Greetings all forum members, this is my first day in the forum and I have a question for you.
I bought a 2006 Aqua Terra, which has the 2500 movement, last year. I bought the watch from a jeweler's and was told that it had been fully serviced.
I and am very pleased with it, apart from the fact that it keeps stopping. If I wind it 60 full turns, as I've seen recommended elsewhere in the forum, it keeps reasonable time for about 2 days, losing about 8 seconds a day. On the third day it loses several minutes, quite often stopping later that day. I've fully wound it 4 times in the last 12 days, during which time it has lost between 3 and 13 minutes between windings, and stopping completely once. I'm fairly active and even wear the watch when I'm in bed, so I would have thought that it should continue keeping good time. At present, it's like having a manual watch!
How long should it run before having to wind it and what do you think may be wrong with it?

Regards

Gordon

 

If worn all the time it should run until about 2 days after you stop wearing it.

Did you get any documentation of the service? Did the jeweller do the work in house or send it out? If it was in house, do they have a watchmaker certified by Omega to work on co-axials, and who has access to parts?

 

Doesn't sound right. When worn constantly you don't have to wind an automatic watch, it does that itself by the motion of your wrist.

 

My guess is that the “service” done by the jeweler was to open the back to see if it “looked good” and maybe ran a pressure and timing test.

I always take claims of a complete service on pre-owned watches from jewelry stores with a grain of salt. They want to make the most profit they can with the least effort - that means they probably won’t service a watch unless it isn’t working. If you read the fine print from a lot of the big online sellers, they admit this. They often offer a short “warranty” to fix the watch if it breaks shortly after, hoping they won’t have to.

something is wrong with the watch, and it needs a real service. I wouldn’t send it back to that jeweler who claimed it was serviced, but just send to Omega or an independent with a parts account and do it yourself.

 

Thanks for all the quick replies. I wanted your feedback before either taking it back to the jeweler or sending it to an Omega dealer. Having read your replies I'm going to send it to an Omega dealer.

I didn't get any documentation with the service. They offered a 12-month warranty, and they did send it away to have the regulator adjusted last August after I took it back there after it began to lose around 40 seconds a day. It came back about 3 weeks later and I recorded its accuracy over a period of 6 weeks (until I had to move it back an hour for British wintertime) and it gained a total of 94 seconds during that time, which is just over 2 seconds per day, so I was very happy with it.

Problems began about a week after I had moved it back an hour. It would sometimes keep good time for up to 2 weeks and would then lose anything up to 60 minutes in a day, usually overnight. This problem has gotten worse until it has reached the point of stopping completely every 3 or 4 days now.

Thanks again for all your advice. I'll let you know how I get on!

 

If it is still under the 1 year warranty, go back to the jeweller you purchased it from and get them to honour their warranty.

 

I agree, but insist they send it to Omega.

 

That's a good idea. I bought the watch in January 2020, so imagine that the warranty will have expired, but it is worth asking the jeweler if they are willing to contribute towards the cost of sending it to Omega for repair, as it certainly wasn't cheap!

 

The fact that they adjusted the regulator when the timing was off so badly tells me they don’t use a watchmaker I would trust.

that’s a trick to make the watch look better than it is when it really needs a service. The regulator is meant for small timing adjustments, not large ones.

I think you are better off going straight to Omega yourself.

 

That makes a lot of sense. There's an Omega dealer in Newcastle who we've used to service my wife's watch, so I'll take it there next week.

It will be interesting to hear what they say when I describe the problem to them...

 

I took my watch into the Omega dealer today and they're sending it to Omega for a quote for the repair. I'll let you know the outcome...

 

I received a reply from Omega yesterday stating that a full service would be necessary at a cost of £575.00, which is exactly the same price as the Omega dealer in Newcastle quoted when I gave them the watch.

Omega has also mentioned "optional" items:
New crystal £180.00 - scratched
New black dial £295.00 - dial is stained and discoloured.

I had no recollection of any scratches on my watch glass, which was backed up by the jeweller's condition report, which stated that there were no scratches on the glass.
I also found it difficult to understand how a watch dial, which is inside a sealed watch which is water resistant to 150m, could become discoloured or stained.

I telephoned the Newcastle jeweller for their opinion and was told that Omega could have identified a scratch which was difficult to see with the naked eye. They had no suggestions regarding staining or discoluration of the dial.

I have therefore decided to just have the full service done and save myself £475.00.

The estimated time for the repair is 16 weeks!

Any thoughts?

 

The watch in question is ~15 years old with a questionable service history. As discussed previously in this thread, although the jeweler claimed it was completely serviced, there is a lot of evidence that it was not done properly. Although it was water resistant when first made, unless the gaskets in the crown and back are replaced on a regular interval AND the watch is pressure tested to verify them, moisture can get in and damage a dial.

With that said, the one photo you posted doesn’t show any obvious damage, so I think you made the correct call not to put in a new dial.

 

If you didn’t notice the dial or crystal, I’d say you’re fine. Sometimes, Omega can make some kinda wonky suggestions or claims. I just received my Seamaster 300 Master Coaxial back from service (well, several weeks ago) and I remember the initial findings when they inspected the watch indicated an exgraved case back…odd for a watch with a sapphire case back, no?

I suppose the discolored dial could indicate water damage, but if they’re willing to service for the standard service cost, seems like a decent deal. Omega’s services are very inclusive, and they tend to replace a lot of stuff.

You can see here they replaced both mainsprings, the crown, some jewels and several components of the coaxial escapement. This was a 6yr old watch worn in rotation with around 20 others, and left unwound when not in use.

 

Thanks for the replies Donn/JeremyS.
I feel reassured that I've made the right decision in not paying for a replacement dial; or crystal.

 

Definitely. If you didn't notice the scratches or dial discoloration, they must be pretty minor. Leave as is and enjoy your watch when it returns!

 

Any mark on the crystal and anything not perfect on the dial and they will flag it. Welcome to Swiss factory services.

 

It's good that they're such perfectionists, but I didn't feel that I could justify spending that much money for marks that I hadn't even noticed.

 

I've had my watch back for about 4 weeks now and am very pleased with it - time keeping is fine, losing around a minute every two weeks and the crown feels totally different when I pull it out to set the time, with a much more positive feel. I cannot see any marks on the crystal or on the watch face, so I'm glad that I didn't spend the extra money on replacing them. From the attached photo you can see that a large number of components were replaced, so I think that a service must have been long overdue!

 

Wow—thanks for posting. I love seeing what Omega replaces. I’m not a watchmaker, but it looks like most of the escapement, gear train and a bunch of other parts I don’t recognize. I’m a little surprised that there’s no mainspring and barrel in there.