My IWC Mark XV hasn't run very well for years, what should I do?

I have a circa 1999 Mark XV. For at least the past ten years it has not run very well. It sort of runs out of power after less than 24 hours, and runs slow.

I have had it serviced multiple times by IWC. It has only ever been serviced by IWC. They fix it and then it comes back and works ... better, for a while, but still seems to struggle to stay powered for 24 hours. It works when I'm very active, but when it's just a regular day at the office, often it runs out of power.

Again, it's been serviced by IWC multiple times. I've spent thousands on servicing it. I'm getting a bit tired of it and thinking of selling for "parts / non-working" on Ebay.

Any suggestions?

If you have other automatic watches and they are OK then it's not you, it's the watch. I've got a pretty sedentary lifestyle and have owned a lot of automatics, including an aquatimer with the same movement as yours and not had problems, so I'd be surprised if it was you. If you would like to keep the watch then I'd suggest getting it serviced one last time, but not at IWC. It's a common movement and you should be able to find someone who will service it and, more importantly, will listen to your concerns and take them into account when they carry out the work.

Here in the UK, IWC have a 24 month guarantee after a complete service.

Is that not the same for you?

I have the same watch, it definitely should not be working like that ... I can leave it for a day or so after wearing it and it will keep going.

www.iwc.com/en/services/service-guarantee.html

It's definitely the watch, not me. Even my low-activte days I'm moving around quite a bit. Right now I'm wearing my Seiko 5 and it's doing great!

Maybe I'll take it in to IWC one last time and explain, "please make this work". I'm just not sure if it's really worth another > $1,000 on a watch that's worth $3,000 at most. Maybe it's time for another watch, probably another brand.

My experience of the London boutique is that they are not interested in you unless you are buying a new watch. My 3536 returned from service with a misaligned bezel/dial (which I didnt notice when I picked it up), and running slow. One week later the crown jammed when winding it (I was not changing the time or date - it had just been off my wrist for a day). I took it back for repair under warranty and told them about the other two issues and asked about the IWC policy of not setting watches to run slow. They denied that there was such a policy. I specifically asked them to make sure it was regulated not to run slow. I'd written all this down and gave them a letter to accompany the watch. They fixed the crown but the watch still runs slow and the bezel/dial alignment is better but still not like it was before the service.

I remember when it was a pleasure to visit an IWC dealer to take a watch for a service. I've got a 666, Mark 11, Mark XII and 3536 and none of them will ever be sent to IWC for servicing again.

Your watch has a pretty common movement and there are many other places which will service it for you, be glad of your custom and listen to you about the problems.

Wow, if they have a policy of regulating watches to run slow that's crazy. It does seem like mine always ran slow from their regulation. Anyone would prefer a little bit fast than a little bit slow.

It is a common ETA movement. But rather than messing around, I think it's time for me to get a new watch. I've already spent thousands on service, it's enough.

I am not sure if or where current specs are located on the IWC website regrading acceptable rates on movemnts leaving the manufacture, but it used to be that they had to run between 0 and +6 seconds per day. Always fast, never slow.

I searched online at the time and could only find references to the spec. but nothing on the IWC site, just links to the IWC.CH site that no longer exists. I remember it as 0 to +7 secs, and definitely never slow. I just had a flip through one of my old catalogues (1994) to see if it might be referenced there, but couldn't find anything. It's a shame they've given up on it.

I think you are correct, 0 to +7 seconds per day and never slow. I confused it with COSC (-4 to +6). It used to be a reason why IWC movements were not submitted to COSC for certification; because IWC's own internal standards were higher! I guess that such claims invite cumbersome and sometimes unnecessary service interventions. I would, however, expect a movement coming back from IWC service to be in top running condition.

I never understood why COSC was negative anything. I understand that a mechanical watch will not generally be as accurate as a quartz one, but having a watch run slow goes against the basis of keeping time for catching trains, meetings, etc.

I ended up selling it on Ebay. The buyer said he liked working on these ETA movements. He figured out that somehow the rotor was dragging. It wasn't just a problem with the bearings. He's trying to get it fixed. It's a bit disappointing that IWC wasn't able to fix this after several attempts. At this point, I'm not a Mark XV owner anymore and will probably look at other brands for my next luxury watch.