• Apprentice
    13 Jan 2021, 3:46 p.m.

    Hello All

    This is my first post on this forum and I do hope that you all have the
    knowledge and expertise to assist me in my golden goose egg hunt. I own as
    1871 Grande Square that was keeping excellent time (+2 s per day) and was
    externally in very good shape. you could, however, see small build-up of gunk
    and marks on the edge of the crystal and in an attempt to stop this spreading
    to the dial I asked my watchmaker to open up the case. Not a hard request
    however given its age the Gasket had melted and effectively glued the case
    shut. This watch is a sandwhich case with movement, gasket and crystal all
    being clamped by the outer cases. it was also not helped that the spring
    releases on the case were seized and not released as they should.

    The long story involves case damage and laser welding to fix the damage. The
    short story is that they did manage to get the case open and all parts
    separated.

    The watch is now undergoing a full clean with all gasket residue being removed
    which will look brilliant. The only issue I have is that the crystal was
    cracked and does not appear to be salvageable.

    Does Anyone know of any NoS crystals for this piece or know of someone that
    could supply me one without the watch being sent back the Schaffhausen just to
    have a crystal and gasket installed?

    Many thanks in advance

    Will

  • Connoisseur
    14 Jan 2021, 8:58 p.m.

    Congratualtions! What a cool watch! I think if it were me I'd send it to an
    IWC service center and have them perform a full service and replace the
    crystal. It's not inexpensive, but in my experience it's worth it. Your watch
    will come back to you like new.

  • Apprentice
    16 Jan 2021, 6:17 p.m.

    Thanks Allan

    I've been liaising with Greg and while I am trying to find a workaround where
    I do not need to sent my watch off I may have to swallow the bitter pill.
    It's being serviced by my watchmaker in london so to pay another £300 will be
    a little painful.

    I was just hoping someone somewhere might have NOS that I could purchase and
    avoid sending my watch off anywhere.

  • Master
    18 Jan 2021, 3:32 p.m.

    Crystalfit

    PO Box 612

    Sevenoaks

    TN13 9TP

  • Apprentice
    19 Jan 2021, 3:31 p.m.

    FYI...They also have a US location not far from where I live.

    Crystal-Fit USA

    3631 A Chamblee-Tucker Road

    PMB#306

    Atlanta, Ga. 30341

    Thanks

  • Apprentice
    19 Jan 2021, 11:43 p.m.

    Thanks all. I'm Uk based so will reach out to crystal fit UK and see what
    they suggest.
    really hoping they can make something without costing a fortune.

    I know it's vintage and original is 100% but shipping the watch back to
    Switzerland pains me

  • Connoisseur
    20 Jan 2021, 1:50 a.m.

    I don't know where you are in the UK, but there is an authorized IWC service
    center in London. You don't have to ship your watch to Switzerland.

  • Apprentice
    29 Jan 2021, 10:30 p.m.

    Movements can be serviced in the UK and they hold necessary parts for modern
    watches but rather than have odd vintage stock peppered all over the globe
    they recalled all vintage stock back to Switzerland so they can control and
    ensure all stock is used up. it actually makes perfect stock management
    sense.

    Unfortunately, it does mean that all Vintage pieces must be sent back to
    Switzerland. Which seems odd when a service centre could just as easily put
    in a request for a crystal to be released to the UK service centre and would
    not require a £1000+ to be shipped post-Brexit across borders.

    non sensical but it is the way it is.