Top Gun chronograph jerkiness

Bought my second IWC last week, a Top Gun chronograph 3880 (first IWC was a Portuguese 7day automatic). I noticed a problem with the chronograph second hand. It tends to be jerky, as in it will sweep normally, then every now and then stop and pause, then jump to catch up. It keeps time accurately enough, but the stutter is bothersome for a brand new watch. It is repeatable, it occurs between 1 and 3 o'clock position and when it has ample power reserve. If I let it run for a day off my wrist and drain the power reserve, it goes away.

Any thoughts? its about 10 days old, bought from my local AD.

Hello, welcome to the forum! I think the second's hand is getting stuck for some reason, and when the torque is great enough to dislodge it, the hand jerks forward to catch up. One reason why this happens on some watches with a center seconds hand (chronographs included) is when the seconds hand is slightly bent upwards and its touching the glass. Of course there could be other reasons as well.

Since this is happening in a brand new watch, you should take it back to the AD. If possible you could record a video of the event on your phone. This may come in handy if the problem does not show itself when you visit the AD. Full warranty should cover it.

Do let us know how it turns out! All the best!

I noticed the same behavior on my GST Perpetul Calendar when I got it 14 years ago - I never sent it in for service - after a few years it smoothed out a little.

Hello,

First, welcome to the forum!

I don't enough about the 3880 but if looks like it is based on the Valjoux 7750 movement--I could be wrong and will defer to the experts. If so, I understand that this flutter is a typical trait of this watch. You can read about here in a previous post.

Regards, George

IWC FORUM LINK

That is an IWC in-house 89365 movement. Take it back to be sent to IWC to be reviewed. I have had some experience with the same movement and chrono issues that was resolved by an eventual replacement of the original watch. You want a long lasting time piece, thus take the punt and get it back to IWC. (a word of warning, don't take advise from the AD's watchmaker, IWC services all their own in-house movements!)

Dear WatchJunkie,

Thanks for the update about the reference 3880 and that it contains an inhouse movement. It is hard to keep track of all these models and what makes them tick. :)

Regard, George

Update on the process. Brought the watch back to the AD a couple of weeks ago. The sales staff could immediately see the problem, took it in and gave me a receipt. I came back a few days later, and was told the technician could not see a problem, and thus did not investigate further. When I asked if he had wound up the watch as I had noted, they did not know. Manager came out and was able to recreate the problem on an IWC TopGun Miramar. He said that its not a defect, but normal operation. When I asked how this could be considered acceptable for a $10,000 watch, he said that it was the nature of hand made mechanical watches to be this way, and that even [More expensive brand X] exhibited such peculiarities. This isn't what I was told about quality swiss craftsman ship before I bought the watch, in fact I was told the exact opposite. At this point I told them it was either a problem that I wanted fixed, or if they considered it normal operations, I wanted a refund. They said they would check with the main importer and get back to me in a week. Its been a week and contrary to what they said they kept it in-house for a week, and technician couldn't identify a problem, thus they will now forward it to the main importer/dealer. I will say that everyone involved has been friendly and polite, and trying to be helpful, but they also exhibited varying levels of incompetence. I did drop an email to IWC directly last week to see if this is normal operations. They have not yet replied.

Seeing the other threads on this movement, it seems that either A) there are issues with its design/manufacture or B) its rare problem, but then there issues on customer service.

Yours could be the start of a horror story. The chrono should function in a smooth and flawless way of course, mine does, please DON'T accept any sweet talk pretext. I wonder in which part of the world you live, I hope the country you live has adequate customer protection laws, like in western Europe, you may need them. Good luck!

Kind regards,
Paul

Well, it appears the horror story has started...

After 3 weeks, I continue to get mixed singles from my AD on the status of my watch. Its now at the authorized technician at the IWC importer. They have proven very difficult to get in touch with, and after 2 weeks, they told me they could not see a problem. Over the phone, I restated the the issue, and the lady on the phone said she could now see the issue and would get back to me on what to do. A week later, they reversed course and said there is no issue observed, as proof, they sent me a video of my watch vs. another watch in inventory. In the video they sent me, the problem is still evident. I even imported the video into my video editor for a frame-by-frame analysis. The problem persists exactly as I previously described.

Also, no reply from IWC to the inquiry I sent via the official website.

Don't accept mediocracy from these people with whom you've had dealings. There's a good chance that none of know what they're talking about. This sort of thing is an every day problem with AD,I've been there done that. GET IT SENT BACK TO SCHAFFAUSEN-DEMAND IT!!!!

In my experience, many chronographs operate in this fashion, be they humble 7750s, or in-house masterpieces. My CF3 exhibits slight jerkiness at certain points in its rotation, as did my old Top Gun Doppel. I've also seen this behavior from Patek and Rolex. In fact, the smoothest sweep I've seen yet is from my 30 year old Sinn 142S, which houses a workhorse Lemania 5100.

That said, if you're not happy, you're not happy. Hopefully this can be sorted out to your satisfaction.

Regards,
Adam

A chronograph seconds hand will never be as smooth as a watch with a non chronograph centre sweep seconds. From my understanding, the drive to the chronograph hand is not direct and goes through a few gears and a clutch.
Am I correct?

Some good news today...

The regional IWC representative happened to be in town and saw my watch. He said it has a problem, and my AD will send the watch to Singapore for service. I'm sure Singapore will be better than home (Bangkok), but I have this nagging suspicion that it will require a trip to Switzerland. I'm told it will take over a month to repair. As its a brand new watch, they will extend the warranty period as well. In all, I endured 26 days of being told that there was no problem or that the jerkiness is normal before I got someone of authority to recognize the issue. The worst part is that I've had to follow up via phone or in person on a daily basis for 2 weeks for any progress to be made.

Things I have learned and names I feel should be shared, not all IWC service centers are the same. My AD (Cortina Watches, who I have bought before from), is limited to what they can service (they are listed on this website as a service center). They were as helpful as they could be, but the main service center/IWC Importer (Pendulum watches) was absolutely horrible. They were very difficult to get a hold of, never called you back, never responded to any voice or email, and said there was no visible issue when there clearly was. I'm told by my better informed friends that Pendulum gives the least possible service to watches not bought from them.