A great lesson for the Constellation collector as to why you should never send your vintage piece to Omega for (very expensive) servicing. It will come back very shiny and having zero collector's value if you're not careful...

Looks like a service dial with a lop-sided star, horribly polished to death case, wrong Omega crown and to top it off a nice £800 bill

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OMEGA-Cons...097929?hash=item36303648c9:g:trsAAOSwNkxa1bQ2Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

For a moment I thought it was yours.

Feeling relieved that it isn't and at the same time feeling bad for the seller

 

Oh wow, so sorry to see this! Not even the South Korean polished/refinished specials on eBay look that shiny.
Omega really needs to finally step up their vintage service game. This is just sad.


Edit: the Caseback! Oh the horror!



This belongs into the „Polished POS of the week“ thread.

 

And now it's worth less than the service cost.......

 

I don't normally spend that amount buying most of mine

I think the seller knows what he's holding, at least he doesn't have a wanker's reserve

 

I noticed this one earlier and initially thought the £500 starting price was a buy-it-now.
After frantically pressing keys I soon realised it was an auction and not even worth the starting price.
Seller probably thinks it looks great and doesn't realise its been ruined.

 

So sad to see this

 

Favorite line item:
“Finish case as best possible.”

Is this Somlo’s work or Omega’s?

Seems there are plenty of case polishers that can use a lapping machine better than these thugs.

 

There is a lot wrong with that estimate. Firstly, case number 143.8111 doesn't exist. Secondly no 351 bumper movement was made as late as 1959 and with a 17.99m serial, it would have used a 5XX rotor auto movement surely (I note that billed him for a new rotor, further backing this up). It doesn't add up, based on that paperwork, I wouldn't touch it even if the dial had been left be!

 

When Omega refinishes a case will they do it to spec?
Or just throw it on a polishing wheel while watching the telly?

 

They are listed on the Omega website - https://www.omegawatches.com/store/storedetails/6185 I don't know the exact corporate relationship with Somlo, but here the link to their site http://www.somlo.com/ Same businesses, same address. I suspect that the "Omega Vintage Store" is a trading name for part of the Somlo business.

 

Depends - I've seen both from official service centers.

 

I’m still a noob, so please feel free to jump in and stamp on my toes if necessary, but the thing that gobsmacked me was the price for the service ! Apart from ruining a lovely vintage watch, they charged £575 just for the service, WTF ? As a comparison, I‘ve just got back from the watchmaker who is servicing my Genève and Seamaster. His basic prices for servicing are €150 (£129) for manual wind and €250 (£216) for automatics. Obviously the parts come on top. (The price for the manual wind tallies with what a forum member from elsewhere in the EU gave me as a guideline.)

Which leads me to a question. Is servicing in the UK generally that expensive, or is their price way over the top ?

 

You will get all kinds of opinions on this question - some informed, some not.

The bottom line is that unless you know the exact scope of what was done (what was and wasn't included in that price), you can't make a proper judgement on the service price. They listed a new rotor as a separate charge, but usually lots of parts are replaced in a service like this, so if all other worn parts were included it could be reasonable (not speaking about the end result, just the service costs).

 

Notwithstanding what Archer said - Somlo count themselves as THE vintage watch shop (in a swanky part of London) so it’s a bit like doing your grocery shop at Fortnum and Mason.
A Standard service in the U.K. is pretty much in line with the figures you quoted from a number of trusted watchmakers.

 

Ahhhhh OK. Thanks for the clarification @Archer, that doesn’t make it seem as bad as it looks. I honestly thought that was for the servicing without the parts.

 

Thanks for the reply @Peemacgee. The groceries were a great example and everything is falling into place now.
Sometimes I have days where I think I’m never going to learn this collecting lark

 

They call that "Finish case as best possible"!! I really wonder what that watch looked like before polishing..Who knows, maybe the case wasn't even Omega ..

 

Even I know that you should never send your vintage watches to Omega for serving ... and I dont even have any ( ok.. just one ) vintage watch.
I guess , the guy needs to be sent a link to this site.