My Seamaster 50th Anniversary GMT just went toes up, and I am weighing my options.

I have heard all sorts of stories of service in North America, and I am hesitant to send the watch for a service domestically. I have a message in to Al at Archer, who did a brilliant job on my James Bond Collector's Piece, but if he's not available I'll need a viable alternative.

I am not afraid of the time required, and the cost of the Suisse work should be commensurate with the quality, but since this one is my go-to, four days a week watch, I'd really like it right . . .

 

I highly recommend Kelly Hunter at art of the watch (http://artofthewatch.com/)
He refinished my Mark 4.5 to NOS condition. He also is meticulous with his servicing. I think he is slightly cheaper than Omega and slightly faster but with much much better communication. He called me and we had a 15 minute chat about what I wanted with the watch before he proceeded.

 

Omega Culver City has done a great job on three of my watches so far. Omega NJ not so much (Planet Ocean 2201.51 with stuck He valve, SMP mid-size with stuck bezel, Speedy Date with one unpolished link, all fixed pretty easily though).

 

Have heard real bad things about Omega NJ as mentioned above, but have you looked at Nesbit's up in Seattle?

 

For my Seamaster 300 my AD charged $425. The Omega spa quote was $550. My AD finished the service in less than 2 weeks. I have no way of knowing how complete their service was. In retrospect, as they were unable to answer my questions about pressure testing when I picked it up, I would have rather spent a bit more sending to Omega.

 

There are those who disagree (perhaps with good reasons), but I’ve always had good luck with sending my modern watches in through the Omega Boutiques. No issues, two year warranty. Peace of mind that it was done right.

My vintage pieces are another story. I don’t want parts replaced or polished unless absolutely necessary. Omega replaces pushers, crowns, hands all as a matter of course. I’ll take the vintage pieces to a watchmaker for a basic service only.

 

I received a quote of $550 this month for my Aqua Terra 15000 Gauss.

 

+1 for Nesbitt's. I've used them twice, now. Very satisfied.

 

The current service prices are on the website, under customer service, so you should check on that. One thing to be aware of is that there’s a part connected with making the hour hand jump that should be changed with every service. I believe Omega service centers do this automatically, but not all independents do it.

I ran into this problem having mine serviced by an independent local watchmaker to save a little money for a service. A few months after I got it back, the hour hand stopped working, the watchmaker wouldn’t fix since it was outside their three month warranty period. So I sent it to Omega (in New Jersey) to get it fixed and they did it right and it came with a two year warranty.

Something to consider, because this isn’t a completely standard ETA movement.

 

That's the hour wheel...



Common failure and your watchmaker should have covered it if he didn't change it during the service.

Cheers, Al

 

Nesbits for 3 watches now and A+ in every way. Two Speedmaster Mark II's and a Planet Ocean.

 

He should have, but he didn’t. And I didn’t know about the issue until much later. I learned my lesson, though. A “cheap” watch service isn’t necessarily cheap in the long run unless you really know the watchmaker.