How long does a complete service REALLY take?

gostang9

For modern watches, yes. Any vintage watch, not so much.

Archer

Well keep in mind these times are under ideal conditions. Let's look at a real life example of how the flow can go, or not go, when servicing a particular watch...

Earlier this month I received five of the 25318000 SMP's you are getting serviced at Omega from one collector (plus some other watches), so since this is unusual to get this many at one time, I decided to try doing the services all at the same time to see if I could gain some efficiencies. The day after they came in, I disassembled the first one, put it in the cleaning machine, and while that was being cleaned I disassembled the second one, and so on until all 5 were disassembled and cleaned. I inspected the parts for all 5 and that's where things went awry right away. While I stock a lot of parts, I didn't have all the parts I needed for all 5 watches, so I had to order parts in.

Omega is pretty good with getting parts to me, so I compiled a list, placed the order on a Friday, and all the parts came in Monday....almost. Some parts are on backorder from Switzerland, and that immediately adds 2-3 weeks. So I have 4 of the watches serviced and in final testing, but one is still in it's fully disassembled state as it was the day after I received it, and it's been that way for 2 weeks now. So if these were all from different people and yours was that last one, then you can see that getting this done in a week is not going to happen. And I pull parts from the same stock that the service center uses, so if they are out of the parts, it's not just my job waiting, it will be all the watches of this type that the service center is servicing at the time. People here have stated that when they track the status of their repair at an Omega service center, that sometimes "waiting for parts" comes up, and that's when the parts are coming from Switzerland to wherever the local service center is, so it does happen.

The time required also depends a lot on how the testing is done after service. There are certainly watchmakers out there who adjust the rate to one position, case it up, and call the watch done. For me (and for Omega) that's not a proper testing regime. My post service testing lasts 10 days in itself, and that is at a minimum. I test the watch for 24 hours in each of the 6 positions, plus 24 hours on the final test winder to give me an idea of how it will wear on the wrist, and then test the run time buy letting it run down until it stops. If at the end of the test I find the average rate is fast or slow, I adjust the rate and run the test again.

So for me personally, there's no way I will finish a mechanical watch service and have it back in a week...but people want different things from their watchmakers clearly. I'm sure the wait is annoying to some, but doing the job right takes time.

I think using the best case scenario and saying "it should take a week tops" is probably pushing things more than a little.

Cheers, Al

lindo

Thanks for posting this - an interesting and informative discussion.

Archer

Good question, and as you might expect if you understand the Swiss, Omega has standards for workshop productivity as outlined in Work Instruction 48 that tell you exactly how long this should take.

The time that a service is expected to take will depend on the movement complexity of course, but for the Cal. 1120 in your 25318000, this is a "WP2" class movement and for a complete maintenance service they allow 2 hours and 55 minutes. This includes disassembling, cleaning & assembling of movement, dial/hand setting, casing and timing. Additional times are alloowed for things like diagnosis, gathering spare parts, and things like bracelet and case refinishing, but the basic service is just under 3 hours.

WP3 movements include co-axials like the 8500, and for those the time allowed is 3 hours and 25 minutes. For a vintage movements that will have more issues, the WP4 class will allow 4 hours and 5 minutes.

For more complex movements like chronographs, the WP5 class includes the 861 and 1861 Speedmaster movements, they are allowed 3 hours and 35 minutes. Cal. 3303, 3313, 9300's are WP6, and are allowed 4 hours and 30 minutes. The longest time allowed is for the mechanical complications in class WP7, so movements like the 980 alarm movement, 3600 split seconds chronograph, etc. and those are allowed 6 hours and 45 minutes.

These are average times, as clearly some watches can take much longer than others of the same type do depending on the condition, and simply how well they "cooperate" during the service. Omega also has efficiency factoring for watchmakers who are learning, so if you are a new graduate from watchmaking school, your "productivity coefficient" for the first 3 months will be 0.5, so you are expected to take twice as long as the average times. Then as you get closer to the end of your first year, you are expected to get better and at one year in you should be at 1, so meeting those average times I've set out above.

Cheers, Al

MaD HuNGaRIaN

I just dropped my 144.502-69 for complete service at the Swatch Group Service HQ in Culver City. Got an email with link to log in to the CS portal and it has a complete assessment and was sent to “Brand HQ.” I anpproved items, and status went to “waiting for parts” to “service in progress” within a couple days.

my question is, what all do they send back when it goes to Switzerland for “complete service”?