Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
what-time-is-it
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 3854
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 11:53 am
CW-watches: 1

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by what-time-is-it »

Presumably the C60 Apex also uses the same valve...
Poor testing if the finish is so fragile on a tool watch, especially as it can be no more 4 months old.
Current collection incl Citizen, G-Shock, Rolex, Seiko, Sinn & Tag.

Chris
DavecUK
Expert
Expert
Posts: 249
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:10 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by DavecUK »

PaulJS wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:15 am IMO this is what happens when you start tarting up what is supposed to be a usable, robust tool watch with unnecessary embellishments. A bit of paint was never going to stay put through the rigours of proper use - I clean my dive watches by scrubbing them with a nail brush in fresh water after sea water exposure, so would expect to see paint like this disappearing in short order.

As everything about the watch is spot on for you I would wait for the H paint to vanish in due course ( I think it looks better without anyway ) and contact CW about the 'failure' and suggest that they stop painting the 'He' in future !
100% agree with the above and the He would look far better as the simple engraving without paint. Of course you must not touch it yourself or get anyone but CW to do anything (unless they authorise it). The only exception I would give to the advice above is to contact CW and first find out if this is indeed even covered under warranty (often certain external issues are not covered by some manufacturers). After this you have a few options, or things that might happen.

1. They repair it and it sounds like you don't want this to happen, but you may have no choice if you want to keep warranty alive should anything happen to the He Valve e.g. it leaks, tarnishes, falls off etc..

2. They note the problem, you wait for the H to fall off as well and still have the option for the next 5 years for them to fix the issue (unlikely they will agree, but you never know)

3. You ask them to only remove the H and leave it as a blank engraving with your warranty intact...If they would agree, absolutely the option I would go for. Unless you want to show off you have an He valve in a watch design that clearly takes great pains to hide it. Turnaround for such a simple job should be quick, or they might authorise you to have a trophy shop/similar clean it off.
unforced_error
Junior
Junior
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 4:50 pm
CW-watches: 2

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by unforced_error »

I would send it back for repairs just so the issue is documented in case of further warranty issues with the movement. Otherwise this could be a slippery slope for customer service to suggest that the watch was subjected to abnormal wear and deny a warranty claim.

When the winding wheel of my Malvern Slimline broke off during winding, customer service claimed that I overwound the watch despite it happening on a second turn from dead. It's actually a common problem with the crown engagement mechanism of ebauche ETA-2801s and I referenced several other various forum posts. Nonetheless, I was basically told I was incompetent in winding a mechnical watch and had to pay for a service and shipping both ways.
C60 Trident Pro 600 COSC SH21 - Red Bezel LE
Bel Canto - Watches@ LE
User avatar
tikkathree
Trusted Seller
Trusted Seller
Posts: 7363
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:21 am
CW-watches: 1
Location: East Anglia - arr 'aas right buh

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by tikkathree »

unforced_error wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:40 pm I would send it back for repairs just so the issue is documented in case of further warranty issues with the movement. Otherwise this could be a slippery slope for customer service to suggest that the watch was subjected to abnormal wear and deny a warranty claim.

When the winding wheel of my Malvern Slimline broke off during winding, customer service claimed that I overwound the watch despite it happening on a second turn from dead. It's actually a common problem with the crown engagement mechanism of ebauche ETA-2801s and I referenced several other various forum posts. Nonetheless, I was basically told I was incompetent in winding a mechnical watch and had to pay for a service and shipping both ways.
Some service, some customer service eh? I bet you were thrilled by that.
C60 MKI, MKII, MKIII: "some",
C6 & C60 Kingfishers,
C600 Tritechs,
C63 "some",
C65 "some",
C4, C40, C8, C9, C3, C5, C20 & 23FLE
Some other brands
User avatar
mabotham
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 2909
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 11:10 am
CW-watches: 5
LE-two: yes
Location: Chesterfield

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by mabotham »

Very poor. Return for it to be rectified
Twan-Sloot
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:51 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Twan-Sloot »

Wow overwhelming response on this,

Yes I agree with all of you this is shoddy and poor quality, this shouldn’t happen on a 2 month old watch (received end of june) so I am going to contact CS about it and hear their response.

As for the look, I too like the look of bare titanium over the painted He, but on the other hand I like a watch to be like intended, but since the intended design is poor, I probably not going to do anything about it, and everybody seems to like it without the paint.

As for the warranty, seriously if my warranty would be voided by adding some paint this will be my last CW. But can’t imagine that would happen.
(after all It doesn’t matter ain’t doing it anyway but just sayin.)

So concluding, I will wait until H comes off as well and hear out CS. Will report back here
nordwulf

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by nordwulf »

DavecUK wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 12:29 pm
PaulJS wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:15 am IMO this is what happens when you start tarting up what is supposed to be a usable, robust tool watch with unnecessary embellishments. A bit of paint was never going to stay put through the rigours of proper use - I clean my dive watches by scrubbing them with a nail brush in fresh water after sea water exposure, so would expect to see paint like this disappearing in short order.

As everything about the watch is spot on for you I would wait for the H paint to vanish in due course ( I think it looks better without anyway ) and contact CW about the 'failure' and suggest that they stop painting the 'He' in future !
100% agree with the above and the He would look far better as the simple engraving without paint. Of course you must not touch it yourself or get anyone but CW to do anything (unless they authorise it). The only exception I would give to the advice above is to contact CW and first find out if this is indeed even covered under warranty (often certain external issues are not covered by some manufacturers). After this you have a few options, or things that might happen.

1. They repair it and it sounds like you don't want this to happen, but you may have no choice if you want to keep warranty alive should anything happen to the He Valve e.g. it leaks, tarnishes, falls off etc..

