My CF3 movement freeze!

After 18 days of wearing my CF3, today is the second time that my CF3 movement freeze while I was using the Chrono and pressed the flyback button.

Below was just nice a photo taken before the movement was freeze, the chrono was still functioning well.

When my rahmen came...

And I pressed the flyback button with enough force. The entire watch freeze.
I've taken a video , please check this out
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LnK665Lydw

It actually first happened a week ago but I just ignore it. The watch will resume normal when the Start/Stop button is being pressed.

Hmm, why my CF3 is like that? Is it normal? I've sent it back to boutique and they will send in to service centre for investigation.

I've had zero issues with mine and I play with the chrono all the time. Are you pressing the pusher firmly? (Within reason)

IWC should have better used an ETA calibre for this watch. We heard so much about issues with this in-house calibre.

Hmmm... No issues with either of my 2 watches with this movement - but then of course it's a fine mechanical timepiece, so it's possible things can go wrong. Who knows, what actually is / is not broke. Let's wait to hear.

...& Regulateur, interesting you make that suggestion. I ask, because by an overwhelming margin, we the Collectors here voted for (read: asked IWC to consider our wish) to build CF3 with an in-house movement! Gospel! I believe MF reported here on the results of the survey / vote.

David, the CF3 is just one heck of a watch and all 249 current owners of the piece are lucky to own it. Let me know if you want to reconsider your original decision to pass on it and if you need some help in securing that last piece out there in the wild?

Yes I do. Not sure why it happened :(

I see, maybe mine has a defect. Love the CF3 but no idea why this happened.

Glad you bought it through a boutique (I supposed), please kindly update us once you heard from them.

Erwin, I supposed you got your CF3 from boutique too? Are you using your chrono frequent? No issue with flyback so far?

I could be mistaken... but I thought you could only get brand new ones from the boutiques.

I have not had any issues with my CF3's movement so far. In fact I find the buttons and overall operations a lot smoother than my Hamilton Inge which uses essentially the same in-house chrono movement, except with an overlapping hour totalizer.

You know, no matter how good a company does QA, there are bound to have some products with some slight deflects. (According to the Six Sigma courses I took many many years ago). If you are one of those unlucky ones who happens to have a watch that is less than perfect... well, at least you can always bring it back to IWC and have them fix it.

Meanwhile, enjoy wearing your other IWCs (if you have them), while waiting for your CF3 to resurrect. If you don't have enough IWCs... well, use this as an excuse to get a spare watch! :D

I had zero issues so far with my CF3 and I am using my chrono daily, when wearing the CF3.

Cheers Chris

The left one kicks in when the right one is at the service centre @@

Well IWC you still have a very happy customer here, absolutely no issues with my CF3.
I only wear it on a week end and even now 5months on I still get excited on my journey home on a Friday evening in anticipation of opening the box, setting the time and date and wearing it with a smug grin.

Well done Michael.

David

Thanks guys for the comment. Just curious why most users experienced the same issue are all using calibre 89365 or 89361. The recent one would be [PORTUGUESE CHRONO CLASSIC ISSUE](www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/67437/?page=2#post_527777). I did not actually bother until myself encountered.

Boutique called me today saying that there will be a replacement but unfortunately the last brand new piece in Singapore 177 has been reserved by one of the customers. Therefore they will order another piece from Swiss and it takes around few weeks time.

Collected my replacement CF3 yesterday and I'm glad that IWC arranged a watch technician came all the way down to the boutique to answer all the technical questions that I've.

According to the watch technician Howard, there are 2 possibilities that might cause the movement freeze for this model 89365.

1) When the watch is not fully winded
2) Did not push firm for the flyback button

Howard mentioned that it takes about 60 - 80 times to get the watch fully winded and if you don't wear it for more than 24 hours, it's recommended to get the watch fully winded again before you start using it. The complication of this movement 89365 is actually one level higher than 7 days 52010 calibre. The design of the flyback function doesn't have a spring bar like the one in ETA7750. Therefore it's likely to experience a dead lock issue when above 2 criteria are not fulfilled.

I will follow his advices and continue to monitor for a month. Appreciate the sharing session with Howard arranged by IWC.

Thanks Howard & IWC.

Good luck Zhenhui! It's a beautiful watch. Please let me know how you get on with the flyback as I am still hoping there is a fix for this issue. For me, I don't think it was an issue of insufficient power reserve or pushing firmly. My watch is kept on a winder, and I'd been wearing it every day up until the time of failure.

Hi Seaswirl,

I've been wearing the replacement CF3 everyday since I've collected it a month ago and put it off for less than 11 hours within a day. Use the flyback function for about 5 to 15 times a day, so far so good, keep the fingers crossed.

Any updates from your site?

Since freezing over a month ago, the fly back has been functioning well. I've been letting the chronograph run several times a day for 10-30 minutes and using the flyback about 5 times a day. I don't operate the flyback at quick intervals as I don't want to risk any damage. I'd like to get to the point where I stop using the flyback altogether (not really a feature I need,) but I can't resist the temptation!