Hi y'all,
I'm on the precipice of buying a 321.10.42.50.02.001 with box but no papers. It was sent to The Watchmaker for a full service, but they sent it back to Omega. I know there was a lot of negative feedback about this caliber about ten years ago, but I haven't seen many bad experiences in the last 5 years or so. I really like the white dial with blued hands and think this is the best looking Speedmaster to go with my black and blue dial watches. Any opinions out there before I take the plunge?

 

Ive got a 3313 Planet Ocean. Mine did have an issue after being dropped 3 inches into a marble counter top and fixed and I presume updated and have had zero issues since. Winding and setting is sublime and have no qualms with a movement sent back to omega for service where it would have received any updates.

On a side note it’s a tiny movement which is hilarious knowing it’s inside a 45.5 planet ocean.

 

If the movement has had all the upgrades, it should be fine. Note that a lot of the negativity about this movement (and the versions that are not co-axial) comes from one guy repeatedly trashing it on seemingly every watch forum he comes across.

It's a 12 ligne movement, so 27.6 mm. The 2500 is 11.5 lignes (25.6 mm) and it also came in a 45 mm case, so not sure I would consider it "tiny" really.

 

Not quite Al. He's a member here now and I haven't seen him comment on these movements yet.

 

I know he's here...just waiting for it to happen...the mods are on the look out too for his antics.

 

I asked for a pic (I think it's called the main plate?) that shows 3313c from one of you old posts. I searched through your posts on this subject and it was VERY informative. Thanks so much for contributing to this forum!

 

I have one of those and mine which is B spec has been flawless for 5 years. I guess it may explode any minute (just a joke) but I get a kick from how special the movement really is, it makes the 1861 look pretty basic. Mine gets a lot of wear (more than my Ed White) and looks damn good too IMO. The dial particularly looks amazing but is very hard to photograph well. It isn’t white as some might assume but in fact has I think 4 different silver finishes. I have the bracelet but prefer it on leather, either brown or dark blue. Some poor pics:

 

I don't know what you're talking about! Those pics are great, especially the third one. I love how the hands are angled. I think it looks pretty fantastic on the leather too. I typically like bracelets but like the way leather wears. It's much more comfortable.

Update: I ended up buying the watch so I'm now waiting for it to be shipped. Unfortunately, I'm not at my shipping address in the US, so I'll have to wait until my parents can bring it to me in Taiwan. The 17 day countdown begins...

 

I realise you can’t judge a series by one example but I would add that mine is possibly my most accurate watch even though based on purely on age it is likely due a service soon. It runs at around +1s per day with little positional Variation and strong amplitude (and yes I have set the lift angle which if I recall is a lot lower than for a std escapement). When I service it I will probably bite the bullet and get Omega to upgrade it to C spec since that is what the wider consensus suggests it needs bit when it runs this good it is hard to see an urgency.

 

I have had my Schumi Speedmaster Legend with the 3133 for 4 years now, but no issues so far. Fingers crossed!

 

Unless you have a timing machine that has specific programming selections for measuring co-axial escapements, your timing machine will not give you the correct amplitude readings even with the lift angle set properly. To the best of my knowledge none of the hobby level machines have this feature.

Cheers, Al

 

Mine, a Weishi 1000 claims to, but I accept your point after all ebay claims are to be taken with a pinch of salt. The lift angle you need to use seems pretty low though, around 38º from memory. It certainly gives believable values on all of my 3 Coax watches of circa 300º and correctly picks up the 25200 beat rate of the 2500 and 8600 too. I don't attempt repairs though, just use it to satisfy curiosity and identify really poor running so it wouldn't really affect me if it didn't read right.

 

They claim that it is accurate with regards to amplitude specifically? Or is it a more general claim like "works with Omega co-axial"?

The first one is not likely the case, but the second one isn't a false claim - it will read the beat error and the rate correctly, but will not read the amplitude correctly. If you don't have to switch to a special program when measuring a co-axial, then it won't have that feature to measure amplitude.

 

Well I guess i that case I may have to accept it doesn't read them right since there doesn't seem to be any special button or mode. In what way would it be incorrect? A random factor or a consistent under or over read? If the latter it may still be useful to track deterioration.

 

The sequence of sounds in a co-axial escapement is very different from a Swiss lever escapement. It's not just a matter of applying some universal offset. When I discussed this with the engineers at Witschi (the people who make the proper professional machines) they remarked that reading the sounds correctly in a co-axial was not an easy thing to accomplish.

 

So I bought the watch and unfortunately, it's not all flowers and rainbows. As I stated earlier, the seller had a receipt for a service from The Watchmaker who sent if back to Omega in July of 2016. I assumed that it wouldn't need a service and he stated that the chronograph was working fine. The chronograph does work fine as long as you have the watch sitting on a flat surface with the dial facing up. In any other position (or when you're wearing the watch) the minute hand doesn't tick over which causes the hour hand to do funny stuff as well. So now I have to take it to get serviced in Taiwan. I'm not sure if there are any qualified watchmakers here so I'll just be taking it in to Omega. *sigh*

Here's a video link showing what I mean.