Chicagoland - Reliable Vintage Omega Servicing / Watchmaking

Hi All,

I wanted to create a searchable, organized thread on vintage omega servicing in Chicago. Partially selfish because I need to get my Constellation serviced, but, searching for this on this board, most threads either have one or two suggestions which people then disagree with, or they are complete dead-ends with no responses. Hoping that making the title clear, Chicago-specific and searchable, plus me updating the body of the post based on input as time goes on, will make this thread more valuable.


The Big Question
What watchmakers are you all familiar with in the Chicagoland area that you'd feel confident taking a vintage Omega to for servicing?


Summary of Findings (So Far)
Looking at other posts, I've seen the following options come up. I've done my best to outline some key takeaways, but please feel free to push back if I'm way off of the mark on any of them.

1. Father Time Antiques (Chicago, IL) (4.6 stars on Google) - Multiple mentions of this store on this forum, with some people having positive experiences there. However, many comments also note that this is priced significantly above other watchmakers and stores.

2. MJ Watch Service (Glenview, IL) (4.5 stars on Google) - Positive reviews on this forum from users, with no clearly negative feedback. @Larry-S, you've commented on this watchmaker before - is this still your go-to?

3. Swiss Service Center (LaGrange, IL) (4.0 stars on Google) - Saw one positive mention of this watchmaker, but, otherwise, very limited information from what I could find.

Of course, there are probably tons of people on Jeweler's Row, but I have no idea how reliable they are. Guessing that most people are probably bringing watches for battery replacements, so I could see them having high reviews on Google with poor outcomes for vintage stuff.


Wrap-Up Note on Commenter Feedback
Apologies in advance if I'm breaking any rules/etiquette - I'm clearly new to this forum and only joined to get to the bottom of Omega servicing. If I've done anything wrong, please let me know and I'll happily adjust the post. Hoping to edit this as more input rolls in to get a bigger and more current list going.

Thank you, sir. Not to dig in too much into a previous (maybe two or so year-old) comment that you made, but, when researching, I noticed that you said something about how they weren’t officially licensed and that that could create potential issues. Am I conveying that correctly, and do you still feel that that is the case?

I’d be wary of looking at average Google ratings, in my experience most watchmaker reviews are just for battery swaps or bracelet fitting, which doesn’t give much signal for how good the watchmaker is at servicing mechanical movements.

Interesting about Burdeen's! I bought a Grand Seiko in the Mag Mile location once, which was a fairly small space, but the Buffalo Grove store looks like it has an absolutely massive selection.

Looking at their website, they do note the following, but hard to tell how much of it is fairly standard marketing copy vs. genuine expertise.
To @fiberguy 's point, most of the maintenance-related reviews on Google there talk about bracelet adjustments and battery replacements. One low-rated review says that they were "pushed out of the store" when asking to service a 1940's Omega, but not sure if there's more to that story that's maybe being left out.

I've sent along a service request through Burdeen's website just to see what they say about pricing and turnaround times and can update here.

Also, unrelated, but does anyone know if there is a way to edit my main post? We've gotten some really great input here and want to make sure that I can include it in my original post if that functionality does exist.

I have used the Watch Doctor in Vernon Hills in the past. They do in house servicing. I have found Vlad and his associates to do good work at a reasonable price.

This looks super promising! How much, approximately, would you expect to pay for a service with them? What have you seen for turnaround times for fairly standard servicing?

The turn around time was typically 7 to 10 days. I'm hesitant to quote costs since it has been a few years since they did a service for me. I will say that their pricing was very reasonable.