Avoid. “Fully Restored” IWC Came Back With the Wrong Crown, Bent Tube and Damaged Crystal
I bought a vintage IWC from Connoisseur of Time because it was represented as “fully restored,” freshly serviced and handled by their “Master Watchmaker.”
Within weeks, the crown and stem came out and the movement shifted inside the case.
What followed was worse.
Connoisseur of Time installed a replacement crown that was obviously wrong for the watch, called the job complete, and demanded $150 for the “repair.” I rejected it. They nevertheless kept the watch until I paid the disputed charge simply to get my property back.
I then sent the watch to my own independent, certified watchmaker.
His findings:
* wrong crown
* wrong case tube
* case tube bent
* wrong crystal
* crystal damaged
* retaining ring not properly fitted
In other words, the watch I sent away to be fixed came back needing another repair to correct the “repair.”
The irony is that my watchmaker found the IWC movement itself running strongly and in decent condition. The problem was the work around it.
I am a longstanding watch collector. I understand that vintage watches can fail. What I do not accept is a dealer selling a watch as “fully restored,” producing this result when it fails almost immediately, and then requiring payment before releasing the watch.
I have the emails, photographs and my watchmaker’s written inspection documenting all of this.
My conclusion is simple: I would not trust Connoisseur of Time with another vintage watch, and I would not buy from them again at any price.