I sent my watch into a very experienced watchmaker and was told the auto-wind portion was worn out. It is a cal. 342 movement. He said he could not get parts and offered to service it and that I could use it by winding daily. From a practical standpoint, not a problem as I would wear it only on occasion. But, from a collectable standpoint, surely lacking.

I've read that these movements are more subject to wear from bumping. Also that the parts are harder to find as they have been used to service those that needed repair. Not sure if I should look for the parts or a donor movement, or which other calibers may have the needed parts. Or is there a watchmaker which would have the needed pieces.

Your thoughts or suggestions?

 

Bumpers do take a little more wear & tear, but not an incredible amount more than a full rotor watch. Parts are getting harder to come by so a couple spare movements are good to have.

 

Which parts you need will dictate what donors you could use. The base movement is the 330 and the 342 also uses some parts from the 340 as well as some dedicated parts for the 342 itself. Your best bet is to download the parts lists for all three calibres and ask your watchmaker to identify the parts you need.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the parts in the donor will be in any better condition than the ones in your watch at the moment.

 

In my (fairly limited) experience wear in the auto-winder is not a common problem with the Omega 'bumper' movements. In the ten or so which have passed through my hands, all of the winders have worked just fine. In fact, I would hazard a guess that the bumpers are more robust than the later full-rotor movements, as there are no reversing gears and they only wind in one direction.

As there are several parts which make up the winding mechanism, you really need to know from your watchmaker exactly which parts need replacing and their corresponding Omega part numbers. As Stewart says, many parts for the winder are common to all the bumper movements from the 330 onwards - your 342 should be easy as it shares many parts with 343, 344, 351, 352, 353, 354, and 355. Some of these parts are still available from Cousins UK, and also on eBay as NOS parts from various sellers. But you really do need those part numbers. The other option, as has been mentioned, is to purchase a donor movement (preferably 34x) and cannibalise that. At £70 to £100 GBP this might well be your cheapest option and you will have some useful bits left over which you can hoard against a rainy day, or you can strip the movement and sell the other individual parts on eBay.

 

Quadrophenic-Schizophrenia

 

This is still how most Omega part numbers work - for movement parts. Certainly the number is longer and has other identifiers in it, but the base movement is still in the part number. For example the hour recorder runner for a Cal. 1861 is part number 72203211788. The "321" is there, but not as easy to see as it used to be.

Cheers, Al

 

That is of course correct, but when you are searching for NOS parts on eBay sellers will use the old part number that is printed on the box. For example, in this case you might need the pawl bearing complete, which is 330-1419. If you search on "Omega 1419" you will turn up a couple. Over time I have bought spares from Australia, the USA, Argentina, France, Germany and even Croatia, and all the stuff has been good and the sellers have been very helpful.

 

Not sure what point you are making, but knowing the base movement portion of the part number is important for making sure you get the right part. Using your example, many Omega parts have the digits "1419" in them, from cases, watch bezels, bracelet links, to movement parts.

Now that example is a pretty easy one to sort out because it is a bumper movement, but one that is less obvious would be a more common movement part.

For example in the Cal. 330, the third wheel part number (using the old system to keep it simple) is 330-1240. For a Cal. 563, the third wheel is 550-1240. The last 4 digits only identify the general part in the movement, and not the specific movement that this part is for. Searching on 1240 will get you 3rd wheel results from many movements, and they are not interchangeable. You need both portions of the part number to make sure you are getting the correct part for your movement.

Cheers, Al

 

Sorry, Al, didn't mean to spread confusion. Yes, of course you do need the calibre ID in front of the part number to fully nail the correct part for your watch. It's just that a lot of eBay sellers are very sloppy about the way they use part numbers, often hiding them away in the description, for example, and not in their full form. So I tend to search on the lowest common denominator first - Omega + part ID - and then sift through the results. Even then, to be sure that I have not missed something, it pays me to search on Omega + calibre + "stem" (for example) and check that result too. I have found some really good stuff (parts and watches) by searching for it in the most roundabout ways

P.S. Naturally, the way that I do it, you have to know that 330-1240 is the right part, and 550-1240 is the wrong part, so that you can just disregard the stuff you don't want.

 

Cheers mate.

 

To the OP - if you can get your watchmaker to identify the parts needed, that is the first step. I will try to help if I can with whatever parts might still be available from Omega.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks gentlemen. That's the kind of information I was looking for!

 

So do you have any idea yet exactly which parts are worn?

 

Hi John....I just heard back after sending him a link to the chart. Here is his reply:

"My guess from that chart is that you need click #1414. It is not listed as being available from Frei-Borel. It is a part that wears out on most of these old watches, it is going to be hard to find since most of them are long ago used up and no new ones are being made."

I am assuming the correct part number for the 342 movement is 330-1414. Is this correct?

 

This part 330-1414 is still listed by Cousins UK at £21.60 GBP. You or your watchmaker will need to create an account with Cousins to order one.

 

John, Evan, Al, Dennis, Stewart: you guys go above and beyond with being helpful and patient and just straight up cool.

a cynical prcik might think someone like Al is just fishing for business but it appears to me that he doesn't need a single new client. Not a one. Al has the patience of a saint and you can tell he loves being a teacher.

i don't want to be overly sappy so I'll leave at...thanks!


*edit

I'm a big fan of bumper autos - have more than a few and never a problem with one (((crosses fingers))).

this one is from 1949 and it was someones daily wearer. It keeps close to perfect time (+/- 3 secs a day). Not an Omega but same general design...