Is it normal or a manufacturing defect for an omega to have off centered date wheel? What causes it?

[krogerfoot]

We usually know what to do with someone whose research includes screenshots of counterfeit watches and who tries to pick fights with every reply. New to the hobby, just asking questions, has a more rarified taste than thou—our troll detection systems may need recalibration.

 

[Jakeys]

My experience opening this thread this morning:

OP is just trolling so not worth responding to, however...

Scarecrow Boat

Each brand has their own tolerances and each brand offers a warranty for a reason… no brand is perfect. You seemed to have been well equipped enough to find a number of QC issues with Omega but couldn’t be bothered to look for the same with others brands. So, here are a few examples for you. These are all images you could have found if you did the search yourself

Tudor misaligned date wheel





Misaligned hands. The proper way to see how “off” the hands are is to line up the hour hand with the hour marker… not the minute hand with the hour marker.




Bezel that wouldn’t line up precisely at 12




Engraving that doesn’t line up precisely at 12




There are loads more examples across other brands, but I’ll leave you to do the rest of the work.


My own personal Sub had misaligned hands

The misaligned hands can be fixed and datewheel is whatever, the bezel is not great but okay, but that Explorer rehaut engraving would be absolutely infuriating. How did they let that past quality control? So simple to get that detail right. I think even the fakes nail the rehaut alignment these days.

 

[Eddie K]

Apurba

Hello everyone! I am new to this hobby. I discovered omega on YouTube and started to love the brand, though not in a financial state to own one. As i was watching reviews of the new omega aqua terras, i have noticed that their dates are noticably off centered. Is it normal or a manufacturing defect? I understand they have "tolerances" but i haven't seen(in YouTube videos) many rolexes, cartier, grand seiko or anything in this price range have such blatant asymmetry. What causes omega to have them? My ocd brain really gets triggered looking at these.
Can anyone please explain?
These are some examples(the first three pictures are taken from reddit) :

Apurba

Hello everyone! I am new to this hobby. I discovered omega on YouTube and started to love the brand, though not in a financial state to own one. As i was watching reviews of the new omega aqua terras, i have noticed that their dates are noticably off centered. Is it normal or a manufacturing defect? I understand they have "tolerances" but i haven't seen(in YouTube videos) many rolexes, cartier, grand seiko or anything in this price range have such blatant asymmetry. What causes omega to have them? My ocd brain really gets triggered looking at these.
Can anyone please explain?
These are some examples(the first three pictures are taken from reddit) :

if it triggers your "OCD brain" so much just don't buy a watch with a date complication......fkn knob!

 

[watchyouwant]

Interesting ! You bought brand new with a long Warranty. Just tell Omega to fix , what annoys you. then you know, if it`s within Tolerance or not. The Date change is a mechanical process and once completed, there is a miniscule spring, who centers the changed date wheel . If that mini spring is slightly bent/itself misaligned, you have a misaligned date ... easy to fix. So, just use your warranty. These days many things are misaligned ; even Trump`s ears are misaligned .... Your problem is easier to fix. Good luck !

 

[blufinz52]

watchyouwant

Interesting ! You bought brand new with a long Warranty. Just tell Omega to fix , what annoys you. then you know, if it`s within Tolerance or not. The Date change is a mechanical process and once completed, there is a miniscule spring, who centers the changed date wheel . If that mini spring is slightly bent/itself misaligned, you have a misaligned date ... easy to fix. So, just use your warranty. These days many things are misaligned ; even Trump`s ears are misaligned .... Your problem is easier to fix. Good luck !

He hasn't bought a watch. He said he doesn't have enough money yet to purchase a watch. He's trolling.

 

[ErichPryde]

blufinz52

He hasn't bought a watch. He said he doesn't have enough money yet to purchase a watch. He's trolling.

Indeed, and also acknowledged Omega isn't good enough for them. I suspect this is a case where OP winds up with a 6-series "rep."

Now, more cats!

 

[watchyouwant]

blufinz52

He hasn't bought a watch. He said he doesn't have enough money yet to purchase a watch. He's trolling.

Ahh ..., even better for him ! Then i can offer him our Customer courtesy divers watch from Invicta . Automatic with perfect aligned Date for US$ 140 incl. Box and Papers !!! Shipment worldwide courier is only US$ 45.

 

[Gabguzro]

Waiting for the cat to say how misaligned the date is on that watch.

 

[Pastorbottle]

Gabguzro

Waiting for the cat to say how misaligned the date is on that watch.

