# Chronograph hand does not line up perfectly



## yinyinlayyuu (Jun 4, 2020)

Hello,

I just received my first Zenith watch today. I bought it new. It is A384 revival. I noticed that the second hand of the chronograph is not perfectly aligned to the 12 hour marker. It just a hair to the left but my OCD is bothering me. 
Is it usual with Zenith chronos or A384 revivals? 
I bought it from overseas and it was an inconvenient experience just to receive the package because of the custom issues, leather strap policies and corona outbreak. It took a month from the day that I made the payment to the day the watch is delivered.
Now I finally received it and the alignment of the second hand bothers me. I understand that it is not a very serious issue. 
But should I tolerate this and try to learn how to withhold my OCD because it will be another headache to send it back or
should I send it back because it will bother me every time I look at the watch and for the quality and price range of Zenith this is not acceptable?


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## heb (Feb 24, 2006)

Such alignment issues are quite common for ALL BRANDS of mechanical chronographs, regardless of cost. To have a perfectly functioning mechanical chronograph with perfect resets and perfect coordination of all chronograph hands is very rare. Anyway, it would and does bother me too; send it in. But in my experience, the first time may or may not fix the problem. So please hang in there.

Good luck,
heb


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## sempervivens (Sep 24, 2006)

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Zenith! Indeed the second hand could be 1/10th second off. Tough call but if you're sure it's off and it will bother you simply return it. What's another month if you want to keep and enjoy this watch for many years?


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## yinyinlayyuu (Jun 4, 2020)

heb said:


> Such alignment issues are quite common for ALL BRANDS of mechanical chronographs, regardless of cost. To have a perfectly functioning mechanical chronograph with perfect resets and perfect coordination of all chronograph hands is very rare. Anyway, it would and does bother me too; send it in. But in my experience, the first time may or may not fix the problem. So please hang in there.
> 
> Good luck,
> heb


Thank you for sharing your experience. It will keep that in mind.


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## yinyinlayyuu (Jun 4, 2020)

sempervivens said:


> Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Zenith! Indeed the second hand could be 1/10th second off. Tough call but if you're sure it's off and it will bother you simply return it. What's another month if you want to keep and enjoy this watch for many years?


Thank you. I am pretty sure it is off and I asked a friend to look at in metal to make sure that my eyes are not tricking me. I appreciate you for the motivation. I just contacted the seller that I would like to return the watch.


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## WTSP (May 6, 2012)

Wow, full return? I agree that sending it back by mail to get it fixed would be a huge pain and potentially result with the issue not being fully resolved or with a new issue being created (scratched caseback, dust under the crystal, etc. ). 

I’d almost be tempted to have a local watch shop adjust it, if there’s somebody you can trust. Technically it might void any warranty that you might have, but that’s only if the seller finds out...

On occasion I’ll open a watch myself to fix simple stuff, like screws or other matter floating around in the case. You’d want to have the right tools and some confidence before inboxing a movement and removing the central seconds hand though. They have very thin posts.


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## Malilis (Mar 12, 2013)

WTSP said:


> Wow, full return? I agree that sending it back by mail to get it fixed would be a huge pain and potentially result with the issue not being fully resolved or with a new issue being created (scratched caseback, dust under the crystal, etc. ).
> 
> I'd almost be tempted to have a local watch shop adjust it, if there's somebody you can trust. Technically it might void any warranty that you might have, but that's only if the seller finds out...
> 
> On occasion I'll open a watch myself to fix simple stuff, like screws or other matter floating around in the case. You'd want to have the right tools and some confidence before inboxing a movement and removing the central seconds hand though. They have very thin posts.


I fully agree with the above opinion .. to adjust this hand is not very difficult .. a competent watchmaker should be able to fix it .. and to avoid sending it back is appreciable!
Good luck,


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## lvt (Sep 15, 2009)

Try to run the chronograph for a couple of days while resetting the chrono from time to time to see if it fixes itself.

Personally I found the watch quite interesting and I may pay a little money to have it fixed by a good local watchmaker. Reinstalling the chrono hand shouldn't take long as it doesn't involve any other operation on the movement.


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## _Mechanical_Art_ (Jun 2, 2020)

Such a small discrepancy is well within reason, especially for a brand new timepiece.

