Accidentally dropped your watch

[roystock]

Hi everyone,

I am curious to know that has anyone accidentally dropped your watch?
If yes, what was the damage (physical and/or monetary)?

For me, I accidentally drop my Steinhart Ocean One last week when I removed my bag from my car trunk.
So the watch fell from a height of 1.2-1.3m straight to the tarmac, face down.
It resulted to a minor scratch at the ceramic bezel and a small "ding" on the sapphire crystal. The watch still move and keep time thus far.
Thankfully, it wasn't my more expensive/ complicated watches

My questions (for fun and sharing) if you dropped your watch before:
1. What's the brand/model of the watch?
2. What's the physical damage?
3. If you sent in for repair, what's the monetary damage?

I hope nobody had a bad experience or else I would need to be extra careful with my watches
 

[dennis.T]

1. Submariner 16610
2. One lug dented only. if need to polish it a junk of the steel ll gone so decided not to do anythg
3. Didn't fix it but traded for hulk in the watch shop

[G.MAC]

1. Rolex Explorer II 216570
2. Major dings on case, cracked sapphire crystal
3. RM3,000 for crystal replacement and polish and i traded it in for a GMTIIc

It happened when the watch fell and went down approx 2 - 2.5 meters and hit the asphalt. Biggest heartache at that time and I could have sworn that I teared a little. 

[Everdying]

only dropped a couple cheap-ish watches from about chest height onto my tiled floor.
victorinox night vision II, seiko monster.
nothing happened to both.

[STT1987]

1) Omega Planet Ocean 46mm James Bond LE

2) Dropped it on a marble floor from at least 4 ft., no cushioning smack on the floor. Surprisingly no damage observed. Watch still working after the fall. Two days later, it stopped working. Probably the watch self winding mechanism was damaged in the fall.

3) Watch was still within 1 year warranty, sent it in via Swatch repair - said nothing except that, "it just stopped working". Repair = FREE!

[bezelnut]

1) Omega Planet Ocean 46mm James Bond LE

2) Dropped it on a marble floor from at least 4 ft., no cushioning smack on the floor. Surprisingly no damage observed. Watch still working after the fall. Two days later, it stopped working. Probably the watch self winding mechanism was damaged in the fall.

3) Watch was still within 1 year warranty, sent it in via Swatch repair - said nothing except that, "it just stopped working". Repair = FREE!

This is the best "I got away with it" story. 

[CKL1213]

my friend dropped his maurice lacroix and also got away with "it just stopped working" 

[dpkong]

I think most watchmakers should know if the watch suffered a shock (dropped or smacked). Whether they choose to make a fuss about it is another matter. I don't think they would unless physical external damage was very obvious.

1. Rolex Explorer II 216570
2. Major dings on case, cracked sapphire crystal
3. RM3,000 for crystal replacement and polish and i traded it in for a GMTIIc

It happened when the watch fell and went down approx 2 - 2.5 meters and hit the asphalt. Biggest heartache at that time and I could have sworn that I teared a little. 

Was that at the RSC or independent watchmaker?

[G.MAC]

Not RSC but it is an authorized Rolex repair centre. Not in Malaysia though. The figure I quoted is after conversion

[takashi78]

Only "authorized" Rolex repair i know off in the world is in San Francisco.

[j0shua]

IWC pilot chrono slipped from hand while I was trying to put it into a watch bag, fell 4.5 feet onto hard tile. The resulting sound made me think it broke in half. But it landed on bottom right lug, right on the chamfered edge. So it's got a little dent that kinda flows into the chamfer, not really that visible.

It's still ticking after 3 months, but I can see that it doesn't keep the same time as the other watches/phone clock, it falls behind by about a minute after a week...

[roystock]

IWC pilot chrono slipped from hand while I was trying to put it into a watch bag, fell 4.5 feet onto hard tile. The resulting sound made me think it broke in half. But it landed on bottom right lug, right on the chamfered edge. So it's got a little dent that kinda flows into the chamfer, not really that visible.

It's still ticking after 3 months, but I can see that it doesn't keep the same time as the other watches/phone clock, it falls behind by about a minute after a week...

Sounds like accident can be rather painful
Did you try to get it fixed?

[j0shua]

Sounds like accident can be rather painful
Did you try to get it fixed?

Not yet for the IWC.

But I dropped the Pam on Sat night (Sunday morning actually haha) after a long night out. Was tired and wasn't focused, and I was taking the watch off in a slightly less familiar location...

Slipped from my hand, deflected it slightly with my left foot about 12 inches of the ground, but it had a good hit on tile.

Everything was fine until I looked closely...


Landed on the edge of the lug. Problem is, it has dented the lug in such a way that the QR bar cannot come out anymore.

Any advice on how to deal with repairing this?

Thanks.

[ck77]

Sounds like accident can be rather painful
Did you try to get it fixed?

Not yet for the IWC.

But I dropped the Pam on Sat night (Sunday morning actually haha) after a long night out. Was tired and wasn't focused, and I was taking the watch off in a slightly less familiar location...

Slipped from my hand, deflected it slightly with my left foot about 12 inches of the ground, but it had a good hit on tile.

Everything was fine until I looked closely...


Landed on the edge of the lug. Problem is, it has dented the lug in such a way that the QR bar cannot come out anymore.

Any advice on how to deal with repairing this?

Thanks.

It must a wild night huh 
The only way is to get back to Pam service center I believe.
And be prepare for paying a large sum for QR bars.
Probably they will ask for overhaul and new case.

