genuine watches have issues too

[deltatahoe]

as discussed in my thread here, i recently purchased a genuine sinn u2.

one thing i've always found interesting is the "genuine watches don't have any of the quality control and other issues that replica watches have" myth that certain people around here like to spread as an argument to why we shouldn't be wasting our money on replica watches. in reality, genuine watches do have many of the issues that our reps have, and it is generally much more costly and time consuming to have these issues fixed.

after wearing my sinn u2 for a couple days, i realized that the date wasn't squarely centered in the date window (it was "high" in the window); look closely at the picture below.

i figured it wasn't too badly misaligned so i decided to just let it be and see if it corrected itself. when the same thing happened the next day, although more pronounced, i decided to see if possibly i just needed to reset the date to get it to align properly. so i circled through the dates using the quick-set function, and manually went through the hours as if setting the time, and the same thing happened again.

essentially what is happening (i've tried this twice, and it seems to be happening consistently, at least on these dates) is the date comes part-way down into the window at midnight, then at 21:00 hours (ie. 9:00 pm), it centers in the date window. then at midnight it comes part way down into the window, and subsequently (21 hours later) at 9:00 pm it centers in the window again.

i emailed ziggy about this, and this was his response (the expert ziggy helpful as always):

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The datewheel change gear on the 2893-2 is a small spring loaded tab. This tab is triangle shaped, and it engages the datewheel and starts to apply pressure, as the time approaches 12am, the pressure builds up in the spring, and eventually the spring pressure is greater than the set spring, and the date changes over.

Once it snaps into place, the only thing touching the datewheel is the set spring. What you describe to me, is that either the spring is not strong enough or the wheel is hanging up. The reason that the date centers at 2100 is that at that time, the changeover gear spring tab has just re-engaged into the datewheel, and this pressure is enough to move the wheel a small amount and center it into the spring.

Not sure if that makes sense.

It's not going to fix itself, so best to have it looked at while under warranty.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ziggy

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now if one of my reps was having this problem, i would just pack it up and send it to ziggy for him to take care of the problem, but given it is still under warranty, combined with the fact this watch case is filled with argon (and therefore really cannot be worked on by anyone other than sinn), that isn't really an option. so i have to go through the hassle of sending my watch to germany to be worked on my sinn, which could take several months. i was fortunate to have purchased the watch from an honest, reliable seller, who refunded me a portion of the purchase price of the watch given this issue. however, the fact still remains that it is going to be a relatively long, drawn out process to get my watch fixed.

anyways, i figured i would post about my experience to dispell myths about genuine watches never having problems -- it simply isn't true -- these are mechanical, automatic watches, and even watches with genuine ETA movements (the sinn u2 has an ETA 2893-2 inside), can have the same issues as our reps.

deltatahoe

[viper]

Rightly said, Deltatahoe, I agree about Gen issues too.

2 years back I bought a gen Omega SMP, worn it off and on for a month. One fine day, it just stopped after 45mins of activity (was wound enough to run a day) Took it to the AD service center, was told that they would look at it. 2 weeks passed and they finally asked me to collect.

I asked them what was the issue. The guy in the lab coat said, "just routine servicing" I told him the watch was less than 3 months old. He said the watch is now fully serviced. That's helpful.

I should have noticed it the day I bought the watch, the AD manager had to 'swirl' the watch with more effort to get it to start running. Hell, my $160 Seiko diver runs immediately when I pick it up.

Good luck with the Sinn diver, its a beauty!

[HauteHippie]

Yes, gens do. And talk to anyone who has dealt with OP's service department, and I'm sure you'll get a few horror stories!

[chris5264]

no doubt gens have their problems also,,,,,,,however I do think the type of problem differs. As far as I know, I've never heard of treads stripping on a gen, or crystals exploding. Both definately have their issues, but it was the rate of problems in reps that I couldn't personally handle. However, after a long break I picked up 007 PO, so we'll see.

[ubiquitous]

Plenty of horror stories with gens. In fact, it seems as though the top end brands/houses are more prone to either arriving with or developing those irritating issues thanks to delicate complications, persnickety fine details (requiring nothing less than precise execution), etc. etc. To single out one particular brand, it seems as though Patek has had it's fair share of QC troubles, long lenghty service visits (I've heard of some trips to the spa taking 12 - 16 months), and poor treatment from 'customer care'. A bit eye opening, especially to someone who just paid $36k on a watch they were probably on a year long+ waiting list for to begin with.

[HauteHippie]

Patek has had it's fair share of QC troubles, long lenghty service visits (I've heard of some trips to the spa taking 12 - 16 months), and poor treatment from 'customer care'.

Yep. All too many complaints exactly like this from the Paneristi crowd as well... but at least the majority of those people are "only" out $5k to $10K (on average) for the 12 to 16 months....

[kingkitesurf]

A friend of mine own a gen blue and white omega broad arrow... The rotor weight broke of... back to the factory it took 4 weeks!

[freddy333]

I have a friend that had one of the pusher buttons literally fall off of his 3 year old gold IWC chronograph. IWC said they have to order a replacement pusher. That was more than 1 year ago and as of last week he was still waiting.

[eunomians]

Send it to Mr. Sinn's associates for a little refurbishing. Sinn is very good at customer service. I hope that your initial foray into the genuine realm with your Sinn does not discourage you from trying out other genuine watches.

I've been lucky thus far, no problems with any genuines (aside from general maintenance). The best have been vintage Rolex (calibers 1030, 1560, 1570...) and IWC (especially caliber 89 and 85xx series calibers). My favorite of the newer-type complications is the Lemania 5100 - needs good maintenance, but is robust & unique. Too bad it ain't around no more

Best of luck. I'm still lookin' for a BUND-issued Sinn EZM-1.

[deltatahoe]

Send it to Mr. Sinn's associates for a little refurbishing. Sinn is very good at customer service. I hope that your initial foray into the genuine realm with your Sinn does not discourage you from trying out other genuine watches.

[...]

Best of luck. I'm still lookin' for a BUND-issued Sinn EZM-1.

this definitely hasn't turned me off of gens; i posted about it here to dispel the myth that gens never have any of the issues that our reps have.

since i've made the leap for my first gen, i'm actually a little worried that it will be tough not to get another....i'm tempted to treat myself to one genuine watch per year, but this could get a little ridiculous. surely the obsession will subside?

deltatahoe

btw, stephane may be responsible for my next gen purchase -- ever since he posted about the new squadra jlc line i've been contemplating this as my next genuine watch