Cost of Gasket Replacement?

Hi Folks,

I have a midsize quartz Seamaster Pro (2561.80) that hasn't seen service since its 1998 manufacture. The watch still runs fine, but I thought I'd investigate refreshing its water resistance so I don't have to feel foolish removing a professional dive watch before washing dishes.

I queried local (Atlanta) watchmakers about replacing the watch gaskets and performing a pressure test. No other service was requested. The responses ranged from $385 to $425 (USD) for the service.

That seems surprisingly high to me, considering that Omega will perform a full service on the watch for $500. Frankly, at those prices it would seem foolish not to take advantage of Omega and all the additional interventions and warranties that come with a full service. Parting with the watch for a few months rather than a few days hardly changes that evaluation for me.

Is there something I'm missing? I'd normally be happy to support a local business, but I haven't gotten great feelings from any of the local watchmakers, and my preferred remote watchmaker doesn't work on quartz.

ST

Ill bet our watchmakers here have something to say about this. IMO you are seeing quotes for a proper job on a quartz dive watch.

To be honest, I was expecting around $100. Even $150 wouldn't be unreasonable.


It certainly seems to be the going rate as I got multiple quotes in the same range. But for a mere ~ $100 more, I am led to believe that

- Omega will replace the caliber 1538 movement (which is currently an early revision A or B) with the most up-to-date version (revision D).
- Omega will replace the entire crown assembly (not just the gasket) and the helium escape valve.
- Omega will replace the hands (current second hand tip has faded to orange).
- Omega will replace the pins and collars in the bracelet.
- Omega will replace the spring bars.
- Omega will polish/refinish the case and bracelet. (I'm sort of meh on this one. The watch has certainly been well worn, but I don't mind all the scratches and scuff marks. I'm not opposed to it either, though.)

And Omega offers a 2-year warranty on the service. I didn't ask what the local watchmakers would provide, but I assume that if the watch didn't survive a swimming pool after their service, the most they would pay would be the cost of the service. Omega, on the other hand, I would expect to fully repair the watch including replacement of any water-damaged parts.


Yep. I was not expecting to find that Omega offered better value than a local watchmaker, but I guess that's the situation.

+1

The watch is 25 years old! It has never been serviced! So it was your impression that a leak was likely to happen only because of the gasket? There are lots of places aside from the gasket that might leak. My suggestion? Find the cheapest quote and have it done. Then don’t bitch and gripe when you destroy the watch!

1. There are three gaskets—caseback, crown, and crystal—not one.
2. Yes, if there is water ingress, it will likely be through one of those seals. Absent a hole in the case or crystal, or a defective HEV, there is no other possible way for water to enter the case. The point of pressure testing is to verify that.
3. The point of my post was not to find the cheapest option. It was to try and understand why local watchmakers would charge almost as much for a minimal service as Omega does for a full service.
4. Your “suggestion,” in addition to demonstrating a lack of reading comprehension, is insulting and inappropriate for a collegial forum.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a local watchmaker with an Omega parts account. Also unfortunately, all three of the local watchmakers I have found suffer from rather mixed reviews. There have been threads both here and in other forums (WUS and Watchcrunch) looking for Atlanta-based watchmakers, and the results have not been promising. (If you want to read a lot of scathing reviews, look up watchmakers in Atlanta on Yelp. Not that Yelp is an authority on horology, but it can give you a sense of how folks are treated.)

Edited to add: I guess the bottom line is that I’d like to use a local watchmaker, but I don’t really trust the ones I’ve found, and the quotes I received don’t improve that. If their service included more than my request, why not say so in the response. Omega feels like the best choice.

Watchmaking is a sysophean task. Always pushing the bolder up the hill.

When I have gone and visited 3 local watchmakers here in the northeast San Francisco bay area, there are always people in line wanting to get their Rolex fixed. Other times it has been like here with people wanting the watches 'valued.' I hear there may be possibilities in the city, the peninsula or the south bay. Nothing ever definite.

Some do not want to share the names of the good watchmakers lest they become too popular with too much backlog.

I did study 30 years ago with a SF "clock maker." who was competent in watches but found dealing with watch repair customers to be too much work. He was also training a high school student who went on to Berkley. There was a class in the SF school system, that was being shut down. Most of those students only wanted to focus on Rolex.

I heard one of the main watchmakers in Marin 'retired.' I drifted away from the community 20 years ago when one of the other mentors passed away. These groups are always looking for new members and Atlanta was always one of the strong regions.

As for trust. If the watchmaker can pay the rent and keep the lights on, and have a clientele, then they must be doing something right. I did use the locals when I had diffused my passion over the last 20 years when I needed basic stuff done. Could be that when one knows some of the basics, the standards seem to be much more exacting.

I always thought It would be 'fun' to send my Speedy to the factory for service. Having visited the place. Not so much for the movement as for the case. I do have similar Tissot and Lemania movements. So there is no real reason I could not clean and oil it myself and clean the crud out of the pushers. Joining these forums last year now makes me think otherwise. It is not like when I was using it daily.

