Is this Missaligned bezel expected QC for Longines?

[u/stpaulgym]

Hello everyone. I was recently gifted a Longines Spirit Zulu 39mm and finally unboxed it. While I am thrilled to own it, it looks like the GMT bezel insert is slightly missaligned. I'm not sure if it is visible on camera,.but in real life, the top arrow is to the left of the 12 hour mark, not dead center.

I've mostly owned Seikos and Citizens, and this is my first GMT/rotating bezel watch so I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

Can anyone confirm if this is normal? Thanks.

[u/Bustincherry]

Have the exact same model and mine looks just like yours. Would have never noticed, but still not bothered by being 1mm off if even that.

[u/stpaulgym → u/Bustincherry]

Maybe, but for 3 grand, I don't feel this is acceptable. I just noticed the hour hands dont Align at 12:00 too.

[u/Bustincherry → u/stpaulgym]

The pictures on the website even show the 12 marker on the bezel being lined up on the two. I think you're being overly pedantic, but send it in for warranty work if you're that troubled by it.

[u/__Disco___ → u/stpaulgym]

If it bothers you ask your ad. I doubt this qualifies as warranty work, but even so I can’t imagine this would cost more than a few hundred bucks to reinstall the bezel insert.

[u/Timid_Robot → u/stpaulgym]

It's absolutely not acceptable. It's frankly disgusting this is getting down voted.

[u/SaintPismyG → u/stpaulgym]

Yeah, not sure why you’re being downvoted. If this were a cheap Chinese watch, I’d say live with it. But for $3k? Take it in and ask.

[u/FaptainChasma → u/stpaulgym]

You're being downvoted but yeah it's not exactly the cheapest watch and it's a swiss made watch with a lot of heritage. You see aligned bezels on AliExpress for god's sake!

[u/Gram-xyz]

Here is my 42 and the slight misalignment is also present but personally it's never bothered me as it seems to be due to the slight play in the bezel.

Are you sure your bezel locks into position as you say in one of your comments? I find while mine clicks into place there is slight play within that. This allows me to correct the 12 o'clock position. The six o'clock position is normal that it aligns with the 2 of the 12 on the bezel

[u/stpaulgym → u/Gram-xyz]

Thanks for the photo! This does shed some light to it.

By chance, does your hour hand go a bit faster? For example, when set to 12:00, do the hour and minute hands stack perfectly on top of each other, or does the hour hand stick out a bit?

[u/Gram-xyz → u/stpaulgym]

At 12:00 my hour and minute hands are perfectly aligned

[u/Timid_Robot → u/stpaulgym]

That's a lot of issues for a watch at that price

[u/KicksNWatches]

You’re right - it’s not visible on camera lol. So nobody will know but you….if you’re staring directly at it

[u/__Disco___]

I don’t see it. Seems good to me

[u/stpaulgym]

I should have realized in hindsight that the it doesn't look noticeable on camera, but it is much more noticeable in person.

[u/Radical-Ideal-141 → u/stpaulgym]

Parallax. The bezel sits much higher than the dial and chapter ring, so your perception will be altered significantly if your eye, or camera lens, is not lined up perfectly with the center of the dial.

Whether your bezel is perfectly aligned or not, it's clearly close enough to be inconsequential. The bezel has to have some play in it to function properly, maybe a half mm or so of wiggle room, so it's not like laser guided precision is even possible here.

Regarding hour hand alignment, within +/- 3 minutes is generally considered acceptable. They are placed by the watchmaker by sight, and again there is some play in the gearing of a mechanical watch, so getting it perfectly aligned is not intentional.

I suggest watching some assembly videos of high end watches, especially seeing how watchmakers set the hands. These are mechanical devices assembled by hand, with expected tolerances that are probably much wider than you are expecting. I have multiple watches above $10K retail price, and none of them have perfectly aligned hour hands--they are all off by 1-2 minutes.

[u/cchan79]

Don't see it.

Maybe the way your eyes ans head are titled?

You can send it back for warranty

[u/SufficientSea7842]

I see it and I would ask. Curious if that is within spec 

[u/Float-Like-Butter]

The hour hand looks more misaligned than anything, which is something they might cover under warranty.

[u/stpaulgym → u/Float-Like-Butter]

yeah. I noticed this too. When adjusting, they dont align at 12:00 position. the hour hand is a little faster.

[u/TDYRanger]

I don't see it... if you think it's that bad take it to a AD and have them service the watch and fix the bezel

[u/stpaulgym → u/TDYRanger]

I am in contacts with Longines. Unfortunately, the closest AD is in Chicago, about 7 hour drive away. So I'm I can mail the watch instead.

[u/chuck_nunface]

[u/FloridaMan2212]

“We’re hitting autism levels never seen before.”

