3861 movement broken? *Update: Read First Post*

timecube

As used by you or I or virtually everyone, yes.
An astronaut taking one on EVA or a deep sea diver could, through an extraordinary unlikely set of circumstances have their demise triggered by a faulty wrist watch. I have never heard of the latter, and the agencies tasked with supporting the former do their own due diligence.

timecube

As used by you or I or virtually everyone, yes.
An astronaut taking one on EVA or a deep sea diver could, through an extraordinary unlikely set of circumstances have their demise triggered by a faulty wrist watch. I have never heard of the latter, and the agencies tasked with supporting the former do their own due diligence.

Evitzee

We are long past the Apollo program days when any astronaut's life was dependent on a mechanical wristwatch.

timecube

As used by you or I or virtually everyone, yes.
An astronaut taking one on EVA or a deep sea diver could, through an extraordinary unlikely set of circumstances have their demise triggered by a faulty wrist watch. I have never heard of the latter, and the agencies tasked with supporting the former do their own due diligence.

MTROIS

Just goes back to what I was saying earlier: Failure was NOT an option when rolling out a new caliber in the famed Speedy Moon, and for now, it does seem that this latest iteration has not lived up to the legend of the watch. Quite disappointing.... but I look forward to a rapid remediation.

Archer

It's interesting when I see this sort of reaction, it's clear people don't understand that the previous iterations of this watch have gone through many different upgrades and changes to correct faults that happened. The "legend" isn't reality.

This isn't the first time there has been an issue in a watch movement that caused a redesign, and it won't be the last. New Rolex movements are having problems with worn seconds wheels, the Tudor GMT date change issues, and the list goes on and on. Omega was still updating calibers like the 550 series as recently as 2008, and that movement hasn't even been made in decades.

Unlike products that have life safety consequences, these are not regulated or tested in the same way. In my former life as an engineer, I worked for a company that made bearings, and before a new product was put on the market, it went through a series of tests collectively called "life testing" which subjected these parts to extreme wear and conditions, over an accelerated period of time. If you have driven or ridden in a car or other vehicle, ridden a train, or flown in a plane, you have probably relied on products made by the company I worked for, and your life depended on it working as advertised. And those cost a few dollars.

Yes these are expensive, but no one's life is depending on them. It would be ideal if they were all perfect the first time, but that isn't realistic.

I think sometimes people lose perspective on these issues. Omega will make it right, and that's why you trust them enough to buy their watches.

MTROIS

Lives may not be hinging on these watches’ proper functioning, and you are of course perfectly entitled to be satisfied with this situation or be nonchalant about it), but to see this type of failure is disappointing in general, and even more so for this watch.

Archer

I am neither satisfied or unsatisfied with this “situation.” I am indifferent to these problems, because Omega is not my company and I do not work for them. If you are somehow twisting this in your head to feel that I am defending Omega in some way, then let me reassure you that I’m not. I am simply someone who repairs watches for a living, who has seen this story play out time and time again. It is simply reality, nothing more. We can wish for it to be better, but wishes are just that, and won’t change anything.

The part of your post I’ve emphasized indicates you still believe the legend, and that to Omega this is something that would or should get more attention somehow than their other products, which is puzzling to me. As I’ve already said, it’s perfectly fine to be disappointed, but I think some have rather unrealistic expectations.

Cheers, Al

MTROIS

Al, so, you are saying that when a company has a “halo” product in a sea of anonymous ones, that particular product should not get any more attention than the others? That it should be treated like “anything else”? 👎

Well, yeah, may be I have read too much “Speedy Moonwatch kool aid”, fine, but a strategy like the one I have described in the previous paragraph would make absolutely no sense to me! Would I be running such a company with a flagship product, I would surely put more resources and emphasis on that one than others, especially if this product conditions the support of die hard fans.

Would be the same as saying: yeah, who cares about the next M3 or M5, let’s make sure that the 112i is really going to over-deliver, because that is really going to get us the best accolades. Really?

Anyhow, it is fine to not agree on this, and I am happy that it will eventually drive your business up. 👍

J jaymyms

I've been following the problems with the new Rolex movements, and to compare the two situations, I can say this - at least Omega has seemingly implemented a fix - and fast.

Meanwhile, over at Rolex, things seem to be more of a mystery...

KstateSkier

haha such a measured response Al... You're perfecto.

Archer

It’s he Rolex way...

zeiter

With Archer’s comments regarding chrono use -not- contributing to the problem outlined above, what is causing the symptom to occur when the chrono is actuated/stopped etc.? Is it just the additional torque load of the chrono when added to the excessive friction on the center wheel?