Common Watch QC Problems To Look Out For | Consider These Before Buying A New Watch!
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While wristwatch build quality has generally improved over the years, the same can't be said for quality control. It seems that many watch brands, big and small, take their QC about as seriously as McDonald's does its ice cream machine maintenance. While there are plenty of perfectly wearable timepieces, a shockingly high number have imperfections that are difficult to ignore once you spot them. Many of these QC errors aren't technically classed as faults; so, it'd be up to you to pay for any fixes.
Having seen just about every error in the book, after reviewing hundreds of watches on my blog, I figured I'd show you the most common ones that you should keep an eye out for.
Essentially, these are 13 crucial things you should check for as soon as you receive a new watch, so you can get it swapped during the return window if necessary. Please note, many super-cheap watches are almost always going to have some of these; it's the nature of spending so little. Nevertheless, you'll want to stick around because you'll really want to avoid the last two in particular!
1. Misaligned Hands
Okay, the most common problem you're likely to encounter is seconds hand misalignment. This is predominantly found on quartz watches, which only tick once per second (for anyone newer to watches, these are just the normal battery-powered watches you buy, without any fancy bits inside).
Like clocks, most wristwatches have a minute track of 60 notches at the circumference, and the second hand is supposed to tick from marker to marker. Often, watches will leave the factory with a movement or handset that hasn't been fitted perfectly, leaving the hand ticking between the markers, rather than directly onto them. While this doesn't affect the accuracy of the watch, it just doesn't look good.
I've seen many commenters defend watch brands, emphasizing how difficult it is for brands to line up the hands correctly and that you should feel lucky to get a good one. Personally, I couldn't disagree more. It may be a precise task, but when low-cost Casio watches achieve great alignment over 90% of the time, there's no excuse for other, much more expensive brands to be doing far worse.
There are several factors that can also affect the perceived alignment of a second hand, that you should be aware of. The specific movement used can certainly have an effect. Certain makes of movement have ticks that exhibit more recoil or variance. This can cause the second hand to land on, in front of, or behind the markers, seemingly at random; in which case, there's little you can do. One example is the Timex Weekender. That second hand isn't just loud, but it bounces around pretty inconsistently!
2. Marker Misalignment
Perhaps the next most common flaw is marker misalignment. Timepieces with individually applied hour markers are normally the ones that fall victim to this, as only a marginal mistake can make the marker look crooked or off compared to the rest on the dial. As with the second-hand problem, this is fairly easy to spot; usually the larger markers at 12, 3, 6 or 9 will be the ones causing trouble, though not always. In a similar vein, applied brand logos can also end up wonky or offset.
More recently, we've even seen popular brands like Orient completely mess up their printed second markers, so even those aren't off-limits!
3. Misaligned Bezels
Despite their popularity, Seiko has become infamous for misaligning their dive watch bezels, even on their premium product lines. This is where the zero marker, often represented by an inverted triangle with a lume pip, never quite lines up with the 12 o'clock point on the dial. No matter what you try, it will sit either slightly to the left or right. This is usually due to the bezel insert (the colored ring) being snapped or glued into the wrong position within its metal housing.
Similar alignment problems can be found on other bezel types or even crystal-top markings; the Sturhling I reviewed with the crystal-printed logo was a prime example of this.
4. Rotated Dial
Something not designed to rotate is watch dials…usually. A fairly frequent but not immediately noticeable QC error is indeed a completely offset dial. This is where the dial itself isn't aligned properly with the bezel or watch case, positioned either slightly clockwise or anti-clockwise. Most dials are affixed to the watch movement through small pins or 'feet' that basically slot into holes in the movement. If these are broken or are incorrectly positioned during manufacturing, the whole dial will look tilted. These days, most phone cameras have a grid line feature, so you can quickly check if the dial is off, or if your eyes are fooling you!
5. Date wheel misalignment
A related error that sometimes crops up is date window or date wheel misalignment. The hole in the dial that shows the day or date will look off when the dial is misaligned. Sometimes, though the wheel will be misaligned by itself, which can often happen due to the disc-like gear attached to the rear of the wheel coming loose. Fortunately, certain watches, like the Casio Oceanus line, have features that allow the date wheel to be precisely realigned if needed.
Now we get to some of the more egregious QC errors that you'll see every so often. These are the ones that should NEVER have left the factory!
