Hi all, new member here. I've had my Omega Seamaster for 7 years so took it for its first service in December. At the time, I was given a turnaround time of 6 weeks. The watch still isn't back and I was told today the new estimate is June - six months, with no guarantee it'll be ready then either (the last estimate was a week ago, and I've had multiple more before that)

Has anyone else experienced similar delays lately? I'm wondering if this is standard right now, or not.

 

Omega service center or somewhere else?

 

Sorry I didn't specify - yes, Omega service centre. I took it to an official Omega store for the service and they've sent it to the service centre, who are also apparently the ones not updating the system with updated completion times. So when I called the store today they said the completion date was still showing as last week, and they had to call the centre for an update, which came back as June. This isn't the first time - I've called multiple times as each time I do, I'm given a date that passes with no word

 

It’s on the long end of the spectrum for sure, but with Covid, supply chain issues, labor shortages, etc., lots of things are taking far longer than they should.

 

For sure. I'd feel much more ambivalent about it if they'd just communicated things, but I also feel that my watch was either given to them before those issues were at the point they are now, or Omega should've told me at the time that there are shortages and delays. When they first told me it was delayed, the reason given was "people were expecting another lockdown at Christmas so we had a higher volume than normal." It seems to me that one of two things has happened:

1. The problems weren't there when they gave me a 6 week turnaround, and it's now been so long that the problems have occurred
2. The problems were there, and they knowingly gave me a false completion time of 6 weeks

If it's 1, sh!t happens and I understand it, and a base level of updates would have largely mitigated the frustration. But if it's 2, that's not understandable.

 

What country ?

Just welcome to the world today. Not enough watchmakers left in the world. Half the people that service a watch at a service centre are not watch makers.

 

UK

It's just frustrating to keep having expectations set and then told it's a longer wait - and each time we talk, the delay gets longer. Like today's update is that it's now a further 3 months. The last one was 3 weeks.

 

6months... That's tough

 

Honestly if I'd known it would take that long, I wouldn't have sent it in. I've been mainly wearing an Apple Watch the last couple of years and reserving the Omega for special occasions, and then I decided that the Omega should be my daily (I bought it with sentimental purpose). So I was really excited to start wearing it again and thought it made sense to get it serviced and back to its best.

I was originally told that they had been working slightly ahead of schedule and some had returned within 5 weeks, so I thought great, maybe I won't be without it too long because even 6 weeks felt like a long time to not have it (I don't mean taking a long time, just that it would feel like a long time to be waiting for its return). At 6 months, I would've just held onto it and waited for things to speed up again, as the watch was fine mechanically. (Omega actually told me not to bother with the service as it didn't need it, but because the cost of just having scratches removed is more than half the price of the service, we agreed we'd get it all done at once.)

 

Oh man i feel sorry for you... I know the exact feeling, but mine took 3 months. I thought i had it tough back then

 

Thats too bad! I would have had serious withdrawal by now. Did they offer to compensate you in anyway?

 

They hadn't previously, until I spoke to my dealer about how I kept getting given dates and then after they passed I'd call for an update and be given another date, and repeating that cycle. I asked if it would be reflected in the price and they offered 20% off, and then today they said they were increasing it to 50%. So yes that does take some of the sting out, but at the same time it's a saving of a couple hundred £ and not like I'm getting 50% off a new watch...

Worst of all, when I asked if June would be the actual completion (as it's by far the longest time I've been given, I thought maybe it would be certain) they said they don't know. So I'm saving £225 but still have no clue when I'll actually get it back. Part of me thinks I'll still be without it in December at the one-year mark.

 

Just curious, what is the ref. of your Seamaster that is held up in service?

I don't think Omega/Swatch would intentionally mislead you on the turn around estimate. It sounds like a part availability issue, which naturally wasn't considered in the generic turn around estimate. It's a bummer, but that's a generous discount. Hope you see it home soon.

 

They said part availability today for the first time - up till now, it's been blamed on high volume.

 

I've seen the same time frames listed here in Canada. Supply chain issues (parts are still taking very long times to come from Switzerland), plus staff being out with covid has made keeping schedules impossible.

 

So they're actually listing those timeframes in Canada? That's interesting. How long have you been seeing it for? If I'd been informed of it from the outset then I'd be happy now. I just feel very let down by the lack of communication, especially as I've been in touch with them multiple times and they could at any point have mentioned it.

 

These are what customers are being told when they send their watches in. Since the new year basically from what I've seen.

 

Makes me think that wasn't the original issue then, and that for whatever reason, they didn't get to my watch and now it's affected by the supply chain issues. I'd certainly rather believe that than Omega lied to me up until today.

 

They could be waiting on a manufacturing run for a non-standard service part. Supply chain, as noted. They wouldn't know this ahead of time. Your service center probably fields hundreds of calls per day requesting progress on individual watches, so they probably have to generalize their responses. They've admitted fault, and they've discounted your service cost for your trouble.

It sucks, but it's not a conspiracy. It's OEM luxury watch service.

Hope you see it back soon.

 

Likewise. Maybe it's a master plan to make us be without them for so long we buy new ones in the meantime