Hi, I recently just purchased a used watch. It's in great shape, however I got it to work for about 10minutes and then it completely stopped. I've tried gently moving it to give it more power as well as have attempted to hand wind it. The hand wind has a significant amount of resistance and didn't really do anything but made a click. The watch stopped working after I tried the chronograph function (which didn't work). I'm taking it into an AD tomorrow but I'd like to know if anyone has any idea what might be wrong with it. I've heard these can be super expensive to service so I'd like to get an idea (and so the AD/watch repair shop doesn't try to pull a fast one on me). The only reason it's not already in the mail on the way back to the seller is because I used another forum to buy it from, but if the repair is going to cost more than the watch of course I'll try to get a refund.
Thanks for your time

 

You might want to check around for someone who specializes in vintage watches. I’ve read mild horror stories on here of the AD who sends the watch out to somebody else to do the work. Suddenly you're 6 degrees of separation from the person who will actually handle your watch. If it’s just a quote you’re after though, you’re probably ok.

 

This watch uses an Omega Cal. 1152, which is based on the ETA 7750. Not a difficult movement to service, but it does take some time - service prices will vary depending on who you use.

When was the last time the watch was serviced? If you don't know the answer to that question, then buying a watch with unknown service history means you should count on doing a service.

If you have fully wound it and it's not running, it could be a number of things wrong, from needing a full service to something as simple as a loose screw stuck in the balance...this is like asking why your car won't start without providing any details...impossible to give you anything more than an educated guess.

Cheers, Al

 

As if THAT would ever happen!

 

Had a AD try to charge $220 on top of service price just for the privilege of them sending a watch to a service third party ( after I had to pay $25 for shipping up front ) found this out when the service centre rang me for options and had told me the charge for the service already.

 

The watch was serviced this year. Granted it may have gotten jostled in shipping, I'm just surprised it was such an immediate death. The rotor on the watch is moving but it doesn't have that heavier feel/sound a working automatic normally has. The winding has a ton of resistance and is making a clicking noise (didn't wind it very much in fear of breaking it anymore).

 

That's what I'm kind of worried about. I'm going to try to just get a quote without having them try to immediately take the watch and start finding things to charge for. They have their own watchmakers in house that are licensed to take care of Omegas, Rolex, etc. but I'm not really looking to pay crazy amounts for an old watch from the 90's. Especially not when I can still try to file a service claim or try to make a paypal return.

 

Do you have proof of service, or was is just the seller's word? I would want to see documentation, such as an invoice, from a known service provider as proof of service. I have seen "service" mean anything from a full and proper service, to mean someone had a look inside and nothing more...

 

I have a digital copy of the invoice of the service and proof it was working before it was sent. I'm going with it must've gotten dropped in transit. Unfortunately the watchmaker at the local dealer who does fixes on vintage omegas is on vacation so I couldn't get a good estimate of the damage or cost other than a general up to $800.