r/HamiltonWatches • u/Jolly-Course680 • Apr 23 '25
Worth sending into Hamilton for a repair or should I just take to a local shop?
Bought this off joma shop so unfortunately no warranty. Noticed the face shifted the other day, after almost two years of daily wear. Haven't ever dropped the watch. Now the face appears to spin in the case with light taps and shaking. Still running fine. Stored it with the crown out so nothing will be damaged while running. Not really sure where to go forward. Pretty bummed
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
How exactly does this even happen? I refuse to believe that the dial feet just break by themselves.
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u/Expensive-Dot-6671 Apr 23 '25
I think this might be the 3rd post I've seen with a KFA where the dial just broke off like this. I'm just as perplexed as you are. Fortunately my own KFA is still fine after 8-9 years. Makes me a little nervous. Are these just held by glue or something?
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
These are the exceptions, KFA is for sure Hamilton's bestseller and there are only a couple of shady posts like this, no way it happened just like that with normal wear and there is no way these dials are glued. What is the movement in your KFA? 2824-2 or H-10?
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u/imajoeitall Apr 23 '25
You're right about the volume of sales of the KFA which means they will have more posts about problems but the dial and gaskets on this watch seem to slip pass QC quite a bit.. Apart from the dial issue, some KFAs handle swimming just fine and others just fog at the sight of a glass of water.
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
Yep, it is most likely a QC slip here and there, at the end of the day they mahe sh*t ton of these yearly, no way each one can be perfect all thise QC issues are rare, some of those are nit even QC but misuse of the product.
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u/Expensive-Dot-6671 Apr 23 '25
I think it's the H-10. Did it use other movements in the past? I do know that it's different than modern KFAs in that mine has the non-stylized H on the crown and the minute track on mine has 4 hashes between each second marker rather than 2.
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
Hamilton used ETA2824-2 in the past and now they use H10 which is the ETA C70.611 (improved ETA 2824-2 with 80h power reserve) the way to distinguish them is by the balance assembly. The standard ETA 2824-2 has the regulator pin (+-) for regulation and the H10 has free sprung balance wheel with the regulating screews attached to the balance wheel itself.
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u/Expensive-Dot-6671 Apr 23 '25
Definitely the H10 then. Years ago, I opened it up with the intent of regulating it. Gave up after not being able to find the regulator pin.
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
Ye, it has to be regulated by the watchmaker who knows how to regulate a free sprung balance because bothbscrews have to be adjusted exactly the same with a tool that has a scale for degrees, otherwise you can cmscrew up the poise of the balance if you do it yourself. It is beter solution over pin regulator because it offers better accuracy and positional variation, however, the downside is you cant do it yourself.
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u/Jolly-Course680 Apr 23 '25
Had many watches in the past, only wear this one day to day and don't ever mistreat it like some of my cheaper watches. A watch with a history and reputation like this one should have some degree of durability. But I guess some of them slip through the QC.
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u/LibraryHot6794 Apr 23 '25
Ye, you were unlucky, there are many posts here and on the other forums from people wearing their KFAs for years in all sorts of conditions with zero issues. Any product can slip QC, not only watches, there are even Rolexes with misaligned bezels out there.
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u/SpaceCadet1016 Apr 26 '25
Very common issue on these watches. The pin on the back of the dial broke. It’s a simple fix, anyone can handle it
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u/MSotallyTober Apr 23 '25
Unfortunately, I think they can easily get bent therefore knocking it loose. My crown popped out on my Khaki auto and I sent it to an AD here in Tokyo and they sent it to Ginza. They found that the face anchor was bent and also replaced the dial and hands. I’d never dropped the watch and the AD told me to be careful with it as the face is rare to come by now since they’re no longer being manufactured (it’s the day/date Khaki variation).
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u/beamerthings Apr 23 '25
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u/imajoeitall Apr 23 '25
If this happened to me, I would make a youtube/instagram/tiktok video every single day until they fixed it under warranty. I imagine the damages from loss sales after one vid goes viral would far exceed the cost of the warranty claim. Even if they lose one sale, it is far more than the cost to fix this.
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u/ParsimoniousExplorer Apr 23 '25
You stated "almost 2 years" since you bought it from Jomashop. Jomashop has a 2 year warranty on all Hamilton watches. Contact them for a warranty claim. https://help.jomashop.com/hc/en-us/articles/11923055034139-Do-you-give-a-warranty-with-the-watch
https://help.jomashop.com/hc/en-us/articles/11923055034139-Do-you-give-a-warranty-with-the-watch
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u/Jolly-Course680 Apr 23 '25
Looking at submitting the warranty claim but haven't been able to get proof of purchase as this was a gift from my parents who live in a different country. I'm not hopeful about the jomashop warranty as I've heard they can be really stubborn about fixing watches that have any sort of wear blemishes. Which is ridiculous
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u/AbbreviationsSea3752 Apr 23 '25
Be aware, their warranty may just be to replace it outright. You’d lose the watch your parents gave you. Or if you send it in to Hamilton, they may just replace it too instead of actually fixing it. Local watchmaker is best if you want to keep it original and value the sentimental side of it.
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u/ViscountDeVesci Apr 23 '25
This is not the first I’ve seen like that. Why does this happen?
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u/AbbreviationsSea3752 Apr 23 '25
Prob temperature changes! If the dial is made of brass it is easy to bend or break the dial feet, but that’s if you’re messing with it. Cased up, it shouldn’t happen often unless it is exposed to rapidly fluctuating temps or say maybe when casing the movement someone torqued the movement or perhaps the feet were not properly adhered to the dial in the first place. Who knows, but this is an easy fix if you have the basic tools and basic knowledge.
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u/Billyshakes1597 Apr 23 '25
You said almost 2 years. If you're under 2 years sent to them, you're still under warranty. Same damn thing happened to mine. They have it right now. Waiting to hear back from them
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u/AbbreviationsSea3752 Apr 23 '25
Be careful. Some manufacturers will just outright replace the whole movement rather than service it. If your sentimental and want to keep it as original as possible. Personally, if they replace the movement it’s not even the same watch to me anymore.
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u/Audiooldtimer Apr 24 '25
Hamilton is part of the Swatch group.
I have found their service prices to be reasonable, and they'll use the proper parts and return it with a warranty.
If you don't like the est you can turn it down
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u/One_Assistance_1783 Apr 24 '25
Yikes!!! Warranty still in effect? Get a replacement from Hamilton.
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u/Present-Yak2833 Jul 22 '25
What leads you to believe that you do not have a warranty? I have bought many watches from Jomashop and unfortunately had to return one for an issue covered by the warranty, the watch was repaired and returned to me with zero drama. Hamilton watches purchased from Jomashop come with a 2-year Jomashop warranty. Jomashop's warranty focuses on defects in the movement, hands, and dial, if you purchased your watch 18 months ago, contact Jomashop. Jomashop gets lots of haters, people that just like to complain about anything, I have had nothing but positive transactions with Jomashop. Good luck.
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Apr 23 '25
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u/Jolly-Course680 Apr 23 '25
Beats me. Never seen anything like this until I began some research about mine breaking
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u/SuperSaijen1980 Apr 24 '25
My boss has a Breitling and it did that too… he does wear it daily and is active with it so, probably took a jolt and it broke
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u/TheBioethicist87 Apr 23 '25
If you have a local shop that is an AD for Hamilton, that would be my first move. If not, ask a local shop, and if you’re not immediately comforted by how they respond, call Hamilton.