My caliber 4400 manual winding Traditionnelle seems to be different from all my other manually wound watches, in that it takes quite a few turns of the crown before the second hand begins to move. This makes it nearly impossible to synchronize the second hand. Is this normal? And when it’s fully wound, the crown bounces back almost a full turn, which doesn’t feel right. Should I have it sent in under warranty?

 

I'd speak to the AD you bought it from first and if you don't get a sensible answer speak to VC directly. If they think it's something that needs looking into send it in.

 

New watch? I’d take it back for a replacement. I’d not want this back if it was like this when I bought it.

 

Escapement geometry will vary between watches, as will the ratios of crown turns to barrel arbor turns, so it's not unusual for them to take a different number of crown turns to start up. That in itself is not a cause for concern from a technical standpoint. You may want to try the so called "pseudo-hacking" used on Speedmasters to hack the seconds hand at low power to sync the time, since I presume the watch does not hack.

The crown unwinding is a result of the click on the ratchet wheel working as designed - again the design and geometry of the click can cause some to unwind more than others - again in itself not a cause for concern.

Certainly no reason to call for a replacement watch...

Cheers, Al

 

Your watch back is clear? Have you tried flipping it over when it is unwound and slowly winding to visually see what is going on?

 

I’m sure it’s nothing too concerning because the watch runs well, but I’ve not seen a watch not start up within the first turn or two of the crown. The bouncing back at full wind makes me keep winding thinking it’s not fully would yet, when it is.

 

A thread about la VC Traditionnelle needs photos:

Borrowed from this article: https://monochrome-watches.com/hand...antin-patrimony-traditionnelle-small-seconds/


Feel free to post pics of yours, @rohnin !

 

I’m surprised it doesn’t hack.

 

Japan 100 Years Limited Edition 1 of 75, white gold with grey guilloche gold dial

 

Wow, hadn't seen that one before! Stunning dial.

 

Marvellous beauty indeed.

 

Hack or not, that is a sharp watch.

 

You can always ask the VC guys on The Hour Lounge. The former Mod of the Vacheron discussion group on Purists, Alex, will provide the answer. As you may know, this VC in-house 4400 movement is one of the best.

FWIW: On the way to going broke I owned a "few" Vacherons. My experience with any manually wound movements is to give them a little shake before winding to wake them up.

 

I think The Hour Lounge is gone?

 

I got notice a month or so ago that they were only going to be available n some sort of Social media.
Since I'm not into any type of Social media, I've completely lost tract.
However I got to know Alex rather well on PuristS and later became a charter member of the Hour Lounge.
Alex is obviously very knowledgeable and down to earth much like our own Bill Sohne who was the Omega Mod at PuristS.

 

That’s good to know. Yes I think @thehourlounge is now only on Instagram, but they will find a way to bring back the old content somehow

 

If the beat error is normal (low) and if the watch works well, I do not think it is necessary. But of course everyone does things as he wants and a little shake cannot damage the watch.

 

That’s a shame. I always thought that was a good way for VC to separate themselves from the other high end watch brands. Having an official forum run by the company dedicated to your brand sort of like the Private Lounge for Mercedes AMG owners.