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8500 came out in 2007, so...

dsio
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Had Tag in Australia service a watch for $650

Jewellery store that sold Tag watches tried to charge a $200 fee for the pleasure of me going through them to send watch. ( even after charging me $25 to cover postage to Service Centre in Sydney on hand over )
Refused to pay the $200 handling fee.
Advised I knew it was only $650 for service due to contact with Tag.
The Bluff worked as $200 fee was waived.

Now know someone that used to work for above jewellery company and 99% just pay the $200 fee not knowing and think it is part of the actual service.
TAG Australia, well LVMH Australia are superb, I had an Aquaracer flooded due to a stripped crown thread, salt water damage to everything plus a rough bezel and dinged case, they changed about $560 aud to replace everything except the bracelet, totally new watch head. I had a mate with a Zenith entry level EP and he had cracked the crystal under warranty, they took care of it gratis as a good will gesture. When my LV laptop bag had the handles delaminate after 6 years of hard use they took care of it for free too.

By contrast Montblanc charged me $600 for a repair on a fountain pen that came back in worse shape than it was sent and Cartier has two goes at fixing a pen with a leaking cartridge converter before I gave up and paid a local to fix it. Expensive and lousy.

Edit: TAG also gave me 3 links for an old F1 free when I ordered them
 
YY77
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dsio dsio
Zenith
Not to long ago a friend enquired about an butterfly clasp (new design) for his Defy 21 as the old one cut into his wrist due to the design, he asked Zenith CS in Switserland what the reference no. and cost was for the new one, he got the deployant clasp gratis.
 
Archer
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Had Tag in Australia service a watch for $650

Jewellery store that sold Tag watches tried to charge a $200 fee for the pleasure of me going through them to send watch. ( even after charging me $25 to cover postage to Service Centre in Sydney on hand over )
Refused to pay the $200 handling fee.
Advised I knew it was only $650 for service due to contact with Tag.
The Bluff worked as $200 fee was waived.

Now know someone that used to work for above jewellery company and 99% just pay the $200 fee not knowing and think it is part of the actual service.

With most companies the price you are given from an AD for factory service is not what the AD pays. The AD gets a substantial discount on the service price, and you pay the retail price - that is how AD's make money on service. They typically are given the option to charge you for the shipping costs on top of that.

I can't say for sure that Tag does it this way, but it would be very unusual if they didn't, so asking another $200 on top of what they are already making, is taking the piss.
 
Archer
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dsio dsio
Everything tends to be overpriced in Australia so it doesn’t overly surprise me

I know, I've been there many times. The OP though would have been far better to go through Omega directly. The service price would have been cheaper, and the extra costs for the parts he was charged for would have been included in the service price.

He's out many hundreds of dollars that he didn't need to pay...
 
STANDY
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dsio dsio
TAG Australia, well LVMH Australia are superb, I had an Aquaracer flooded due to a stripped crown thread, salt water damage to everything plus a rough bezel and dinged case, they changed about $560 aud to replace everything except the bracelet, totally new watch head. I had a mate with a Zenith entry level EP and he had cracked the crystal under warranty, they took care of it gratis as a good will gesture. When my LV laptop bag had the handles delaminate after 6 years of hard use they took care of it for free too.

By contrast Montblanc charged me $600 for a repair on a fountain pen that came back in worse shape than it was sent and Cartier has two goes at fixing a pen with a leaking cartridge converter before I gave up and paid a local to fix it. Expensive and lousy.

Edit: TAG also gave me 3 links for an old F1 free when I ordered them

Yes Tag were and have always been good. Have nothing but good things with services via them. Have always done a battery change pressure test with seals on my TAG Link SLE for over 20+ years no issue..
 
makaria indica
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dsio dsio
There are two in Brisbane that have parts accounts and complete facilities for servicing Co-Axial Omegas, one is a small independent with two branches that mainly deals in high end vintage, the other is Wallace Bishop / Hardy Brothers, which I’m guessing is who you dealt with. They do have fairly extensive facilities and I can imagine them being a bit pricey as I’ve been there and chatted with their watchmakers.

Excellent guess.......

Do you think Omega Au are aware of "Service centres" outsourcing work as opposed to sending to Omega in Melbourne?
 
dsio
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makaria indica makaria indica
Excellent guess.......

Do you think Omega Au are aware of "Service centres" outsourcing work as opposed to sending to Omega in Melbourne?
Do you mean ADs sending watches to those service centers like Hardy Bros / Wallace Bishop? Because that they certainly do, in terms of the actual service Center there in Brisbane outsourcing the work to someone else I would find that rather doubtful, except in some rare cases in vintage models. A Cal 8500 I would be certain Wallace Bishop would service themselves as they not only have all the equipment and parts but they spend a lot of money, and frankly also lose a lot of money fully training up watchmakers and investing in them from scratch, so they have the people and have invested a lot in bringing them up to that point where they are fully across Omegas range of coaxial movements. Many of the best and most talented watchmakers from that center get poached by other firms in town and some go out on their own once they get the experience and training under their belt.

There is one exception where they might outsource and that is on things like an Omega 33.3 chronograph or an Omega Synchrobeat where the movement is older and more complex than their people are willing to touch or is just a complete basket case. There is a dude in Brisbane who everyone uses for “too hard basket” watches because he’s able to manufacture lost or damaged parts for just about anything, and at times even design improved ones to an extent beyond most journeyman watchmakers. He definitely doesn’t spend his time doing anything as easy as a Cal 8500 though where the parts are all in inventory ready to go.

This isn’t an abnormal thing btw, the BMW dealership knows that if someone brings in a 3.0CSL that needs serious engine work, that there is a BMW engine shaman on the south side or Brisbane, and even the Mercedes museum in Germany doesn’t restore their own gullwings or SSKs, they send them to a non-Mercedes specialist (also in Brisbane) who is the world leader on those cars.
 
makaria indica
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Thank you for the explanation and analogy. My perception of how things work was wrong, my assumption was that a service centre would send to Omega to service...... but now I know 👍
 
STANDY
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makaria indica makaria indica
Thank you for the explanation and analogy. My perception of how things work was wrong, my assumption was that a service centre would send to Omega to service...... but now I know 👍

I send my Speedmaster to Adam (lewiswatchco) in Perth who is a Omega only watchmaker with a parts account.
 
Modernism
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PO 8500 been good - 2 sec per day, for 6 years unserviced.

The PO 2500 on the other hand.... twice serviced, in not much longer the time.
Usually problems started by crown issues, as opposed to the running of movement
 
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