Hi guys! I am having a dilemma on how to service my vintage omega watch. I heard vintage watches are best left original, hence what should i ask them to do when i bring in my watch for serving? (eg cleaning or oiling)

 

Do you have pictures of the watch? a watchsmith can make you the service cheaper

 

How about you condense your posts so we aren't playing ping pong trying to answer all of your questions.

 

I'm not sure which part of the world you live in Darren because I haven't seen your other posts but someone else mentioned the UK earlier in this thread??? If that is the case, then I would agree that Swiss Time Services in Essex is your best bet. They are highly recommended by expert Horologists and collectors on this forum including the author of Speedmaster101. That's were my Vintage Speedy is heading.

If you telephone them you will find them very helpful. I had a chat with Simon Freese a couple of weeks back. He was very helpful and gave me a very clear idea of what was needed, what they would replace and what they would leave original. Some non-UK residents also go to the trouble to send their vintage watches to STS because of the sympathetic way that vintage watches are serviced there.

If you live in another part of the world a local expert from this forum should be able to point you in the right direction. They love to see nice pictures on here, have you got some shots of the watch you want serviced? Meanwhile, here's a little shot of Swiss Time Services.

 

Hello! Thanks for the reply!! I'm impressed with the services you get in your country! Well except that I'm from Singapore. And I understand in other countries particularly in Asia, it's better to send the watch for servicing to a reputable company that does repairs and servicing. I won't be able to get myself to trust other kinds of individual watch makers here because of the avaliability of fake products nowadays

 

In the conversation I had with Simon Freese at STS he mentioned that they serve international customers, and as I mentioned before, they come highly recommended by experts on this forum. if it's good enough for their collectors items I'm confident that my watch will be looked after. If you type in 'Swiss Time Services' in the search box at the top of this page you'll see a lot of posts regarding them and Simon.
This is a section from their website:



All our watches are serviced to the exacting standards required by Omega and, as such, following a full service they are returned to their owners in factory condition (where possible) with a comprehensive two-year warranty. Once the watch has been assessed in our Estimating Department an estimate is compiled and submitted to the customer for the work required via post or, if requested, by email. Upon receipt of instructions to proceed every watch will undergo the following process:


Movement preparation, cleaning and rebuilding
Case preparation
Parts Department
Reassembly
Quality control and Waterproof checking procedures
Return to customer
After undergoing a full service and successfully passing through the testing period, the watch is returned along with a two-year guarantee which includes parts and labour. Any partial repairs are returned with a 12 months guarantee on the parts replaced.
The watch will be returned in an Omega pouch via Royal Mail Special Delivery (next day before 1pm) and fully insured. For international customers watches are returned via Royal Mail Airsure. Customers can request an alternative shipping method, if required, or are welcome to collect their watches in person (see contact page).
If requested to do so when instructing us to proceed with the repair, we can telephone or email to inform you that the watch is ready for despatch.

(Hope this is of help to you Darren. If it's not too expensive, give them a call. I found them very helpful and it should only take 5 minutes or so???)