I inherited a beautiful old Omega Seamaster from my grandfather, may he rest in peace. In April 2010, through the Omega website, I found that the closest Omega authorized service center to me was in Philadelphia. At the time, I had no idea that this was not the "OFFICIAL" service center. Anyway, they cleaned up my old watch, replaced the crystal, replaced the crown, gaskets. They also performed a "complete maintenance service." I do not know what the "complete maintenance service" entails, but it was fairly expensive ($400). I assume they probably oiled & calibrated it, etc. In any event the watch came back looking beautiful and running well. About a month ago the battery ran out. By then, an Omega Retail Boutique had opened nearby so I took it to them, thinking they could just replace the battery. He says that they don't have repair facilities there and that he'll send it to the service center. No problem, I'll have it back in 2-3 weeks. I get a call from them yesterday saying that a) the watch needs a lot of work done b) they'd like to send it to Switzerland c) the estimate to repair it is $1,400!! Also they had no record of the previous service. So I finally figured out that the place I sent my watch to be repaired the first tiime isn't the OFFICIAL OMEGA REPAIR CENTER IN NEW JERSEY. And despite the fact that it is an "authorized Omega repair facility" they will not honor the work done there. I'm thinking the damn thing just needs the battery replaced since I had it fixed just a year ago, with a reputable repair facility. Does anybody else have any experience with this? Here I am thinking that I just needed a new battery, and instead they say it needs to go to Switzerland for repair and BTW it's going to cost you a fortune. Would it make sense to just send it back to the first place for repair? They weren't cheap either, but they got the job done.
You're obviously in the Philly area. Get the watch back and take it to Sam Kalter on Jeweler's Row (NW corner of Sansom & 7th). He can change the battery and retest the case seals for $50 or so. Call him at (215) 629 - 1022 or e-mail at [email protected] and tell him Dennis referred you. When I lived in Philly he did all my service & repair work.
I'm actually in DC area... I don't think i'm going to agree to this repair. Also, the price has now gone up to $1850 for the repair. Sounds like a ripoff.
Get the watch back and find a local reputable watchmaker. That's an insane price. For a few hundred more I had a JLC restored from junk to like-new condition at Le Sentier.
How can they suddenly raise the price from $1400 to $1850 ??. If i were you i'd take Dennis's advice (ulackfocus).He knows what he's talking about !.
What sometimes happens is that once a Quartz movement is showing higher than normal current drain they are told to replace the movement, I had a quote for about $2k on a TAG Heuer F1 Quartz chrono. Doesn't make it right but that's what they tend to try to do.
Here is the breakdown of the repair quote: Complete Maintenance Service: Vintage/Complicated: $1120 Strap: 100 Crystal: 50 Hands: 30 Dial: $550 (?!) I had maintenance done at an authorized Omega Repair facility for $400 (but not the OFFICIAL one), so that's clearly a huge markup. The strap is a little worn but OK, the crystal has a minor scratch but I can live with it. The hands probably do need to be cleaner or replaced. The dial is what blows me away. They said they'd need to specially lacquer the dial. In any event, I'm not in the position to pay $1850 to repair a watch right now since wife is expecting. I'll probably send it back to the place in Philadelphia, they seemed to do a good job the first time. Or, if anybody knows a good place in the DC area please let me know.
Just out of interest, what kind of Seamaster are we dealing with here? There is one very odd-duck called an Omegamatic that can be very troublesome to maintain (it also tends to have faster than usual dial degradation), do you think you can post some pics?
Wow i need to have my old tag serviced, the sub dails dont zero and i need a new battery, I'm dreading sending it off now !.
I don't have the actual watch in front of me (as it is in New Jersey) but it looks like the seamaster mentioned in another thread (picture attached). Here are the details I know: Caliber: 1250 Case: 198001 (which I believe makes it a 1970) Movement: 32881959 If you can help with any additional info I'd love to know more about it.
Here's an eBay listing with the same watch: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Ome...otn=31&pmod=110667694448&ps=50#ht_6035wt_1299Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network The serial number on the movement dates it to 1971-ish, give or take a year.
You do know that you can zero the subdials yourself, from memory on that TAG chrono caliber you pull the crown out to second or third position, and push the chrono start and reset pushers over and over to bump the subdial hands back where they need to be.
LOL @ that guy listing an F300 tuning fork as a Quartz. In other words, your watch is an odd duck as well. I have no idea what is even involved in a tuning fork movement, never owned one, but I do respect them tremendously, VERY cool watch, and possibly the only battery powered watch that I would call very cool.
I've tried to zero the dials, but having no battery life the fingers will not move. So looks like i'll have to send it away.
With the F1 I'd just take it to a corner jeweller, $20 and they change the battery, then you can zero the hands (it does need battery charge as the subdials are driven electronically). Spend an extra $30 and they'll pressure test it afterwards, definitely not worth sending it away for something that simple on a quartz F1.
Got the battery and date dial replaced, now the damn thing doesn't keep accurate time. It gains about five minutes a day. Back to the shop. Sigh.
I have an omegamatic since 1997, extremely accurate (1-3 secs a month) I don't baby it, use almost daily, water sports, scuba diving (only 30-40ft) and last year started not holding a charge for more than 2-3 days. Sent it to Omega NJ was charged $600, full overhaul, now the battery seems to hold for weeks, any similar experiences?
So glad I just read this post @dsio Your a champ it has fixed something that has annoyed me for several years
It took me about 8 years to figure it out with a watch that I couldn't use for chrono purposes, and an AD even quoted a full service to correct it before a kind watchmaker took care of it in about 30 seconds and explained to me how.
This kind of secret information is known only to watchmakers...an those that RTFM that came with the watch.
