I think my Speedmaster dial was scratched during service. What do you all think?

A couple of months ago, my Speedmaster had some condensation appear under the crystal. I stuck it in a bag of rice and dropped it off at a WOSTEP- and OMEGA-certified watchmaker.

I was quoted $290 and received an itemized list of associated costs upon request. It included $60 in labor and several hundred in parts from OMEGA (new crown, pushers, gaskets, seals, etc.). When I picked it up, my bill was <$100. This struck me as a pleasant surprise, but in retrospect, maybe it was a yellow flag.

I am not the kind of person that looks at their watch under a loupe, but when casually reading the time the next day, I noticed a white scratch immediately above my 10 o'clock hour marker:




What's more, the scratch on the dial faintly continues into the 10 o'clock lume marker (easier to see with the naked eye - it's nearly invisible in the above picture).

Upon closer examination of the rest of the dial, I noticed similar scratches on two other hour markers, too. It's possible these were there beforehand, though I feel I would've noticed them in my 6 years with the watch.

Given the low cost of fixing the watch, I am inclined to say they realized they made a mistake and serviced it at a loss, but I'm interested to hear you all's take on it. Do you all agree this is a botched service job, or is it possible this is a result of moisture damage? (For what it's worth, the watchmaker says he didn't see any moisture damage.)

Since this isn't an uber-collectible watch where tons of value is tied up in the dial, and they (apparently) serviced it at a loss, I'm inclined to just continue on with the watch as-is and write it off as one of those things that happens. The watch passed the pressure test, so at least that is taken care of. Still, the 'T Swiss Made T' dial is sentimental to me, and it was in remarkable condition prior to servicing, so I'm bummed out.

I'd ask another watchmaker if it could be made less obvious?

Some dipstick scratched the dial of my dad's 1960 Croton Aquamatic. Since he always refused to have it refinished, I will never do it, either.

Id be upset...
Have you talked to them about this yet?
If not I would take a trip there tomorrow.

A couple of things. You said the quote was for $290 including new crown, pushers, gaskets etc. The final bill was less than $100. Does the final bill itemize those items as replaced? If not, isn't it possible that the bill was less than the quote because all those items were not replaced?

Did you contact the watchmaker immediately after you noticed the mark? They could be unaware of the damage.

I like that you are honoring the watch the way it was handed down to you. 😀 Personally, I'm not a fan of refinished dials... not sure if anything can be done to salvage my dial.


I haven't yet. Before I go in, I'm wondering what I should realistically request/expect if they've (ostensibly) lowered the cost of the repair by 2/3. Maybe I am looking too far into the repair cost... if that's indeed what's happened, I would've preferred they told me up front "hey, we messed up your watch, but lowered the cost of your repair to compensate." I don't have tons of photos of my watch proving its condition prior to taking it in which also complicates matters.

I guess I could request they order a new Speedmaster dial at their cost to replace this one - though I love the tritium lume. The fact the dial is visibly scratched does admittedly make me like the dial less...


Good question... I confirmed everything they quoted was indeed replaced. Their bill did not itemize the parts and labor, as their POS system isn't set up to do that... but I kept good records of my phone calls and know what they were planning to charge for everything.

I will probably go in this week to discuss.

Do you not have ‘before’ pictures (you say you have owned the watch for 6 years)? Easiest way to figure it out yourself.

Nope. I am a bad WIS and only have two photos of the watch in my 6 years of ownership. Fortunately, one of the two photos I have was taken just a few months ago and shows the mark on the dial wasn't there prior to servicing.


I absolutely should have done this in retrospect. I saw their WOSTEP and OMEGA certifications and totally let my guard down between that and a positive interaction I had with them earlier this year.


That's exactly right - the $60 was to "get it watertight," as they put it, and the $230 for parts included:
• New back gaskets
• New seals
• New pushers
• New crown + stem
• New hesalite crystal

All ordered from OMEGA. I stopped by the shop the day after they received the parts for something unrelated, and saw all of the OMEGA packaging for my parts.

And per earlier, when I picked up the watch, they didn't actually charge me $290... they charged me $90.

Maybe the $200 knockoff was in compensation for the dial mark and they hoped you wouldn't see it

Go back and mention the mark, but don't accuse. They may say they did it. They may deny it. You don't have any proof (your word vs. theirs unfortunately)

My old watchmaker scratched a refinished Vacheron dial and wouldn't take responsibility for it. It was at that point I taught myself some watchmaking skills and after that. I only gave him the movements to clean.

DON

$90 ? With omega ordered. Parts? That's a good bottle of Red.... And that does not last long. Why not take the mvmt out again and cover up that mini scratch ( black Pentel fine point marker will be best for that dial) and learn for the future? Take pics before. This way you saved $200. Your watchmaker saved face. And you show him after the touch up and he knows, he owes you. That would be a real life solution. Kind regards. Achim

Reading your description of the same damage to multiple markers causes me me think that something else is going on here. It almost seems like something dragged across the markers, scraping some lume off with it, and deposited a small amount of lume on the dial just past each one. You can see the missing lume, and the deposits look somewhat lume-colored to me. If this is the case, maybe a hand was bent and contacted some markers, and if that's the case, those bits of lume on the dial may be able to be lifted off the dial with rodico or similar.

Why didn't you question the watchmaker as to the reason he charged you a fraction of the quoted price when you picked up the watch?