According to a well known member on WUS, STS don't work on 321's anymore because Omega won't supply them with parts. Any truth there or just more WUS bullshit?
WUS bullshit. Literally just had a 321 Serviced on a Seamaster & spoke to Tony afterwards at STS who said they have many more in the workflow.
Sounds like BS to me as there are a few members that had 321s serviced by them very recently/currently.
From memory STS technically don't work on 321s any longer due to Omega requiring service centers to send Cat 4 watches back to Bienne, but their sister company operating out of the same site Swisstec do still service 321s and have a hoard of parts for them. By putting Swisstec on the invoice which is not an Omega service center the requirement to ship back to Omega is negated. This dates back to 2014 or so.
Swisstec are a division of STS rather than a separate/sister company. If I understand the setup correctly, STS are the Omega Service Centre and the Swisstec division does other brands (Cartier and Ball are given prominence). If you look in the retail area of STS, they do list cal.321 Speedies as cat 4. However they get round manage to work within the strictures of Bienne, long may it continue. In any event, a quick phonecall to them would sort this speculation out one way or another
Just got my 1965, Cal321 Speedmaster back from Swiss Time Services two weeks ago. They replaced one or two of the 'historical service parts', that are incorrect, with 'vintage correct' parts. For example the crown was a 36 tooth service replacement so STS fitted a 24 tooth vintage Crown. Of course, this along with my wanting the original pushers and crystal retained effects the watertight guarantee. But that seems to be the price you pay for preserving the watch in a condition that is as close to original as is practical. I was given a tour of the hallowed STS workshop, by Tony Coe, and I would agree with @tyrantlizardrex. I don't know much about this stuff but I saw a lot of watchmakers working on a lot of old watches using original parts. @Spacefruit (the author ofSpeedmaster101) has stated on this forum that he does not know any other service workshop that combines that level of skill and experience with access to vintage original parts. (I would recommend any members living in the UK or visiting London, who need repair work done, to pay STS a visit) very educational for noobs. The only thing I would say on the matter of vintage parts is that it maybe that one or two items may be rationed in the future for certain references. That's not my nonuffinkbloke opinion. The section in the letter I received from Tony Coe when I picked up my watch is self explanatory: (2nd paragraph from bottom) Also the heading on the letter clearly states the relationship between Swiss Time Services and Swisstec Cheers Jonathan in the UK.
btw what may be of interest to some is that Swisstec will service also Rolex, in my experience with excellent results at a price which was rather more reasonable that charged by RSC.
I believe that Swisstec are not restricted to any particular make. For example, they brought my inherited Cyma back to life https://omegaforums.net/threads/my-fathers-watches-final-part.30488/