Hi all this is my first post following my purchase of a black seamaster 300m with ceramic bezel a couple of weeks back. I love the watch I think it's truly beautiful however i noticed that the date switches over at exactly 11.52pm. I don't mean that it starts to slowly change between 10 mins to midnight and then completes by 10 mins past midnight, I mean the date rolls over quickly at exactly 11.52pm. I took it back to the omega boutique that I purchased it from (bond street, London) and they couldn't have been more helpful. They checked the watch out, confirmed that the date did indeed roll over early, apologised and told me that they would order me a replacement watch. Here's where things get weird. the watch arrives and I come back to the store to pick it up. The boutique manager tells me they are still very happy to swap my watch over but they have checked the new watch and it ALSO turns the date over at 11.52pm!!!!!!! He then says he's been told that the watch is supposed to do that but they can book me an appointment with their in store watch guy who could open the watch up and adjust the time the date changes over.

question: why are omega manufacturing their watches to change the date over at 11.52pm? What on earth is wrong with turning the date over at midnight like everyone else. It's really really bugging me to think I spent almost 3 grand on a watch that can't get the simple things right.

would you get the watch opened up and adjusted or would you just live with it?

 

Pardon my incredulity, but you really had a problem with the date changing 8 minutes early?

Man, I thought I had some issues!

Okay, in all seriousness - welcome to ΩF. I'd live with it. Frankly, it wouldn't even bother me as most watches I've ever owned didn't change at midnight on the dot.

 

Hey guys, it's the 2500 caliber and this is my first decent watch. Before this I had a £650 pound manual wound victorinox which didn't have a date function and before that i just used my mobile phone where being digital the date changes over at midnight. So this is all pretty normal then from what you say? It doesn't effect me dramatically, obviously, i just didn't understand why two seamaster pro watches would both change exactly 8 mins early. if you can manage that kind of precision... why wouldn't you do it 8 mins later so it coincides with the real date changing over.

 

I see your point on the precision. Welcome to the Big Leagues, btw.

Don't forget how cheap early birds are. Taste just like chicken!

 

Actually I think it's Flounder...

 

Hello Paul - welcome to the forum. Omega tolerances for the date change are rather wide, and Omega specs for the Cal. 2500 allow the date change to be + or - 10 minutes of midnight. As someone who services watches, I find this to be a very liberal tolerance personally, and for the type of mechanism in this watch it's not difficult to get it much closer to right on midnight (within a couple of minutes).

The type of date mechanism can affect how it switches, and to a degree how consistent it is and how accurate it can be. This is a semi-instantaneous date mechnism with 2 springs involved, and the tolerance is there because these are not always consistent - but again 10 minutes either way is pretty loose.

Although I would not let one leave my shop like this, I don't think I would go to the trouble of having the watch opened to fix it. It's an easy fix for any moderately skilled watchmaker - open the case, remove the movement, remove the hands, reset the hands so the flip is close to midnight, then assemble and pressure test. Personally I would leave it until your first service, but keep in mind the watchmakers at Omega will be working to the same tolerances of +/- 10 minutes...

Cheers, Al

 

Thank you Al, your post really was incredibly helpful. I'll follow your advice and leave it for now then. I'm still surprised though that such an expensive watch (ok, so a fraction of the price of a patek phillipe but still a multiple of the price of most watches) that there isn't just that extra little attention to detail.

 

Hi Al.

When you say the Cal.2500 semi-instantaneous date mechanism is not always consistent... do you mean from watch to watch, or from midnight to midnight on the same watch? (Mine varies with +/- 1 minute before and after midnight, and also a slight variation of the shifting of the date dial - sometimes starts moving slightly a few minutes before the flick, and sometimes just a flick.)

Jacques

 

Yes how the date flips over can change on a single watch - it's not always perfectly consistent, because a compressible spring is being used to drive the date wheel. At the same time that date wheel is being held by a second spring.

Compare this to say a Rolex with an instantaneous date change, which is controlled by an arrangement more like a cam and follower, and unless that cam wears, it's going to be the same each time.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks Al. Knowledgeable answer.