Help with split crown

Hi

I'm Stuart and I am new to the forum and wondered if at all possible, someone can help me.

So a few years ago my late father left me an Omega Seamaster quartz, that he had purchased in Oman some time in the 80's.
The watch case number was 169.0279 with the omega 1430 quartz caliber. The picture below is the only picture of the original watch.



This was prior to the service, It looked so much better after, but I do not have any pictures of after, unfortunately.

There was an issue with the second hand hitting the hour hand and stopping and my mother paid to have the watch serviced at omega (swatch) in the UK.
The watch was working perfectly and was essentially the watch that got me into horology in general.

Unfortunately the watch was later stolen and has been reported as such and also registered with the watch register.

Weirdly a little while later the same model came up on ebay and was local to me, I thought that there was a possibility that it could be the same watch and bought it, it was listed that the crown was broken (split stem was snapped) however the hands did not match the old picture I had of the watch, also after purchasing, and opening, the movement inside was that of a 1530 cal rather than 1430 and had no serial number so I assume is not the original watch that was stolen because as far as I am aware it was only serviced once and the movement was never listed as replaced. Some pictures of the watch.



For sentimentality I decided I wanted to repair this watch as a keepsake as I very much doubt I will receive the original watch back (you never know of course).

I have two original 1430 movements which I intend to make one good one to restore it back to the original movement.

The one sticking point I have is the split crown. The part number is 069ST65007, I cannot buy this part from CousinsUK or Boley (Boley has stock) as it is a restricted part from Omega.

Neither Omega or any Omega repair shop will sell me the part (I have tried many). The only option Omega will give me is to have it serviced at a cost of £300 which will ultimately get me the crown replaced. For me this is a bit steep as the part is only £20. I have scoured the Internet for over a year now with no luck.

My question is, has anybody got this part kicking around in their parts boxes or can help me with the purchase of this restricted part, or any idea of a compatible part/parts to fix the issue.

Stu

Every older watchmaker will fix your problem. Split stems are everywhere , not only omega . For a lot less..... Good luck.

Sure, I appreciate that is the case, but this crown is unusual. I actually bought a split stem (male). Used alum powder to remove tho old stem that was snapped off in the crown and discovered there is a weird chamfered lip around the hole for the stem. The diameter of this is less than the internal hole. This meant that even though I could potentially thread the new split stem it would be too large to go through the lip. I even tried drilling this piece out but it did not go well.

This is a close up of the issue.

Thanks, I have contacted many and have even been told by omega watch repairers locally that I cannot order the part through them and need to go through Swatch in Southampton. It's been very frustrating.

Ahh, I see what you meant, I just wanted to carry out the work myself but if that is the only option in the future then that may have to be the case.

Not so much on a budget but don't want to pay £300 to swatch. I wan't to make sure it is authentic parts also.