[ck77]

I was once dropped my Longines Legend Diver on carpeted floor, no physical damage except the second hand came off.



Since it was due for service, sent back to Swatch cost me RM700 with some parts changed.

[bezelnut]

Dropped my Seiko 5 during the second day of Raya. Was moving table, from kitchen to desk, and while picking everything up (pile of papers, ledger, notebook and stationary), I saw my watch under the pile of paper, which I remove from wrist earlier. Trying to move everything in one go, typical male style, with both hand full, I use pinky finger to hook onto my Seiko 5. Half way to my study, pinky go fatigue and the watch slipped off. It fell straight down, follow by a loud clank when it hit the tile floor. I place everything on desk, come back and pick it up, check the watch for injuries, and since it is already filled with scars over the years, can't tell which damage is fresh. My only fear is that some movement parts might break due to the impact.

The watch is still well and alive, I'm wearing it right now. 

[JOS2012]

So far have only dropped my orange bezel Omega PO co-axial chronograph cal 3313.
It landed on a granite floor in a Bali resort while taking it off.
Surprisingly there was only a very light dent at one of the lugs but so light that you'd miss it unless you knew where it was. Watch continued to run accurately but power reserve was shortened to less than 2 days. It would stop if off the wrist for more than 24 hours.
Sent in to Swatch for full service since it was already approaching 4 yrs of being used as a regular dive watch.
All hands, gaskets, pushers, crown changed plus some gears (all returned to me).
Cost RM 1,600.00 and beautifully restored with excellent time keeping.
Sold off 1+ yr ago. 

[j0shua]

It must a wild night huh 
The only way is to get back to Pam service center I believe.
And be prepare for paying a large sum for QR bars.
Probably they will ask for overhaul and new case.

Yeah it was a long wild night.

After reading this I was like, what? There has to be another way...

I couldn't care less about the dent, it doesn't bother me like how the 3717's dent doesn't bother me.
What I'm more concerned about is being able to release the QR bar to change straps haha.

So, with a few sharpened satay sticks, and an Ikea hammer & pliers, the following just happened:


Tapped out the QR bar with the plastic capped hammer onto a wooden satay stick, took a few soft taps but the bar started moving out. Gripped it with cloth covered pliers lightly and pulled it out the rest of the way.

The main thing was to get the QR bar out so I could address the lug hole. Now I've got to find a sharp conical metal tool to gently roll around the deformed hole to get it back to a regular round shape, and the job is done.

Hopefully there's no internal damage, the watch seems to be ticking along well and all the crown functions work.

Probably won't recommend using an Ikea hammer for watch repair, though

[dennis.T]

You are da man...

[klimax]

1. Rolex DJ 16013
2. Dents and scratches on case, acrylic crystal cracked
3. RM5,858 for bezel and crystal replacement, parts changed and polish

Bad experience! a used 16013 in shops may cost less than that 

[r3kahsttub]

Joshua, you're da man for attempting the DIY fix. I would probably never have tried that on my own. Must have been the clock assembly that made the inner caveman in you want to fix it yourself! Good job  Hopefully nothing damaged internally.

As for myself; I've never had the misfortune of dropping any of my watches, thankfully. I did stress test my Gshock with a wall, floor, and a car, but that doesn't cut it at all 

[terrenceterrence]

dropped my 112 12 inches on parquet floor. dented the lugs like your Pam.

Either the watch head is too heavy and the inertia is great because of it or the metal is soft. Just a guess.... either way, its just a watch. would be more heartache if it was my skin especially my face; since I am already so ugly, do not want to make it worse. 

[j0shua]

Joshua, you're da man for attempting the DIY fix. I would probably never have tried that on my own. Must have been the clock assembly that made the inner caveman in you want to fix it yourself! Good job  Hopefully nothing damaged internally.

As for myself; I've never had the misfortune of dropping any of my watches, thankfully. I did stress test my Gshock with a wall, floor, and a car, but that doesn't cut it at all 

Found a steel awl at Ace, rolled the lug hole and after a good Cape Codding, it's back to normal, except for the little dent. I'm just happy that the accident was mostly reversible, and that it wasn't the Cali Radiomir - that one wouldn't have survived the same way.

About fixing stuff - It's in my nature to try and understand objects and try to build or fix them... Like with the Nixie Clock, or the Aston's brake install, I spent a lot of time under the car.

dropped my 112 12 inches on parquet floor. dented the lugs like your Pam.

Either the watch head is too heavy and the inertia is great because of it or the metal is soft. Just a guess.... either way, its just a watch. would be more heartache if it was my skin especially my face; since I am already so ugly, do not want to make it worse. 

It's a combination of factors - weight, angle of impact, velocity and that the lug hole is very close to the rounded edge at that point, and the bar has a very fine micrometer tolerance. For a moment it wasn't just a watch - it was a watch AND a challenge haha

[claxchow]

Hit my Bell & Ross br03 commando against a chair while working. Lug was slightly dented, not really visible and I'm still able to remove the bar to replace the straps. Quoted rm4, 800 to replace the case.

[lowengen]

My daughter was playing with my new ML and it just slipped out of her hands drop to marble floor from about 1 feet high...
Well, slight scratches on the case (brushed) and... not sure if this is due to the drop... accuracy slight out... used to be 0.5 sec/day, but when d watch restarts (0 power reserve and start again) now an average of 4.5 sec/day... 
will try use scrotch brite on it later for d scratch.. lol