IW 389-001 Top Gun Chronograph issue with winding mechanism

I have owned a brand new Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun for less than a month. The in-house movement is stated to have a 68 hour power reserve. I was finding that the watch would run down after a day or two even being worn throughout the day. I put this down to not moving my arm enough, and was happy enough winding the watch on a daily basis.

Over the last week however, I have found that on winding the watch in the morning if it has stopped overnight, the seconds hand will not start - even with 20-30 revolutions of the crown. At some point after finishing winding it will spontaneously start working again, before running out of power later in the day/evening.

Is this likely to be a user issue or a mechanical issue? Will it need to be fixed?

Thanks for your help in advance.

I had the same problem with my Galapagos with the same movement. I bought it brand new from my AD and when it ran down, regardless of how much I wound it, I just couldnt’ get it to start - I literally had to mess with the watch for like 4-5 minutes to get it going - once it got going, it was good..

It did it again when I let it run down and similar to you, the power reserve seemed to die mid day, even though I would wind it well over 60-70 times and so I sent it in to IWC for a service. IWC sent it back saying nothing was wrong, which I clearly disagreed with. Sure enough, it happened again and I had just had enough of the watch. Luckily for me, my AD took the watch back.

Dig around and you’ll find others have had similar issues with this movement. I’m not sure I would call it widespread, but certainly others have experienced similar issues. Best to consult your AD and perhaps have IWC take a look at the watch if it continues.

Thank you very much for your detailed response and the time you took to write it. This was the answer I was dreading really. Did you get another IWC? I love the watch, I just wish I had the peace of mind that it would work the way it is meant to. On top of that, I don’t particularly want to send it to IWC after only having it one month. Was the service covered under your warranty?

I suspect your issue will be resolved under warranty.. If I was you, I would bring the issue up with the retailer that sold you the watch. I'm sure IWC will have it back in your hands in a few short weeks and it'll be good as new.

I have a number of IWC watches and didn't let the issues with Galapagos turn me off of the brand. I've owned many IWC's over the years and they are absolutely solid time pieces.

Always have to remember that these are highly complex mechanical items - nothing is perfect and things do go wrong. I would give IWC the opportunity to resolve the issue.

Best of luck!