6. Dirt under crystal
What could spoil the allure or your new, beautiful timepie…oh yeah it's dirt under the crystal. Whether in the form of lumps of residue on the dial or pieces or dust or fluff on the underside of the crystal, you won't be able to clean them away without opening up the watch.
These are usually found on lower-end watches and are normally averted by assembling the watch in a super-clean workshop with an efficient extraction system. Some assembly floors are even sealed off and pressurized like aircraft cabins, to reduce airborne dust and debris even further. Obviously, watchmakers are meant to identify and extract any particles that do reach the watch, but some units inevitably fall through the cracks. A lot of low-quality fashion brands outsource their production to far-flung contractors and tend to spend little on quality control; resulting in a higher proportion of such errors.
Luckily, many of these are too small to notice, though other problems are more perceptible.
7. Case Finishing Imperfections
Even some decent watches, such as Bertucci field watches, are prone to having cosmetic deformations in the inner-lug area. Fortunately, this case warping is somewhat concealed by straps in most cases, but it is an unsightly reminder that the watch on your wrist probably isn't a horological marvel.
8. Movement Juddering/Faulty Movement
That said, things can get much worse on that front. The ugliest thing I've seen recently was this. I mean just look at it; it's painful, right? This is a San Martin, a decent watch powered by a faulty Miyota 8000 series movement. I say faulty, but in reality, this hideous stuttering is a fairly common occurrence with these movements, and it doesn't usually affect the accuracy a great deal.
Nevertheless, in some instances, especially when the hand pauses at certain positions, you will see time slowly slip through your fingers. You may see problems like this on other mechanical movements, though quartz watches are exempt. Whichever watch or movement it is, I'd return any with this issue for a replacement, as it's not quickly resolved.
9. Terrible Movement Accuracy
While such mechanical watches aren't nearly as accurate as their battery-powered counterparts and shouldn't be relied upon for precise timekeeping, sometimes their accuracy can be so bad that they sit way out of spec and are completely unusable for any time-related purpose. While the best way to check accuracy is to use a proper timegrapher device, if you want to save your money, you can use apps on your phone to measure accuracy over the course of a few days. Hopefully, you'll detect any major inaccuracies within the returns window.
10. Hair In The Movement
Sometimes, your watch can remain accurate despite having unwanted intruders within it. Yes, I'm talking about rogue hairs inside a movement. I've noticed this problem twice before, though it wouldn't surprise me if it's actually present in more of my watches. In both of those instances, the watches had transparent case rears, so I could identify it straight away, a luxury you won't have with sealed rear watches. While unhygienic, a loose hair in a quartz movement shouldn't really affect anything, whereas I imagine hair in a mechanical one may cause issues later down the line. If your watch lacks a glass back, I'm not sure I'd recommend removing it just to check for hairs, which would require specialist tools and may impair water resistance if not resealed correctly. You also risk scratching the watch; as I've found out first-hand when certain rears simply don't budge.
11. Faulty Clasp
Something that you don't want to budge is your watch when it's on-wrist. Unfortuantely, every so often you'll encounter a strap or bracelet with a faulty clasp, which can result in your watch flying off.
In my experience, this is far more common with push-button bracelets, where faults prevent the clasp from attaching to the prong, meaning the whole thing swings loose with the lightest amount of pressure. If you're purchasing an integrated bracelet watch, I'd 100% keep an eye out for this, as you'll be stuck with a faulty one if you're not careful.
12. Spelling/Grammar Mistakes
Some of the funniest errors are those written directly onto the dial. I'm not talking about the novel-length paragraphs written onto Rolex watches either. No, here I'm talking about the awful grammatical and spelling errors that are commonplace among Chinese home-brand watches. Just One More Watch has featured a string of these, I'll throw a couple here now, so you can see their handy work.
Perhaps these are prime meme watch material, I'll let you be the judge. Still, I'd probably classify these as more design flaws than quality control blunders. Luckily, this gaffe is rare outside of AliExpress specials.
13. Misprints/Bad Printing
Something you're more likely to come across is printing errors, where the text isn't as clear or precise as it should be. I'm unsure exactly what causes this, and it's far from the most common on this list, though it often appears as lettering being roughly finished or incomplete. For a closer look, check out the post about the first-generation Depth Charge dive watch, which had this exact issue!