Hello everyone, I"m new to the forum and live in Los Angeles area in California. I have a Omega Seamaster Chromograph. Recently, I purchased a rather in-expensive Swatch Automatic watch (9-jewels) and started to compare with my Omega. What I discovered is that the SeaMaster time is not keep as accurate as the Swatch. OMG- certainly I would expect a price of Omega timepiece would be superior than my < $200 Swatch. I can tell within 2-days the Omega can loose about 8-10 seconds behind the actual digital dial. Question: Where would you recommend to take it for a tune-up or service? [ Behind the Omega service center, so I might compare price and quality of work] Much appreciate in advance. Gary
Accuracy and regulation are two very different things, the Seamaster is definitely a more accurate watch even if right now its not as accurately regulated as your Swatch. Do you know what model of Seamaster Pro Chronograph it is? If its one of the Calibre 1152/1164s you can take it to any quality independent watchmaker and get a great result, if its one of the 3303/3313/9300s you might want to get someone who's been correctly trained on those movements to work on it.
Thank you for the reply. What is the different? Mine is calibre 1164. I brought it in 2005 as a gift for myself when I'm got my first job. On the face it has three sub dials that are in 6, 9,12 position. Can you explain what is the different on regulation vs accuracy ? btw, I called the state service center ( apparently all calls get transfer to New Jersey call center) and the rep. said that this model has Tolerance between 4-5 seconds behind or 8-10 ahead on an intra-day. Is that correct? Wow. again appreciate the insight
The tolerances should be -1 to +6 per day. Accuracy is how consistent a watch is, in other words if a watch is -2 one day +6 the next +10 the next and -3 the next, its not overly accurate. Position can vary that as well. So if a watch is losing 31 seconds per day every day, that's a very accurate watch as its consistently getting -31 but it hasn't been regulated to be spot on timing wise. Regulation is a simple adjustment that doesn't involve a full service and typically costs very little from a watchmaker, for that watch getting -31 per day they would adjust it to be +31 faster per day which should zero it out, or more likely they'd adjust it +32 or so to make it slightly fast which is preferable to being slightly slow. A cheaper watch like the swatch is not adjusted for all positions either so if you leave it dial up for a day, then crown up for a day then crown down they'll likely vary a lot more than the Omega. At nearly 10 years your Omega is due for a full service, and the lubricants are likely dried out, at the same time they'll regulate it and it'll come back keeping excellent time. A good quality independent watchmaker will do the job for a reasonable price, significantly less than Omega's service center.
Calibre 1164 is based on Valjoux 7750, which is an ubiquitous chrono movement and almost every watchmaker could service it. Cailbre 3303/3313 based on F Piguet Chrono modified by Omega. Calibre 9300 is Omega in house movement. They better be serviced by watchmaker who had formal training by Omega. As dsio mentioned above, you have more option of servicing your caliber 1164 to independent watchmaker. Just make sure they have good quality reputation.
Thank you all for your valuable inputs. Although my watch is not the most expensive in view of my piers, can anyone recommend a good reliable service center? I'm in zip code 90501 and closer to south west of Los Angeles. Much appreciate