2. They note the problem, you wait for the H to fall off as well and still have the option for the next 5 years for them to fix the issue (unlikely they will agree, but you never know)

3. You ask them to only remove the H and leave it as a blank engraving with your warranty intact...If they would agree, absolutely the option I would go for. Unless you want to show off you have an He valve in a watch design that clearly takes great pains to hide it. Turnaround for such a simple job should be quick, or they might authorise you to have a trophy shop/similar clean it off.
CW only gives a warranty on the movement. Case, crystal, dial, bezel, hands, He valve and everything else do not have any warranty at all. So this paint issue is not really their problem. The OP has worn the watch so can't return it either. CW warranty is not all that great. I rather have a 1 or 2 year full warranty than a 5 year movement warranty.

If the OP decides to fix the problem himself or have someone else do it, the warranty of the movement will not be affected.

But if I was the guy in the big office in Maidenhead, I would contact the OP, have the watch picked up, fix the problem free of charge and have it back to him within a week.
Macdaz
Senior Guru
Senior Guru
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue May 26, 2015 9:58 pm
CW-watches: 14
Location: UK

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Macdaz »

nordwulf wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 9:36 pm CW only gives a warranty on the movement. Case, crystal, dial, bezel, hands, He valve and everything else do not have any warranty at all. So this paint issue is not really their problem. The OP has worn the watch so can't return it either. CW warranty is not all that great. I rather have a 1 or 2 year full warranty than a 5 year movement warranty.

If the OP decides to fix the problem himself or have someone else do it, the warranty of the movement will not be affected.

But if I was the guy in the big office in Maidenhead, I would contact the OP, have the watch picked up, fix the problem free of charge and have it back to him within a week.
Consumer Protection law offers the protection here and is not restricted to the movement. A product that is not fit for purpose or operating as intended and of the expected quality is definitely their problem.

For the moment at least, EU law offers significant protection
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/d ... dex_en.htm

Before this, UK consumer law under the Sale of goods act was similar. If something goes wrong within a couple of months that is definitely not fit for purpose and as intended. Unless a manufacturer/seller is prepared to say that they only design their products to last two months!
SMP|Victorinox Groundforce|Mako/XL|Steinhart OVM|Smiths Everest|C60 Trident 600|C8 Pilot Mk2|Vostok 1965|C8 Flyer Mk1|Seiko Monster|C7 Rapide|Steinhart Aviation|C65 GMT|C9 AMGTLE|C60 Bronze|C8 Al Deere|C65 SC|C63 GMT|C65 Chrono|C63 Auto|C65 Dune|2023 FLE
Twan-Sloot
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:51 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Twan-Sloot »

Well before we go along the “I want my money” route haha, let’s give CW a chance to rectify this situation.

Have send CS a message
Zygote23
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2019 3:14 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Zygote23 »

I've only been about the forum for a short while but I'm pretty certain I'll be not be opting for a CW anytime soon.
Mikkei4
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 3587
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:20 pm
CW-watches: 0

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Mikkei4 »

I appreciate fully that this is an expensive watch that's supposed to be usable to some ridiculous depth, that stories of poor CS and quality of build from CW have appeared on here more than we or they would wish and that the OP has every right to be dismayed after shelling out £1250 but this is a bit of paint that has gone missing on a part of the watch that really they needn't have bothered putting any paint into.

Does this make it "not fit for purpose" or not "operating as intended"? We'll probably never all agree judging by the variations in responses and for sure it's unlikely that that particular model will ever be tested sufficiently to 1000metres to see if it is really fit for purpose or not.

Looks like the OP has done the right thing by contacting CW CS. If it was mine I'd be asking them to take the paint out of the H, providing that this wouldn't void the warranty of course.
Twan-Sloot
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:51 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Twan-Sloot »

Zygote23 wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:23 pm I've only been about the forum for a short while but I'm pretty certain I'll be not be opting for a CW anytime soon.
Well, I agree with you that it hasn’t been too positive on the forum lately, but that’s a little inherent to a forum where customers come to point out something is wrong, I truly like my elite 1000, I also have a Hamilton from the same price range, My hamilton Offers me way less for the money, no chronometer, no titanium no ceramic or anything like that, besides that I think the case of the new c60 especially the elite 1000 is spectacularly refined compared to cases in the same price range.

My CW has felt like a more expensive watch to me than for instance my Hamilton, that might be personal preferences but to me it has.

Does this take away my issue with the paint, No it does not, that’s just not good.
Does this issue make the elite 1000 a bad watch I don’t think so either, just a small issue on an otherwise perfect watch.

And I will see what CS will have to say about it.
Twan-Sloot
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 28
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:51 pm

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Twan-Sloot »

Agree with you Mikkei 4, well said
User avatar
nbg
Senior Forumgod
Senior Forumgod
Posts: 13151
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:43 pm
CW-watches: 14
Location: UK

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by nbg »

I doubt that any of this model will ever be sufficiently tested beyond 40 metres! :)

Neil
Other watch forums of interest:
TZ-UK
Fat-Sam
Guru
Guru
Posts: 394
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:51 pm
CW-watches: 1
Location: Hackney/Islington

Re: Paint has come off He valve, Elite 1000

Post by Fat-Sam »

I genuinely prefer it without the paint but would be contacting CW to let them know what happened

I'd also probably use a small pin to flick out the the paint on the H to make it uniform.

*was going to try and make a pun out of "dropping an e" but it's been a long day
“Downsizing…”
JLC Reverso Duoface med.*gift
Omega Seamaster Deville 1961
DIY Watch Club Diver
DIY Explorer
Raymond Weil Toccata
SevenFriday P1/01
Longines x HODINKEE *FS
Laco Aachen 42 *FS
Tribus MDS *FS
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post