Hi all,
I’ve searched for information on the forum, but did not find what I wanted, so sorry if it has been discussed.

I’ve heard a lots of things about co-axial mouvement from omega, mainly negative, with in the top 4:
- « It is not really an in-house mouvement (based on ETA?) »
- « It could be serviced only by omega, so it will be expensive »
- « we don’t have enough feedbacks yet to know if it is a good work horse which will last years after years »
- those mouvements are less interesting than the good « old » ones

Are those points true? Is it worth it having an omega with co-axial mouvement?

Thanks for your feedbacks!
Guillaume

 

If you like the watch and you are OK with the limitations (such as servicing) then I think it's "worth having".

 

Thanks Mjb!
But what about those points, are they true?

 

The earlier coaxials were based on ETA ebauches but the current ones are not. Omega is the best choice for servicing them, currently, for most people, but some few others can as well. Will they work for years? Yes, certainly, with factory service.

As for interesting... that's up to you. No one else has the coaxial escapement, and they likely won't any time soon. So there's that.

Tom

 

Looks like the OP has been reading a lot of old internet posts and hasn’t fully researched the evolution of CoAxial movements. Lots of good information on this site, so please spend some time reading more recent posts.

My quick take.

coAxial movements are no better or worse than other quality movements in Mechanical watches.

in-house movements are over-rated. Buy the watch you like.

Many independent watchmakers don’t want to mess with the required training and equipment to service a co-axial movement, so your options are more limited than for a Rolex or ETA movement. But a good watchmaker who has the training to service a co-axial movement will likely not charge much less than Omega, and the price will still be cheaper than many other watch brands with in-house movements. The Omega service also comes with a 2-year warranty.

 

I have two watches with coaxial movements - a first generation Planet Ocean with the 2500 movement (ETA based), and a new Seamaster 300M with the in-house Master Coaxial 8806. No issues with either. The 8806 has been phenomenally accurate. Omega has obviously bet the farm on the coaxial, placing it in virtually all models (presumably soon to include the Speedy Pro), and offers a 5 year warranty on new purchases. They clearly believe in the technology.

 

One addition to my “quick take” and the one place where I think the new Omega co-Axial movements excel compared to other movements is in their anti-magnetic properties. This has nothing to do with the co-axial escapement, of course, but in the use of non-magnetic materials for important parts.

 

My 8500 equipped Plant Ocean is ca 7 years old this year, it gets rotated as a daily wearer ( so its had nowhere near 7 years beating away internally) but it never misses a beat and is very accurate for the 2 weeks of constant use it gets when in rotation. I've worn it sometimes for many months continuously and certainly not felt any need to correct the time. I suppose its due a service, but then it's running great so there's a school of thought to leave it well alone for a bit longer

 

That’s sounds all good for the co-axial!

 

My son wears a Planet Ocean with the 8500 CoAxial movement. He’s worn it daily for more than 5 years and it still runs at less than +2 seconds per day. It’s been a great watch!

 

1st - Agree with other commenters, in-house is overrated. The Swiss watch industry was built off third party elements coming together to make a watch. High-end watchmakers would assemble parts from the best manufacturers in each category and finish a beautiful timepiece. Buy what makes you happy.
2nd - The movement can be serviced by Omega or an authorized/Omega-trained watchmaker. Omega provides the service training for free, so there is no excuse.
3rd - The Coaxial movement was first deployed in Omega watches in 1999, 20 years ago. Omega has been iterating on the movement since and has improved it over that time.
4th - It's slightly more interesting because the co-axial escapement is the first improvement to be employed on a large scale in over 200 years. In theory, it's more efficient than lever escapement. Roger W Smith has also iterated in it separately and improved it but not necessarily for Omega.

Again, buy what you want. The co-axial movements are workhorses at this point. A lot of the questions were asked of the movement when initially deployed, particularly the 2500A, 2500B movements in the Seamasters. If you look past those questions, in the beginning, you'll find the co-axial performs very well with similar issue rates to other movements.