
Your photos are the problem...
Looks like the perspectice is slightly distorted. Maybe there i no misalignment when you take the shots from exactly above the sub-dial...
IMHO
I would leave the watch as it is. In my opinion, the mistake is too small to initiate a service. For me the danger is far too great that other problems arise after the service. But if it bothers you very much (and you wrote a post about it, which suggests...
+1
I think the issue is too minor, and the hands will need to be removed later when you send in the watch for servcing anyway. But if you do send it in...those markers at 12 look slightly misaligned (right looks higher than left), so ask them to take care of...
I think
in a world of "cold" perfection, these little "mistakes" are a wonderful sign of romantic imperfection. Wearing a mechanical watch in the digital age is a conscious anachronism. That's exactly the reason why I stopped measuring the time deviations of my g...
jleno, you just opened Pandora's box here!
Overall, I agree with Thomas and jleno. Personally that's something I wouldn't notice, and wouldn't care too much about. But indeed, if you made a post about it, then you will obsess over it. So it is best to at least send a note to Patek and see what the...
Hahaha I couldn't help myself :)
Agree that contacting Patek would be a good idea. But I don't think these things are necessarily going to be cause for obsession. Btw, on my Grossmann, there are a couple of minor imperfections on the dial that are barely noticeable in photos. They bother...
I guess it is quite clear ...
The watch is a fake !!! .... ... ... ..... ....... I m far far far far away .... seriously, i would get in touch with PP and explain that to them may be with a bit of humour saying that you are obsessed .... so at least if there is anything else more seri...
I don't mean to minimize the seriousness of the topic....
But that had me ROFL.... and, I agree with most here, send it in for service. You won't be happy unless you take care of the problem, nip it off.
Yep, from the pictures it seems to start being off at around minute 13 (but not uniformly), up to roughly 26 or 27, when it gradually autocorrects.
The "best" explanation would really be an issue with the subdial, at least it wouldn't affect the movement. Of course, that would mean replacing the dial. I'd probably try to explain this issue to an authorized watchmaker, just to get a quick feeling if y...
Bring it back
If I were in your shoes I would definitely give it to the AD and have it fixed. Let’s face it: you’ve paid a lot of dollars for that watch and the hand simply isn’t aligned properly. On top of that I agree with Christian, once you know it you will see it ...
The indices at 12 being misaligned and the sub seconds dial issue you originally raised...
...with those two for me personally I would actually be walking this back to the AD immediately. Any reasonable AD should be falling over to make this right for you immediately. This isn’t exactly a small purchase. I hope you find a satisfactory resolutio...
In my opinion the problem is not with the sub dial since it’s printed.
I believe the problem is the gear that registers the minute, most likely the arm that holds the register gear doesn’t fall in properly... If it’s under warranty, I would send it in, if not, live with it until service is due. That’s what I would do... ...
Parallax
Maybe it’s just a parallax effect, which is due because of the depth difference between the hands and the dial, this can resulting in misreading the position of the hands. This is why some hands are curved towards the dial at the tip.
Comparison
The problem may be your second hand is slightly past 60. When I stopped it perfectly everything lined up, if I missed by a single tick it did not line up perfectly. Your second hand is past 60 in your pictures. ...
If a simple Valjoux 7750 can manage to hit the minute markers properly, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to tolerate your issue on your watch!
Don't accept any excuses about your watch being a hand-made artisanal product. If there is such issue as you show, this must be fixed. It's time we hold our beloved brands accountable to deliver quality and excellence in everything they do!
Patek just responded to my email...
I emailed Patek in NY (Henri Stern) and this was the response: “Thank you for your email and the detailed pictures. Our Head watchmaker has reviewed the photos and has confirmed that we will need to ask you to return the timepiece to us for evaluation.” I...
If it's an aesthetic issue I am completely okay with it. If it's mechanical, that's a real problem. They said turnaround time for evaluation is 1-2 weeks, but any work would be 6 mos. I’ll probably
send it for evaluation and as long as it’s not mechanical I’ll just have them send it back and take care of it at the 5 yr service. If it’s Mechanical then they can keep it there and repair under warranty.
This was probably the only possible (and reasonable) response via email, but glad the email turnaround was fast😉
Since the evaluation time is really fast I’d definitely send them the watch at this point (via an AD would always be safest)👍
It does sound quite crazy to me too...These shipments should obviously take place via armored trucks, but frankly I always handed any watch (Patek or otherwise) to my ADs and never had to pay a cent.
It also seems very odd that anytime your AD sends a watch to HSWA it's going to cost them $4,000...;-) I probably wouldn't be happy to spend that amount (or even the $550) for an issue that doesn't seem to be your fault, but keep in mind that driving up t...
Out of always being totally correct with all parties, I just went back and read John's original post when he bought this watch, and I believe it was *not* purchased at an AD.
So this seems to explain all the trouble, since obviously his AD cannot be held responsible for a watch they didn't sell. It's still desirable to help a good customer, but it'd really be out of courtesy or friendship now. Not sure what's in the contract w...
HSWA offered to reimburse me all costs associated with shipping it to them as it’s under warranty! They told me to just send a copy of the receipt for shipping.
I did buy gray (and saved over $60k in the process). no regrets at all. What this situation has shown is that regardless of where you buy the watch, just Ensure it is under Warranty and Patek\HSWA will take good care of you. The AD is merely a conduit to ...
This is good, if now HSWA agrees to reimburse your shipping costs since it's under warranty, then at least economically, the problem is solved.
I'd probably make sure that $4k is fine with them and then keep all receipts, but now it's a no brainer to ship it. Nothing in principle against buying second-hand, as I said (and if you saved $60k it might make sense), but keep in mind that the perks of ...
I received a phone call from the owner of the Patek dealer himself. Extremely cordial and apologetic about that Brinks misunderstanding and he assured me he will personally take care of the issue and I am going to meet him this weekend to give it to him..
He told me he spoke with HSWA and this rest assured he will personally take care of the issue, regardless of whether I bought it from his AD or not. He has certainly won be over and I look forward to beginning a relationship with this AD once the issue is...
Glad you got it sorted.
As an engineer my 2 cents. I believe the gear that moves the minutes for the chrono has a couple sequential teeth that are damaged. It resets to the same location, but when it hits the damaged teeth it jumps past them causing a misalignment. Only a guess....
I am
I am bringing it on Monday to the AD so I’ve got a few days left with it. I have a macro camera lens at home so I’ll snap some closeups tonight and post them
I went down the rabbit hole a bit.
I need to read up on some of my books to fully understand. But here goes. I may be off a bit. Most chronographs reset via a reset cam that rides with the minute timer gear. The resetting disengages the gear, the whole thing swings back and the cam stops a...
This is great to hear, I think it's a wonderful update on all fronts. Both Patek (expectedly) but also this AD have behaved with class.
Hope you can now get this issue resolved soon, and that you can begin a long and successful relationship with this AD! ;-) Cheers.
My comparison
What am I missing please? On my identical watch the sub dial aligns perfectly when the sweep second hand is exactly at 60. The sub dial hand moves past center if I am one tick past 60, like it should, you can see that in my pictures. In you pictures you s...
Alignment issue
I am also confused! If you stop the chrono so the large sweep second hand is EXACTLY at the 60 second mark, (straight up 12:00 position) the sub dial hand aligns perfectly. If the large sweep second hand is even one small tick past the 12:00 o’clock (60 s...