What I personally would want in a watchmaker, is someone I could get parts from. Or simply someone I could chat with who also has a passion for these things. On the other hand, they see watches, watches and more watches.

The collectors clubs were fun. Although they tend to focus on stuff which has some sort of 'collectablity' parameter. When there was no net, this was a great place to learn or find things. Now with 7 or 8 million items a click away, some of the edginess has worn off.

So yeah, I feel for the OP. I just want to get the stuff I do not like doing done. Quickly and affordably.

Sadly, that’s exactly the problem. It’s seemingly impossible to actually talk to them.

Watchmaker 1 does not interact with customers. He has a receptionist who does that. She will take your watch, charge you a nonrefundable $35 fee, and get back with you a week or two later with a repair or service estimate. There is no detailed itemization, and your only options are take it or leave it.

Watchmaker 2 advertises normal business hours. I drove to his shop mid-afternoon in the middle of the week. It was closed. No sweat; everyone is entitled to vacation or sick days. The next morning I telephoned to confirm that the shop would be open that afternoon. He assured me it would be. I drove there again mid-afternoon. The shop was closed.

Watchmaker 3 was at least present when I visited his shop. But he was rude and condescending and could hardly be bothered to converse with a potential customer.

After three strikes I might start to worry that the problem was me, but a quick scan of the threads and reviews mentioned above and it’s clear that I am far from alone.

I have also visited the local Omega boutique. The staff there have always been exceptionally helpful, friendly, and polite.

I guess I was hoping to give the local guys one more chance with this service. They did at least respond to email. But no confidence was inspired so Omega it will be.

So just to review the seals that are in your watch:

1 - Case back seal
2 - Crown seal
3 - Crystal seal
4 - HEV seals (there are 2)

To replace all of these means removing the movement from the case, and then completely disassembling the case, cleaning it, and then installing everything again.

Replacing the case back seal is just a matter is lubricating and installing the O-ring.

Replacing the crystal seal obviously requires removing the crystal, and then installing it again with a new seal.

Then things get tricky, and depends a little on the specific watch...

Some Omega dive watch crowns Omega sells a replacement O-ring for the crown, so if the crown is in good shape (not damaged on the outside and the threads are still okay) if you have that type of crown the cost is just 1 O-ring. For this model, the crown doesn't have a separate O-ring, so you will pay for a new crown. Often when a new crown is used, the old stem doesn't work - sometimes the depth of the threading can change inside the crown, and if you are unlucky, the stem is now too short, so a new stem would need to be supplied and cut to the correct length.

The HEV is even more complicated. The original HEV's were able to be disassembled, and the 2 O-rings inside replaced. Over time, Omega discontinued that style and the new HEV's are installed as one complete unit, and are not designed to be disassembled at all. So the entire HEV unit is removed and a new unit is installed. Omega still sells some parts for the older style, including the two O-rings, but not all the parts. If I come across a watch that still has the old design, I do my best to rebuild it, because once you replace it with the new style, you are stuck with replacing the whole thing each time.

So depending on the combination of what is on your specific watch, the parts cost alone is going to be well over $100. So the idea that you "shouldn't pay more than" some arbitrary number like $75 is very simplistic and unrealistic.

After reassembly, there's pressure testing. Depending on what they are doing it can take as little as a couple of minutes for a dry test, or a couple of hours for a wet test. If you asked for it to be tested to it's full depth, it will be the latter.

Certainly being quoted close to Omega service prices is interesting, and surprising. I can't speak for the people you asked, but when I do a job like this (which I do quite often) checks on the movement are included, and essentially mandatory, as well as a new battery. The last thing I want to do is do all the seals, not check the movement, and then have the customer come back and say that something is wrong and I caused it when I did the work - as I've said many time, watch repair is like a game of tag - the last person to touch the watch is "it"...

It's nothing personal, but the odd person does try stuff, and it can make you wary of people. I don;t get much of it because I work mostly with collectors, but if a watchmaker is dealing with the general public in a walk in type situation, I'm sure they learn lessons the hard way.

So perhaps these people are including work that you didn't ask for, because they are trying to protect themselves? Hard to say, and maybe you should ask them why the price is so close to what Omega asks - if of course they will actually answer. It seems like your three choices were complete duds in the customer service department.

One of the big things I always stress is to get a clearly defined scope of the work. It's the only way you can compare the $75 dollar guy to the $400 guy, and really understand the differences. They might both be charging what is appropriate for the work that they are actually performing.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

Thanks a ton for weighing in @Archer. As always, your perspective is invaluable. (And if it weren't 41°F in Atlanta right now, I'd even say I sometimes wish I lived in Canada so I'd have an impeccable independent watchmaker upon whom I could rely.)

Let Omega have this one. Value is there on a modern quartz, not like we are talking a vintage watch. Send it there, get your warranty and be done IMO.