roundel
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IWC service woes
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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IWC service woes
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 frien...
Polished
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
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
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 ;-)
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...
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".
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!
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).
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.
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 !
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
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...
Have you tried Superior?
IWC auth service, I had good luck with them. Dealing with 'the company' is often surprisingly pathetic...
Superior
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
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.