Hi guys,

Forum newbie that wanted to share a recent experience and gather some opinions / experiences.

When searching for Omega water damage, there isnt any clear cut examples of resistancies with the HEV open or crown as an example but for the purpose of this thread, i want to assert that neither was in my case.

I have owned Seamasters for the last 18 years, on average changing them every 2 or so so I’ve had most variants going. This however has vexed both myself and the repair centre somewhat!

So, I was in the Carribean earlier this year and on a 12 month old Seamaster Planet Ocean Chrono i experienced ‘misting’ following a dive of no more than 18mts.

I opened the HEV and the crown after the dive (thought it may push the moisuture out) and wore it as normal. I returned home and in November’17 dropped it into the repair centre in Southampton having it returned in December, some 6 weeks later following what they called a ‘service’ under warrenty with no explenation of the fault.

Early January,18 i did a quarry dive at 22mts and the attached photos are what resulted. Pretty livid at having just had it back, it once again double-timed its way back to the service centre.

There are many spurious threads on ‘cold shock’ but im not quite sure i get the concept or how it would form condensation, can anyone explain this so i know?

Omega said, along with a huge apology that the watch passed ‘high end pressure tests’ but failed on a lower end one - what ever that means.

It also amazes me how some comment ‘what, you dive in your seamaster?’ Do you guys not? Surely it needs to be fit for purpose?

Anyhow, hopefully this can open a discussion that could be useful to other ls searching for the same.

First Photo is in the Caribbean, the second post Uk quarry dive.

Cheers

 

It’s too bad you’re having this trouble. There’s no way that’s anything except a leaky watch. I’m not sure what cold shock is but I’m guessing it’s a quick temperature change. Living in Canada, my watches have gone from hot to cold and back often and they never leak or fog up. I’ve had my watch in the hot tub at 104 degrees and climbed out into 0 degrees Fahrenheit and have never had an issue. That’s with both my Planet Ocean and Rolex GMT.
There’s a lot of moisture in your watch. That’s a leak.
Hopefully they get this sorted out for you.

 

If it's still under warranty, which I think you said it is, I'd ask for a replacement. You shouldn't have the same issue twice - especially not within a couple of months - when Omega has done the service. Time for a new watch, in my opinion. And you're right that this is what these watches are made for - they need to be able to withstand the conditions of diving.

Let us know what happens - good luck!

 

It means that when pressure testing in the dry testing machine, they use a vacuum test first, then a pressure test. It appears it failed the vacuum test but passed the pressure test. Examples of the sort of testing done (but on a different watch) can be found in this thread:

https://omegaforums.net/threads/pressure-testing-a-watchco-sm300.45375/

I assume it is being repaired under warranty - unfortunate but even Omega have people working for them, and as we know people are not perfect. I'm sure they will sort it out.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks for your input guys. I did indeed reject it. Water damage twice.. there was no chance i was having it back. The long and short is i upgraded it to 215.90.46.51.99.001, the newer titanium version.

The whole chirade was a bit of a nightmare. I ended up paying an additional £1,300 for the upgrade. Dealing with the UK brand director who i can only liken to Lord Lucan took what seemed forever and for my troubles offerd me 20% discount.. which in the 11th hour actually turned out to be 20% off the difference in the current price of mine at £5550 and £7100 which was a bit naughty as that was only disclosed post calulation and led me to believe it would have been off the rrp.

Apparently as mine is nolonger ‘current stock’ they suggested getting me one from a boutique which i also rejected as i didnt want a stock item that had been in a cabinet for ages. They then suggested an upgrade which after a weekends thought i accepted. I actually very nearly took the deep black ceramic Chrono at £8640 but after the messing around with the discount, 20% off the upgrade cost was far less than off the rrp so left me with a £2500 bill.

 

It's a shame, these watches should be engineered for diving.

 

Interesting post Archer, always wondered how they did it

 

You'd think so, honestly, the amount of divers that ask me why i wear a seamaster to dive with

 

They are.

 

Try with a Sea-Dweller, this will not happen

 

It will if it had the same quality defect that this one had. There's a difference between how something is designed (engineered) and if there is a quality defect in the manufacturing of the item. I'm always amazed at how these things are conflated by people on watch forums...

 

The burn is that you pay so much for these things - a price point that suggests and necessitates quality control and superior craftsmanship. Dealing with a defective watch on a dive could lead to some bad results. It is also inconvenient to have to send a newish watch off to get serviced, twice, then negotiate with Omega. Omega should have offered to overnighted him a replacement of the exact same model or the model that succeeded it. I really can’t see a good reason why he is paying £1300 more in this situation.

 

The warranty covers repairs in most places - the UK may have laws that supersede this. Warranties are made explicitly to cover defects in material and workmanship, which this clearly is. I'm sure that the OP could have opted for a refund also, but that is the limit of Omega's obligation here. If they chose to do more (as they have here - marginally) then that is as a courtesy, rather than an obligation.

I can assure you that other brands also have similar defects (yes even Big Green) and they all have similar policies. If you find a brand that offers the kind of upgrade you are suggesting, please let me know who that is...

I understand that people get upset when things go wrong, but if Omega did what you suggest for every defect they have to repair under warranty, their new watch prices would only go up even more to cover such expenses. If I have to take my 3 series BMW in for the dealer to repair a number of defects that leave me stranded on the highway, I don't expect them to offer an exchange for a new 5 series at no extra cost for my troubles.

Cheers, Al

 

Adding to @Archer if the policy was to upgrade a watch when a defect is found I recon we would all.of a sudden have a lot of defects appear around from people hoping they can get a 9g watch for 6g's

 

Quality control should be flawless IMO

 

Impossible hence warranty, no watch maker has perfect quality control. Stuff happens they resolved it above and beyond anyone’s expectations.

 

Well, you're setting yourself up for some huge disappointments in life. You can never achieve 100% quality control on anything, that's why there are warranties at play. What should be flawless is customer care and response.

 

Never seen a brand new 3 series leaving people stranded on the highway..

 

I went to test a brand new X6 and it failed before we even left the lot.... Fortunately they had a couple more.

 

Sure, then I expect the warranty to fully cover the issue. We are talking about a diving watch, only12 months old, that get water inside.