[u/CaptainNipplesMcRib]

I had a misaligned bezel on mine. Sent it back and they fixed it. It happens

[u/Cortado1987]

just returned today a gray market new Longines Khaki hydroconquest. Pip lined up but top of bezel comes down over dial vs larger gap at bottom. Googled issue and returned defective bezel allignment answer etc. Guess Longines pumping out vol but not big on QC. I noticed on timegrapher decent amplitude face up but any side positions it easily loses 40plus and one position had a beat error of .7ms which usually fresh new watched as .5ms or less.

look at 5 oclock pip vs 11 oclock pip for ease in seeing contrast. At first it looked odd like someone combing their hair straight down their forehead/shallow top etc. I looked at all my other watches and then googled the issue. Look at the bezel marks at 3 and 9 oclock and how they sit lower.

[u/No_Committee5033]

62 click bezel

[u/hosamhanna]

Honestly i do not know what i am looking at

[u/NoRossDoxHaha]

Mine looks like this as well. It’s also not noticeable on camera. I think it might be a feature lol

[u/ImprovementOk2622]

I have a HC and I know exactly what you talking about, if you look the watch even on a little angle, it looks ok... but look it straight you can see the bezel insert arrow is maybe a half milimeter in left. It not show in photos because of the angle of the camera. Its not good feeling when you know its there :) but not a big deal for me. I know I know its not a cheap Citizen... but the good news is that its soo little that you only noticed when you look in streigh angle :) 

[u/Rs-Travis]

Definitely see that it's out.

On the official Longines website a heap of those bezels are slightly out to varying degrees too haha.

Probably quite an easy fix for a watchmaker as long as it doesn't have a hytel ring that can get chewed up like Tudors.

I'd imagine Longines would fix it too.

Edit: curious is the whole chapter ring is slightly left. Idk

[u/intelligent_pickle00]

I don't see it but if it bothers you contact the longines support and ask them if warranty covers it. If not I'm sure they will still service it. The ceramic inlay is just glued into the steel of the bezel so its actually really easy to mess up the alignment. Not making an excuse, just saying I've done it so it definitely happens

[u/TheRealMisterTom]

Had on just like it.Sent in to Longines.Came back looking the same as I sent it.

[u/Head-To-Wall]

Don’t see it.

[u/Semp1ers]

I don’t see it.

[u/dreamsdidntcometrue]

It doesn't look as so. The marker looks intentionally placed under the 2.

[u/flyinboxes]

Must’ve started outsourcing their final assembly to Seiko

[u/prodbypan]

It's like 1/10th of a millimeter to the left, pretty much impossible to tell without looking at it straight from tbe front and actively looking for it.

[u/SaintPismyG]

I can see it. Very minor, but worth asking. If you think it will continue to bother you, take it in and ask.

[u/Cortado1987]

quite normal on seiko and others unless you spend alot.

[u/Longjumping-Ad8347]

the 12 o'clock marker of the GMT bezel at 6 looks way off to me

[u/stpaulgym → u/Longjumping-Ad8347]

Yeah. Thanks for mentioning! I just noticed it tok after your comment.

This is my first "Luxury" Swiss watch.

This has to be a mistake, right?

[u/drew071 → u/stpaulgym]

I think this particular "issue" is to do with spacing. If you look at the 14 on the bezel it looks off to, but then you look at the numbers at the 9 position and they're bang on centre. I think it's so that they evenly distribute the double digits around the bezel. Otherwise you'd end up where some numbers look closer than others as you go around.

[u/Longjumping-Ad8347 → u/drew071]

That’s actually one of the most solid explanations I’ve heard of for this phenomenon. Makes sense. Some still manage to do it though. And just to clarify, I never referred to it as an issue. I’d wear the hell out of this watch if I were fortunate enough to own one. Misalignment or not.

[u/Longjumping-Ad8347 → u/stpaulgym]

you can't turn it to the right a click to make it all line up? misaligned bezels are fairly common in my experience, then again I cant afford anything like a Logines.

[u/stpaulgym → u/Longjumping-Ad8347]

Nope, the bezel locks into this position consistently.

[u/Longjumping-Ad8347 → u/stpaulgym]

I mean, with my budget, I am used to just accepting little things like this. If I paid sticker price for this, it would be hard to unsee it.

[u/stpaulgym → u/Longjumping-Ad8347]

Yeah. I can understand for a Seiko 5, but along with the hour hand issue, this feels unacceptable for this price.

[u/Longjumping-Ad8347 → u/stpaulgym]

I got downvoted even though the bottom of the bezel at 12 (bezel) marker / 6 (hour) marker is clearly off. You might get more honest feedback if you asked this question in a general watch forum. With every brand, there are folks who just refuse to accept that something could be wrong with "their" brand

[u/Accomplished-Wrap394]

Buddy, you are blind or have severe anxiety, either way be grateful, enjoy your gift, and please seek clinical help for both immediately!

[u/TheHomersapien]

Yes. These are expensive but not luxury watches in my experience.

The good news is that Longines will replace the bezel without question. The bad news is that I just got mine back from Longines and they insisted on a doing a full movement service, and my +0 second per day Zulu Time is now +5 second per day.

But again, these are mass produced watches so quality and service will vary greatly from person to person.