• Apprentice
    28 Apr 2025, 3:29 a.m.

    I have a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, and I use the chronograph on a regular basis. Intermittently, the chronograph will not reliably restart after a pause - sometimes I must press the start button two or three times before it will resume. I sent it to the IWC service center in Texas. Though the watch received a complete service there, the fault continues. Is this an idiosyncrasy of the movement, or was a problem missed? I have seen no other problems with it. In the ten days since it returned to me, it has gained only a fraction of a second. 

  • Master
    28 Apr 2025, 11:04 p.m.

    Welcome to the forum, William. 

     

    Not with this movement, but I have seen this before in mechanical chronographs. I've had this occur with a cal 89361, I believe. I am not sure the cause, it has happened very infrequently. If your watch movement has been completely disassembled and reassembled, and the same problem persists, then there may be an issue with one of the individual components. On the backside, can you observe the column wheel moving consistently as you operate the pushers? Is there any difference in the feel of the pusher when the chronograph engages vs when it fails to engage? 

     

    If you have video documentation of the issue, that may be helpful if you decide to send it in again for further intervention. 

  • Apprentice
    29 Apr 2025, 3:20 a.m.

    Thank you. I did a little testing based on your reply. The column wheel advances every time the pusher is pressed, even when the chrono fails to restart, and the action of the button feels the same. There is no repeatable pattern to the anomaly - it can occur after the first pause or after the twentieth. I have sent video of the anomaly to IWC and I expect to hear from them within a day or two.


    Addendum: I just noticed that the small seconds hand also stops when the anomaly occurs. 

  • Insider
    29 Apr 2025, 12:16 p.m.

    Hello William,

    your last statement that the small seconds also stops when the problem occurs gives a clearer insight into the problem.

    When the problem occurs, the engagement of the chronograph mechanism stops the entire watch. It is most likely a misalignment of the chronograph clutch mechanism. It will take a watchmaker to fix this problem.

     

    br Cromagnonman