I have a men's Aquaracer that is less than a year old and has hardly been worn, kept in box. Just under a month ago my husband took it out of it's box to wind it up ready to wear but the stem came clean out. It is not broken or snapped, literally it just came out. He has other watches so didn't use force or wind it incorrectly. It was sent back via Goldsmiths to their TAG repair centre who told us it is not covered by warranty as it is considered accidental damage and they want £405 to service and repair it. We argued that it doesn't need a service as it is less than a year old but they are not interested. We have taken it to a reputable well established local watch repair specialist who believes it is a defect in the watch for the stem to just come out so easily. Has anyone had a similar experience with their TAG?

 

I took my Senna F1 back under warranty because the date wasn't working and when I pulled the crown out to demonstrate the problem it came right out. Was told it happens quite often, the important thing was don't ram it back in again. Mine was repaired under warranty no bother.

 

I would expect that to be a warranty thing, would be very unimpressed if it happened to my AR

 

Where's the rest of the stem?

 

Does look a little short?

 

That stem snapped off. Usually due to impact damage but could also be defective I guess. The rest of that stem is probably still in the movement unfortunately… it’s a very inexpensive part, but getting the rest of the stem out is a pain in the ass.

 

lol the rest of the stem is inside of the movement, where it broke off. this was not accidental damage. You cant just break the stem off that far inside the watch. If anything broke, it would be closer to the crown, as that's where the stress on the stem would be. You can take a pair of pliers to the crown, and bend it down like pulling out a loose tooth, and I can't imagine how the stem would break off at that exact point. It almost looks like the stem was pre cut or something.

 

really depends on which watch this is. Hard to judge how much of the stem might be sticking out of the movement. Hopefully it's not flush with the movement. It shouldn't actually be THAT hard to remove, assuming there isn't any other damage, causing the stem to have too much friction. Gotta push the stem back into the movement, then push the stem release, and knock on the other side a little and hope the stem slides out. Carefully tho... Wouldn't want to damage the watch even more.

I'd love to see the condition of the case and any area around the crown. For this to have been an accident, there should be other damage. Shame they don't live in america. I'd love to take a look at the watch.

 

It didn't need a service at 1 year, no. But now it might need a bit of service, as we don't know what other damage was caused when this happened, and or whatever reason for this to happen in the first place. Problem with Tag service, is they typically want to do as much work as possible, and or replace parts, so that there aren't any issues in the future. Replacing a stem is a minute of work. Doing a good job, is much longer.

 

That was why I asked where the rest was bit of a puzzle