A quick snap, sorry its not better, of two 2998's. One was sent in 2005 to Bienne for a full service, the other remained in the proverbial sock drawer with only a little help from STS. I reckon one is worth four or five times the other.
Don't complain too much - it's because of this policy of replacing with new that makes the values of original examples continue to appreciate!
In 2005 when it was done half the Speedmaster collectors on this site didn't even own one either, and online resources were few and far between. Someone like the owner of that Ed White that just sold for $8k on eBay might have sent it for a full refurb prior to sale rather than coming here and getting told to leave it alone.
normally yes but now they dont send back, for example, Dials's with Radium or Tritium to Countrys with a import ban. Thats a information i got last week from Omega Biel.
Where do the dials go if they aren't or weren't returned? Are they sat in storage in neat, individual bags or are they destroyed?!
does Omega Bienne have the same policy of replacing old with new? or is Bienne more sympathetic with the collector?
Bienne replacing the dial is one thing, but replacing a non-pro dial with a pro dial really beggars belief
Bienne isn't all that sypathetic with vintage watches that no longer have a ready supply of 'signature' parts. This means the watch refurbisher)and I use that word deliberately) will replace the parts with "nearest to". For example I know of one cal 564 pie pan Connie that had a bridge replaced with a cal 565 bridge, also rotor bridge replaced with a non 'adjusted' example. The tiniest bit of powdering on an otherwise perfect dial will cause them to repaint it or refuse to service if you tell them not to. Where original parts do exist they can do a really good refurb job, particularly on some of the later but near-vintage tool watches.
There have been some people post good experiences recently on the forum from Bienne I think one bloke from the UK had a piece done by them quite well having given specific instructions.