Ongoing issues with Calibre 36

sas

Hi,

My wife bought me a Tag Calibre 36 when we got married, 10 years ago.

It's been in with Tag on 4 occasions since then at about 2 year intervals.

The cost of sending it to the offical service centre in the UK is more than I pay to service my car. In fact the last time I sent it in it cost more than servicing both of our cars that year.

The issues tend to start with it losing time (couple of mins a day) and then leads on to an eventual complete stop.

The 2nd time they had it they allegedly changed the entire mechanism.

So I find myself wondering if it's something I'm doing. I wear it all day most days. I work in IT so it's not getting battered.

I honestly expected years of trouble free usage from something so expensive. I don't know alot about watches however so this may have been naive.

This morning I'm struggling to get it going, hence my post!

The really annoying part is that the issues always seem to start appearing just as the 6 months service warranty is expiring i.e. it could be me but the last 2 times it has appeared to start losing time about then. I put up with it for a year or so and then something worse happens to it.

All thoughts welcome.

SAS

Bullseye1

I've been reading lately that Tag's service department are not offering great service but it looks like you where just unlucky and got a bad watch. All may not be lost however, there is a lady watch maker/repairer in Ireland who has got great reviews. I think there is a link to her site at the top of the watch forum. Her prices are also probably alot less than Tag. If you cannot find the link I will see if I can find it for you.

BTW which exact model. The regular or RS? Do you have a picture?

Bullseye1

BTW here is a link to that lady's site. As you can see she is qualified to service Tags.
http://watchrepairs.ie/

sas

Hi,

Could I have gotten 2 bad watches though? As mentioned, they told me after the second service that they entirely replaced the mechanism.

Mine looks like this so I believe it's the regular one?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TAG-Heuer-Link-Calibre-36-Chronograph-Watch-ref-CT511A-BA0564-/330738049856?pt=AU_Watches&hash=item4d01862340

Funnily enough I live about 10 miles from that repair shop!
I'll try them next time.

Thanks,

SAS

Bullseye1

Oh isn't that the one with the Zenith movement? Very nice. Hopefully some of the other peeps on here can give you better advice. I do know one of them had this watch up for sale in the past 12 months.

sas

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Oh isn't that the one with the Zenith movement? Very nice. Hopefully some of the other peeps on here can give you better advice. I do know one of them had this watch up for sale in the past 12 months.

Yes, I believe it is.

I've dropped an email to that crowd you recommended.

Thanks for your advice.

Homer

I've had and still have a Calibre 36 for the last 9 years nearly. Has been serviced once approximately 3.5 years ago and hasn't given me a minutes trouble. Granted I rarely wear the same watch for more than a few days at a time, but I think you got a Monday morning job. With a price tag in the region of €6k I'd be rightly annoyed if its had the movement/mechanism changed an it's still the same! Wonder did Tag put a new Zenith movement in it??
Id be speaking directly to Tag before you shell out any more money for
Something they should have put right in the first place.

sas

Homer wrote: »

I've had and still have a Calibre 36 for the last 9 years nearly. Has been serviced once approximately 3.5 years ago and hasn't given me a minutes trouble. Granted I rarely wear the same watch for more than a few days at a time, but I think you got a Monday morning job. With a price tag in the region of €6k I'd be rightly annoyed if its had the movement/mechanism changed an it's still the same! Wonder did Tag put a new Zenith movement in it??
Id be speaking directly to Tag before you shell out any more money for
Something they should have put right in the first place.

We bought it in the US in an official Tag store. It was literally a Tag store.

Luckily due to exchange rates etc. at the time we paid around €4k.

I can try speaking to TAG directly I suppose. I assume they will have records of the number of times it's been in and what's been done.

I've always sent it for servicing through a jewellers. One of the chains listed on Tags website as authorised dealers for Ireland.

As regards the movement replacement, mine has the see through back plate and the mechanism looked identical when it came back.

Given the time elapsed I suspect I'll need to grin and bear it but I will certainly attempt to talk to them.

If I do discover anyting of relevance, I'll post bank.

Thank you all for your advice.

Mitch Buchannon

sas wrote: »

So I find myself wondering if it's something I'm doing. I wear it all day most days. I work in IT so it's not getting battered.

Now when you say you work in IT, do you mean work with computer hardware or software ? I'm not a tech head, far from it actually but I believe there are magnets inside a PC and if your taking them apart etc. the movement could become magnetised. Magnets are a popular cause of watch movements loosing time.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/little-warning-about-your-automatic-magnetic-fields-some-info-how-works-361573.html

sas

Mitch Buchannon wrote: »

Now when you say you work in IT, do you mean work with computer hardware or software ? I'm not a tech head, far from it actually but I believe there are magnets inside a PC and if your taking them apart etc. the movement could become magnetised. Magnets are a popular cause of watch movements loosing time.

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/little-warning-about-your-automatic-magnetic-fields-some-info-how-works-361573.html

Definitely 1 to watch. I'm software, not hardware so although that's less likely to be an issue there is potential for other things to have caused it.

It's been behaving itself over the last 24 hours (i.e. still running) so I'll see how it goes.

Thanks