And here I was thinking that was a pic of the OP inspecting a watch!

 

[ErichPryde]

@Scarecrow Boat that's a beautiful sub, btw. Love that lume.

 

[billiout]

My two cents is that this is a classic case of selection bias, which arises because only a subset of buyers who have had a particularly negative experience are motivated to leave a review. This issue is exacerbated when one intentionally seeks out negative examples. Omega is one of the most popular entry-level luxury brands that mass-produce watches. While its quality control may not match that of high horology brands that produce significantly fewer watches, I doubt the majority of Omega watches have more quality issues than watches priced under $1000. People who are willing to buy such luxury products, like yourself, are equally interested in purchasing watches without obvious flaws. If Omega consistently had issues like this, I don't think they would maintain their status, especially considering how few people are genuinely interested in watches in the first place. When the time comes to get your new watch, regardless of the brand, my suggestion is to see it in person so you can ensure it meets your expectations

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

ErichPryde

@Scarecrow Boat that's a beautiful sub, btw. Love that lume.

There are days that I do miss that piece. It is quite good looking. However, @JwRosenthal has been taking great care of it and enjoying it
Edit- typo
One last wrist shot from when I had it

Edited: Jul 30, 2024

 

[JwRosenthal]

Scarecrow Boat

There are days that I do miss that piece. It is quite good looking. However, @JwRosenthal had been taking great care of it and enjoying it

One last wrist shot from when I had it

Yeah, Rolex would disagree….

Superdome!



A few mm out of factory spec.

 

[ErichPryde]

JwRosenthal

Yeah, Rolex would disagree….

Superdome!



A few mm out of factory spec.

You know what's absolutely wild?

I absolutely love

And I mean, love

Domed crystals.


And yet

I look at that picture you just shared?

and it is f****** wrong.

What's happened to me?

 

[Jakeys]

ErichPryde

Indeed, and also acknowledged Omega isn't good enough for them. I suspect this is a case where OP winds up with a 6-series "rep."

Inclined to agree that's what's going on here. Coming onto the forum admitting he doesn't have enough money for an Omega, with links to multiple fakes he's looked up, posing an argument disguised as a question, that Omega isn't worth the money. Reeks of trying to convince himself that Omega can't even get a date wheel right (lol) so what's the point in buying one, might as well get a rep, it's just as good. And thus a rep owner is born.

About 15 years ago when I was a teenager I did dabble in reps for a bit. I'm familiar with that line of thinking, but it doesn't pan out. Reps have a surface level similarity and can absolutely fool people on wrist if they're a well replicated model, but you'll never completely fool yourself and it will inevitably break and leave you in the lurch. Get a real watch in budget and be happy.

 

[hen]

ErichPryde

You know what's absolutely wild?

I absolutely love

And I mean, love

Domed crystals.


And yet

I look at that picture you just shared?

and it is f****** wrong.

What's happened to me?

Its not summer blue?

 

[JwRosenthal]

ErichPryde

You know what's absolutely wild?

I absolutely love

And I mean, love

Domed crystals.


And yet

I look at that picture you just shared?

and it is f****** wrong.

What's happened to me?

 

[mseamaster]

fiberguy

2 of those 3 are fakes

I am not an Omega expert by any means(more of a vintage Seiko collector tbh). But even I could tell those are shitty replicas. Props for saying it out loud.

 

[Archer]

To answer your question, on the few real Omegas you posted photos of, this is not normal or expected. In my experience as a watchmaker, servicing thousands of Omegas, date misalignment is not common.

Sometimes it's the dial that is misaligned, and sometimes the date jumper may need adjusting.

 

[RevZMan123]

M

Scarecrow Boat

You are expecting perfection from a mass produced entry level brand. These watches come with warranties for a reason. If you find something you aren’t satisfied with, take it up with Omega.

Every microbrand watch that I have with a date window is better aligned than the problematic ones I come across when people say they have an issue. This forum wants to blow it off, but hey, they have an issue, maybe we should listen instead of telling them they expect too much. Literally $299 watches with better date alignment than $5000 Omegas is laughable. I think at that price there should be no issues too, but I live in a different world than the typical OF Omega buyer I suppose. I see plenty of complaints about Tudor bezels losing lume pips way more than, again, any other microbrand. Sure they happen, but seemingly not as often, and typically met with the brand owner saying, "oh hey, that's bad, we'll replace that" instead of accusing them of ill will. Hell, try to get an owner of any watch brand above that level to return an email or a phone call. We're peons and treated that way by corporate, et tu community?