QC issue with Worldglow - opinions requested

[MichaelMD]

Good morning, and good afternoon to my UK friends. As you know I recently purchased a CW C1 Worldglow. I think I may have been the first on this forum. I have really enjoyed the watch so far. Here comes the "but" part. ...but, I noticed a quality control issue after wearing a few days. And as they say, once it has been seen it cannot be unseen.

To get to the point, there is a pretty sizable speck of dust or debris inside the crystal. It appears from my eyes that it is on the bottom of the inside sapphire crystal. The crystal that sits over the lume where the meridian lines are printed that separate the 24 timezones.

It is not a chunk of lume. I know this because it does not glow. It is strange because in certain angles and lighting it is barely noticeable unless you know to look for it. But at sharper angles under any sort of natural or artificial light it stands out pretty obviously. See the photos below.

My question is what do you recommend I do about it? Should I send this in or just live with it? Should I send in now or wait a little while? Wondering if I should give it maybe six months just to make sure there aren't any other issues that pop up that I could get taken care of at the same time? Obviously I'm not looking forward to being without my brand new watch for 3 or 4 months.

Your thoughts and guidance are appreciated. This is my first CW watch so I'm a newbie at all this. I'm bummed about this because I really do like this watch a lot...

[jtc]

CW will sort it under warranty, looks like dirt on the underside of the crystal

[StrapMeister]

That is such a shame and somewhat frustrating.
The thing is, now that you have spotted this, you will always be drawn to it so the only real solution is to have it rectified.
Therefore, I would flag this it up with CW Customer Services and see what they have to say.
Use, and fill in, the online Contact Customer Service form in the first instance.
Then, at some point, you should get an email reply from them.
You can then reply to that email an attach the pictures.
Almost certainly they will ask you to send it back and they will fix it under warranty.

[ajax87]

This same exact thing just happened to me with my Super compressor.

Link to that thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56007

Here’s how my situation played out:

I noticed the speck on 2/2.
I emailed CW about it on 2/3, proposed they exchange for a new watch (was only about 2 months old).
Declan with CW replied on 2/4 declining the exchange, saying they’ll set up for DHL to pick it up for repair.
I requested DHL pickup on 2/10, Declan set it up and they picked it up at no charge.
Arrived at CW 2/12, CW acknowledged receipt to repairs department 2/15.
CW emailed saying repair was complete on 2/17.
Despatched via DHL 2/18.
Arrived in my city in the US for delivery on 2/21.
DHL has it on hold due to inclement weather, but it’s in my city at least and I should have it back within a day or two.

About 20 days from noticing the issue to having it back in my hands repaired.

I’ll update my thread with this info once I actually get the watch. Weather is clearing, hope it’ll be today or tomorrow!

It’s an annoying little thing to happen. Maybe they need better air filters in their assembly room

[Viognier]

A question for CW customer service.....they can help you where the forum cannot.

[MichaelMD]

This same exact thing just happened to me with my Super compressor.

Link to that thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56007

Here’s how my situation played out:

I noticed the speck on 2/2.
I emailed CW about it on 2/3, proposed they exchange for a new watch (was only about 2 months old).
Declan with CW replied on 2/4 declining the exchange, saying they’ll set up for DHL to pick it up for repair.
I requested DHL pickup on 2/10, Declan set it up and they picked it up at no charge.
Arrived at CW 2/12, CW acknowledged receipt to repairs department 2/15.
CW emailed saying repair was complete on 2/17.
Despatched via DHL 2/18.
Arrived in my city in the US for delivery on 2/21.
DHL has it on hold due to inclement weather, but it’s in my city at least and I should have it back within a day or two.

About 20 days from noticing the issue to having it back in my hands repaired.

I’ll update my thread with this info once I actually get the watch. Weather is clearing, hope it’ll be today or tomorrow!

It’s an annoying little thing to happen. Maybe they need better air filters in their assembly room

Thanks for your reply. Does look very similar to your situation. That's good news about how quickly it was returned! Gives me hope. I had heard on some other threads about 3 months+ of waiting time but maybe for this type of issue they speed up the process.

[exHowfener]

Looks like someone in assembly has dandruff.

Glad it's sorted so quickly.

[ajax87]

Thanks for your reply. Does look very similar to your situation. That's good news about how quickly it was returned! Gives me hope. I had heard on some other threads about 3 months+ of waiting time but maybe for this type of issue they speed up the process.

I’ve seen those threads too, and I was nervous about sending it in. I’m not sure if CW really likes me, or if I just got lucky. Actually I think it’s just that this is a super simple repair. I might have even done it myself if not for the compression spring mechanism in the case back. Not to mention the warranty void and the cost of these watches.

[MichaelMD]

Appreciate all the replies. Is the general consensus that there's no reason to wait before sending it in? Just wondering if something else comes up over the next six months or year of ownership then I will have to send in a second time.

[scooter]

I can't see the point of waiting unless it doesn't bother you.

If something else does go wrong in the future it will just have to be sent off again.

scooter

[nordwulf]

Almost certainly they will ask you to send it back and they will fix it under warranty.

They won't fix it under warranty because there is no warranty on the watch itself. Only the movement has a 60 month guarantee for mechanical faults.

They will probably still fix it but not because it's covered under warranty.

[Richard D]

Appreciate all the replies. Is the general consensus that there's no reason to wait before sending it in? Just wondering if something else comes up over the next six months or year of ownership then I will have to send in a second time.

Doesn’t inspire much confidence in the watch, seems that you are predicting some other fault. I hope not for you.

[ajax87]

Almost certainly they will ask you to send it back and they will fix it under warranty.

They won't fix it under warranty because there is no warranty on the watch itself. Only the movement has a 60 month guarantee for mechanical faults.

They will probably still fix it but not because it's covered under warranty.

Good point. The warranty is for movement faults. I didn’t even consider they might not cover this issue under warranty, but I guess they technically didn’t have to.

Nice that CW accepted fault without quibbling and repaired for free still.

[MichaelMD]

Appreciate all the replies. Is the general consensus that there's no reason to wait before sending it in? Just wondering if something else comes up over the next six months or year of ownership then I will have to send in a second time.

Doesn’t inspire much confidence in the watch, seems that you are predicting some other fault. I hope not for you.

I don't expect any other problems, but yeah this doesn't inspire a ton of confidence in their quality control folks if they let a brand new watch that is splashed all over their website and magazine out the door with a foreign substance on the crystal that can be easily seen without magnification. This was on there from the second I opened the box. You can see it on the photos I posted the day I received it. I was probably one of the first people in the world to buy this watch so I'm really surprised they didn't catch this before it went out.

So I guess with a brand new design I was wondering if I should hold off for a couple months to make sure nothing else comes up. But since this is very similar to the C1 worldtimer they put out a couple years ago I don't expect any other issues. I will probably contact CW today and keep everyone posted on the progress.

[Richard D]

^^^^^I do hope all is resolved soon.