Recently I acquired a 145.012 68 (see other thread) from a gentleman who inhereted it from his father. Not knowing what to do with the watch he went to an AD who advised him to have it serviced and sell it. So: the AD gave the watch a full service for the princely sum of EUR 820 (so roughly USD 950) not counting the additional EUR 140 for a new bezel. Hands, pushers and plexi were replaced as part of the service. I bought it about 6 months after the service. For obvious reasons I blurred out some parts of the invoice but here it is:



So: no questions there besides the fact that no serial or reference is mentioned. What do you get for that money?

1) a bezel which is not properly aligned. Just a couple of degrees but still

2) a new handset which is damaged

To be honest I missed it when I bought the watch because I concentrated on the old hand.
3) an old hand set which is damaged because they were removed without caution

In all fairness: I assume the average customer doesn't care at all at this and at most brands you'll never see those hands again anyway. And yes: the stairs should be repainted but I have 1) lack of time and 2) a wife which wears heels which will scr.w up the paint within weeks.
4) when I went to my watchmaker to have the hands and bezel put back he opened up the watch to find a lot of red fabric 'hairs' in the movement. No pics of this
5) when he put it on the timing machine this showed up:

Most likely a 861 main spring was used, which fits in a 321, but is also thicker and hence stronger so the balance tips over too far. He recommended to go back to the AD to have this rectified.

I intended to do so but after some thought I decided to ask my watchmaker to do so because I don't dare to take the gamble that the AD will not screw up again. This would potentially leave me in the position that I have to discuss about things which I assume the AD will not understand at all (i.e. irreparable damage to the original dial and or original hands).

So: a service at this AD is a potential disaster. Completely ignorant, ridiculously overpriced and with the quality control of Lada.

The name of the AD literally translates to Sheep & Lemon. Well: they are certainly not sheep and leave you with a lemon...
(and yes I know how cheap is spelled...)

 

Personally, I'd probably steer clear of the AD.

Those new hands look like Mark II hands, not even proper hands for the model!

 

Not likely: the 861 mainspring is on the contrary thinner than the 320/21 one.
By the way, the lift angle must be set at 40°, not at 52°.

 

I feel your pain although it's to a lesser degree. I sent my vintage Chronostop via a local AD to have the crystal replaced and to check for any additional damage due to an "episode" with my 3 y/o and the kitchen floor. I chose to do a full overhaul and I must admit that the watch came back looking better than new. I knew it needed a new crystal and replacement hands from the damage that it had sustained. The original dial suffered no damage and the new hands looked great. However once I got home I noticed that the Omega symbol on the replacement crystal was installed upside down. I know it is a minor issue and really not that noticeable, and I only noticed it once I got home and gave it the once over with my loop.( I forgot to bring it with me on pick-up). I opted just to live with it because I didn't want to deal with sending it back. To me thats a minor thing but for an authorized repair center to let that slip is pretty shoddy IMO. Now maybe that is the only way the crystal can be installed and if that is the case I am sure that someone will chime in. From now on I have decided to utilize one of the many respected and recommended members on this forum to perform any repair or service. For me, I would trust someone from this forum who has a passion for watches and just not performing a job related task. Just my 2 cents.

 

Very poor work and a complete lack of a QA program.

Pricing is really high, and with the parts embargo only 2 months away...choosing an independent watchmaker is going to be even more difficult.

Hopefully the public will catch on to the Swiss cartel practices and bring about a change, but I doubt it's going to change anything.

 

Before we get carried away here , lets not forget this watch never went near an Omega service centre.

 

Please explain.....

 

Well I might have misunderstood my watchmaker. I'll tell him about the lift angle.

 

I didn't think the cal.1045 hands would fit a cal 321.. the shape and lume is the same as Mark II though, and those hands would fit a 321.

 

Yes the lift angle being incorrectly set on the machine is the only reason the amplitude reading is so high, I'd wager that when set at 40 degrees (for a 321) it'd be around 270 or similar which is correct. Many watchmakers will see this high amplitude reading and declare that the balance is over banking - which is not correct

You need people who know what they are doing with vintage watches, that piece of advice could have been responsible for another full disassembly without cause. Although fibres etc and the rest of the reading are clearly rubbish lol

 

is dennis the menace trying to say that the AD did the work themselves and "said" they sent it to the Omega service center??

Now that's shady..

 

Also wondering if this went to Omega (very dissapointing) or the ad ( who is Omega service center) did this..

 

yeah..is Schaap Citroen the Authorized Dealer? if that bill is from them, then weren't they the ones that did it? Where is the bill from Omega Corporate?

 

Well: seller said something about Switzerland but I have not seen nor received a Bienne invoice. So: I guess the AD sais they'll send it to Bienne but did it themselves. I know for a fact that they have their own watchmakers in the Netherlands.

 

I recommend you lose this watch as if it were a bad habit

Let me take care of it.

 

If that is what happened, then yes it's shady (and it would not be the first time - an AD in Toronto was caught doing the same thing). But to back up a bit, the OP didn't get the service done, the former owner did if I read this all correctly. Unless the person who sold this watch to the OP was told it would go to Omega instead of being serviced by the dealer, we don't know if there was any deception involved.

I would be very surprised if it was done by Omega, as they would not put the wrong hands on it.

Cheers, Al

 

Out of interest, do any of the pros have a view on that timing machine reading above? I've not seen that sort of reading before where the centre portion is perfectly fine (excluding the enormous beat error and the amplitude which would be fine with a correct lift angle) but the rest is like a hailstorm. Looks as if there are a couple of rotations of the escape wheel that appear good. Broken jewel on the fourth wheel or damaged wheel? Seems a bit odd to me. Perhaps the position is being changed and the hairspring is hitting something?

@map782 if your Chronostop is like this, there's no reason to not have the Omega symbol aligned. They're a bit tricky as the inner tach bezel is loose (with a spring) so, you have to align that and the crystal when pressing on the crystal. I don't believe that Omega require the symbol to be aligned when it's fitted but, it would annoy the hell out of me.


@Mark020 , I hope you get it sorted without too much expense. Just from the outside, the bezel is shocking but you didn't mention the minute totaliser hand being misaligned as well. Seems like a poor job all round. What a shame.

Cheers, Chris

 

Completely missed that one.... But as said: I did not focus on the current hands because I knew I swap hem back anyway. Expense will be limited .

Regarding the beats etc: I think my watchmaker indeed said something about a spring hitting something.

Job will cost money but not remotely what the AD charged.

 

Your watchmaker didn't appear to pay attention to the lift angle, especially wrt to the 321 movement, that'd be something to worried about too.