"Greetings!"

hi.

"I own a 1153N Carrera, and I have a couple of questions, which I'm hoping that someone can
answer for me."

nice watch, i have three myself and enjoy them. i'll see if i can help?

"First of all, I was correcting the date on the watch at month-end, and upon moving the hands "clockwise", the crown just rotated, and eventually became unscrewed and came off in my hand. I carefully replaced it with no problem, but now I can't move the hands clockwise without the crown free wheeling and coming unscrewed as before."

that is something i have heard happening on other watches, but i've been lucky and never had it happen to me as of yet. i would think any competent local watchmaker should be able to take care of that for you.

"Setting the hands counter clockwise works as
normal, no (spinning of the crown) and the watch continues to keep perfect time. I've owned the watch for some time now and I like to keep it as perfect as possible. It's one of my proudest possesions!"

sure i can imagine. if your in the usa, send it to lvmh this way you will get the best work done on it and maybe a nos crown if needed? if they have one? this is likely your best option. plus i'll assume it hasn't been serviced for awhile? might not be a bad idea to have that done and kill two birds with one stone.

"My questions: -Is this a major problem to
repair?"

like i mentioned above...it's never happened to me so i have no first hand experience, but on the few i have seen...it seemed to be a minor issue. at least that was my impression of it, although most i have seen with this issue were farily modern where parts weren't a big issue to acquire. although i think they just lock it down with some sort of "glue" for a lack of a better term? i'm not sure of that, but the few posts i had seen with this issue they didn't mention having to replace the crown or stem, so this is my assumption. keep that in mind, it's only an assumption..i am no watchmaker.

"How screwed up is my watch now (I'm in a panic!)"

i don't think it's major.

"-Is this a common problem to this watch/movement?"

i don't think so. the cal 11/12's seem to be pretty reliable if serviced by a competent watchmaker. i have a half dozen or so cal 11/12's and have never seen that issue with them in particular from anyone who owns one, nor my own. although, i think it could happen to any movement/watch.

"-Is there something I might be doing/not doing which may have created this problem in the
first place."

i doubt it, but maybe putting a little too much torque on the crown too many times over too many years, mnight have possibly helped it to come loose? although i doubt it.

"-What about my using a winder with the Micro
Rotor movement? (Although I don't see how
this would have any effect; or am I wrong?)."

imo, it wouldn't hurt the movement. i do see some difference of opions on winder on vintage watches, but mainly it's more about long term affects on wearing the parts down by keeping it running all the time, not so much immediate damage. all in all i wouldn't worry about that.

"Any thoughts, ideas or opinions would certainly be appreciated by all."

you got all of mine above.

"I don't see many questions pertaining to repairing Heuers, on the forum, but I'm a
little anxious to know what may have caused
the problem, and what I might do to ensure
that it doesn't happen again."

like i mentioned above, it's one of those things that can happen. i don't see it often, so i'm assuming it's not real common, but then again i don't have a good sampling really to figure any real statistics. i do own about 50 or so mostly vintage watches and chronographs so i can base some assumptions on my own limited sampling. here is what i leanred. old watches and chronographs can have problems and sometimes it can take many watchmakers to fix the problem.

in your case i'd just package it up and mail it (usps insured registered only) to lvmh in nj. it will take some time, but this is your best option imho.

"Thanks!
Bruce"

good luck.

"I travel a great deal, and to keep the watch
sitting idle for a week or more at a time, I invested in a quality watch winder. I set the winder to the correct setting for the Micro Rotor movement, and it seems to be working just fine and keeping good time."

as i would think it would.

j.h.