I had a Defy 21 that reset a bit off from time to time, but as stated above, using the chrono function helps to break it in. The issue went away, as yours likely will too.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## WTSP (May 6, 2012)

I think the issue with the Defy 21 may be different than with the El Primero 400. My understanding is that the 21 often needs to have the reset button pushed all the way in to properly reset the central seconds hand. I had that with an Ebel 139. It drove me crazy so I sold it. It’s good to hear that this resolved over time with the 21.

Most chronographs I’ve ever owned, and all the EP 3019 or 400 will flick back to the zero location without having to push the reset button all the way in. The spring seems strong enough to do this without additional pressure. If the hand resets consistently to the same spot, and that spot is always off by a certain margin, it’s an issue with the positioning of the hand, not the same as with pushing issue with the 21. 

Sometimes the central seconds hand is loose. Then when you reset, the hand may flick around in either direction in an unpredictable way, landing in slightly different locations each time. 

There’s probably other ways that the central seconds hand get be off center, but those are the ones I’m aware off.


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## yinyinlayyuu (Jun 4, 2020)

WTSP said:


> Wow, full return? I agree that sending it back by mail to get it fixed would be a huge pain and potentially result with the issue not being fully resolved or with a new issue being created (scratched caseback, dust under the crystal, etc. ).
> 
> I'd almost be tempted to have a local watch shop adjust it, if there's somebody you can trust. Technically it might void any warranty that you might have, but that's only if the seller finds out...
> 
> On occasion I'll open a watch myself to fix simple stuff, like screws or other matter floating around in the case. You'd want to have the right tools and some confidence before inboxing a movement and removing the central seconds hand though. They have very thin posts.


Thank you for your suggestion. Do you think, the dealer will find out if somebody open the watch? I mean is there some sort of seal inside to indicate if the watch is open by somebody or not? Please excuse my ignorant question. Can sending the watch to repair shop result in scratches when they try to open the case?

The dealer in UK said "If the watch has any manufacturer faults it can be assessed and fixed (if needed) by the warranty" but what the dealer said was a bit turn off for me because I paid for a brand new watch and they are telling me to get it fixed right out of the box.


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## WTSP (May 6, 2012)

To my knowledge, unless the local service guy makes any mistakes or puts any markings under the caseback or in the case somewhere (some of them do, like dates for reference), it’s unlikely that the original service center will detect anything. Of course I could be wrong. 

My experience with servicing is that there is at least a 50/50 chance that the service person will add a scratch or two to the case somewhere. The main places that happens is around the under side of the lugs if they take off the strap to facilitate servicing, or around any indents used for twist-in casebacks. It’s easy for the devices they use to unscrew casebacks to slip. Personally in put a thin flexible plastic sheet over the case before opening them with a caseback tool. It’s surprising how many service people just go metal on metal, slip, leave horrible scratches and just return the watch to the owner.


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## junzo13 (Mar 15, 2012)

This just happened to me, but my watch was a Hamilton Intramatic Chrono, and it wasn't just a hair misaligned, more like 2 seconds to the left. Though I found a workaround to fix it, by resetting the sweep hand at the 3 o'clock position for several times until it aligns again.


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## WTSP (May 6, 2012)

I have that on an old Ebel with the El Primero in it. If the central chrono seconds hand is off center but can be moved by using the momentum from resetting in one direction or another, it likely means that the collar/tube holding the hand to the central pinion is loose. The whole hand likely needs to be replaced. I've been too lazy to get that done on my Ebel, but I did get it done on my vintage Zenith A384. Here was the result of that process. My central seconds hand is set a fraction of a millimeter past its zero point.
Misaligned or misprinted dial components on vintage El...

I find it incredible that Zenith has alignment issues to this day, even in their website stock photos. Is there a reason for this? Are chronograph hands supposed to be set a fraction of a second past their zero point?!


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## Nathan356 (Mar 20, 2016)

FWIW my EP is just like the illustration above, resets consistently about 1/10 second past zero. When it comes time for a service I'll get it fixed, but honestly I felt like that was "within spec" at least for me. To have them open it up just to fix that when everything else about the watch was perfect seemed to be tempting fate. I'd rather wait for a regular service interval, or if something else goes wrong within the warranty period, then fix both at the same time. But the watch has been rock solid and I use the chrono pretty frequently.


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