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Hour Hand Misalignments? - 8900 and 9900 Caliber

  1. filmluvr88 Apr 9, 2022

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    I've noticed on my Aqua Terra (8900) and Speedy Racing (9900) that the hour hands are slightly misaligned (it's more noticeable at the 6 o'clock vs.12 o'clock) and I was wondering if this is within Omega's specs? (I'd appreciate your input to know if it's changed, @Archer ). I purchased both of these watches last year so they are still under warranty. Is this common amongst movements that have the jumping hour hand feature? If I did wish for them be worked on, how does the watchmaker go about re-alignment (e.g., do they open it from the caseback?)? Thank you as always for your responses!
     
  2. Foo2rama Keeps his worms in a ball instead of a can. Apr 9, 2022

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    To fix you remove the hands and put them back in. So yes the back is opened and the movement removed.

    to determine if it is in spec please post pictures with the slack out of the movement. Ie running for at least a minute after setting.
     
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  3. Leviathan Apr 9, 2022

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    I found this issue to be common across modern Omegas in general. Both my Omegas have misaligned hour hands by varying margins (one is three minutes late, and the other one is two minutes late). And they don’t have jumping hour hands.

    You could try fixing it, but it is a delicate process and things may go wrong. Your local service centre could also just say it’s “within tolerance”, which is what I was told (nonsensical excuse, honestly).

    Share some pics for us to see how bad the misalignment is. If it’s less than two minutes, I would suggest simply waiting until your first service.
     
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  4. Stan Cooke Apr 9, 2022

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    The hour hand on my Speedy 3861 is about +2min misaligned. It irritated me at first, but I don't regard it as being sufficiently noticeable to warrant dismantling the watch, which is working perfectly otherwise and I don't think about it now. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff! I will ask for it to be rectified at the first service.

    Stan.
     
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  5. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 9, 2022

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    If you show the watch with the hour hand at 12, I’ll tell you if I think Omega would fix it under warranty...
     
  6. Stan Cooke Apr 10, 2022

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    Thanks, Archer, but I'm sure it is within tolerance. The slight misalignment varies around the dial (presumably the hand spindle isn't precisely concentric with the dial) and at 10-12 o'clock the hour hand is actually spot-on the hour marker. it is only at around 2-3 and 7-8 o'clock that the hour hand points precisely to the hour marker about 2 minutes early. I only noticed it on my third day of owning the watch and although it annoyed me a bit at first I quickly came to accept it as just being one of the little 'quirks' of my watch. It's certainly not worth the hassle of sending it back to Omega who, in any case, would say that it's within spec.
     
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  7. Leviathan Apr 10, 2022

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    Are your chronograph sub-dail hands misaligned too? I recall someone had an issue with that with the 3861.
     
  8. filmluvr88 Apr 10, 2022

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    I have a hunch that my OCD habits are kicking in (I'm a Civil Engineer by trade) and this is nothing to stress about nor would it be covered under Omega's warranty but would still love to hear your thoughts! :whistling:
     
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  9. Stan Cooke Apr 10, 2022

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    The sub-dial hands are all perfectly aligned.
     
  10. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 10, 2022

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    Your hunch is correct! :D
     
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  11. prateeko Apr 16, 2023

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    Sorry to bunp an old thread, but I was curious if my hour hand being misaligned would also fall within tolerance? It's not lined up until the minute hand reaches ~7min usually which seems a little bit off to me but I don't know if it's enough for Omega to take it for in warranty service. 9022C342-F245-43A1-BCD8-0A9FE8D0FE0D.jpeg F6D63881-D757-40A2-AF9D-254711548F14.jpeg
     
  12. josiahg52 Apr 16, 2023

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    @Archer will confirm but I think the specification is +/-10 minutes.
     
  13. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 17, 2023

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    Yes, that's way too far out. It will be fixed under warranty I expect, as long as the watch has warranty.
     
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  14. prateeko Apr 17, 2023

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    Thank you for the clarification. I purchased it elsewhere but it did come with a dated (but not stamped) warranty card (along with pictogram and chronometer cards). Would you happen to know if the absence of a stamp (but dated Nov '21) be an issue?

    EDIT: I'm sure the will because it clearly was sold at an Omega Botique and they just didn't put a stamp/information in for the Jeweller section (found the original receipt in the box...). Thanks for all the help/input!
     
    Edited Apr 17, 2023
  15. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 17, 2023

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    Best way to find out is to ask Omega...
     
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  16. filmluvr88 Apr 17, 2023

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    I also think you should ask but for my case, I actually sent mine in under warranty to my boutique and they sent it out for repair. It came back about a month later and is now as perfectly aligned as can be so I'm very happy :)
     
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  17. Sug Jul 9, 2023

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    As was said above, sorry to hit on something that maybe should be left to wither in the vine, but glad to see I’m not the only one. My minute hand was close to 15 after before the hour hand lined up with the 12. It’s been accepted as a warranty repair. I’m not saying it wasn’t always like this, but I didn’t noticed it until recently. Is misalignment something that can happen over time with the jumping hour hand?
     
  18. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Jul 10, 2023

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    Omega had some issues with the tightness of the hands on the post early on with the 8500's and 9300's. Many were fixed under warranty by either replacing the hands or tightening them. But that was all resolved back in 2015, so I wouldn't expect that newer watches would have this issue.
     
  19. Sug Jul 10, 2023

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    Thanks. It’s entirely possible that it had been that way and I never noticed it. I happened to be setting the time one evening at straight up 6:00, and it jumped out at me.
     
  20. bruin20 Jul 10, 2023

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    Isn't this issue just due to the jump hour feature and the hand having play when setting the hour? I have this issue across all my omegas with the jump hour feature. All I do is nudge the hour hand forward or back when setting it via jump hour to get it back in alignment.