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Issues with two brand new speed masters

H
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Hello everyone,
Long story short I have bought two brand new speedmasters from an authorized AD and both of them have chronometer issues.

Back in October I got on the list for the omega speedmaster FOIS. Got the call in December, bought it and immediately I noticed the chronograph would get stuck around 58 ish seconds. By stuck I mean the whole watch movement would stop, chronograph and seconds hand. I had to click the chronograph stop and reset it and the watch would continue. AD said that shouldn’t happen so I had it shipped back under warranty to get fixed. It’s almost March and I still don’t have my FOIS back.

I had a good year and I loved the look of the white dial sapphire sandwich, so I got on the list for that and a few days ago I got the call. Went down and bought it and I kid you not, just after a few days of ownership, the chronograph is freezing. This issue is different than my FOIS, the chrono hand will freeze right after I press down on the start. And just like my FOIS the whole watch movement is stopped until I reset it. I was in the phone with the AD when it did something new. The hand was very jumpy and then it stopped at 5 seconds.

Safe to say I’m very disappointed with Omega right now. I’m 16,000 in the hole with two watches that don’t work… now I’m going to have to wait for this one for God knows how long.
Anyone experience anything similar?
 
BlackTalon
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Welcome. Bummer.

Did you do a search? Some people have had issues.

The white is new -- seems like the AD should take it back and give you a new one. Or take it back and refund your money. The one from December likely needs to go to factory for analysis/ servicing, and you could be without the watch for a few months.
 
H
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Welcome. Bummer.

Did you do a search? Some people have had issues.

The white is new -- seems like the AD should take it back and give you a new one. Or take it back and refund your money. The one from December likely needs to go to factory for analysis/ servicing, and you could be without the watch for a few months.
After talking to the AD, they wanted to have one of their Omega Experts look at it.
So I guess I’ll take it up there and see what happens, it doesn’t freeze every time so that’s a plus but if there is an issue I would like to have it fixed. I guess I wouldn’t mind wait if I got my FOIS back first so I could at least enjoy one of them lol
 
bsowers34
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I don't ever really use the chronograph. But I got the white one June 1, it only ran 8-12 hours on a full wind so it went away for two months to get repaired. Two months is typical for Omega in my experience. I bought a hesalite while it was gone, a FOIS November 1, and picked up Snoopy on the first of this month. They all seem fine when I've ran the chrono. S**t happens, it sucks for you though, I feel your pain.
 
bsowers34
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H Horologist2003
Hello everyone,
Long story short I have bought two brand new speedmasters from an authorized AD and both of them have chronometer issues.

Back in October I got on the list for the omega speedmaster FOIS. Got the call in December, bought it and immediately I noticed the chronograph would get stuck around 58 ish seconds. By stuck I mean the whole watch movement would stop, chronograph and seconds hand. I had to click the chronograph stop and reset it and the watch would continue. AD said that shouldn’t happen so I had it shipped back under warranty to get fixed. It’s almost March and I still don’t have my FOIS back.

I had a good year and I loved the look of the white dial sapphire sandwich, so I got on the list for that and a few days ago I got the call. Went down and bought it and I kid you not, just after a few days of ownership, the chronograph is freezing. This issue is different than my FOIS, the chrono hand will freeze right after I press down on the start. And just like my FOIS the whole watch movement is stopped until I reset it. I was in the phone with the AD when it did something new. The hand was very jumpy and then it stopped at 5 seconds.

Safe to say I’m very disappointed with Omega right now. I’m 16,000 in the hole with two watches that don’t work… now I’m going to have to wait for this one for God knows how long.
Anyone experience anything similar?
Dumb question, but are they wound until you can't turn it anymore? I say this from painful experience that you have to wind these like you hate it.
 
Porteroso
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Yeah to get 2 that have issues is too much. Omega needs to work on making good watches if they are going to keep raising prices.

edit: Editing this because as it turns out, you need to wind the watches for them to work. I still think if 1 person gets 2 lemons that's ridiculous, but obviously that has not happened here.
Edited:
 
Evitzee
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Sounds like the classic 'problem' of not winding the watch fully, instead stopping when some undefined resistance is felt for fear of breaking something. A recipe to what the OP is experiencing.
 
H
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bsowers34 bsowers34
Dumb question, but are they wound until you can't turn it anymore? I say this from painful experience that you have to wind these like you hate it.
Yes I have it wound how the ad told me to, about 25 to 30ish clicks every morning
 
H
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bsowers34 bsowers34
I don't ever really use the chronograph. But I got the white one June 1, it only ran 8-12 hours on a full wind so it went away for two months to get repaired. Two months is typical for Omega in my experience. I bought a hesalite while it was gone, a FOIS November 1, and picked up Snoopy on the first of this month. They all seem fine when I've ran the chrono. S**t happens, it sucks for you though, I feel your pain.
After observing my watch for a few more days I think mine might have the same issue on top of the chronograph being stuck. I let the chronograph run and the watch completely stopped around halfway though the night. Like ran out of reserve, might be having the same issues?
 
Evitzee
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H Horologist2003
Yes I have it wound how the ad told me to, about 25 to 30ish clicks every morning
The answer to your problem is simple....you aren't winding the watch fully. Forget what the AD told you about counting clicks, that's nonsense. You properly wind any manual watch until you can't turn the crown any more, it hits a full mechanical stop. Take your watch and wind it fully, it might take awhile but keep going as the resistance grows, and keep turning until you suddenly feel a full, hard stop and you can't turn it anymore. You won't hurt anything, the watch's mechanism is designed for that life. It's then fully wound and the chonograph will work properly at that point. Try it, you'll like it.
 
H
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Evitzee Evitzee
The answer to your problem is simple....you aren't winding the watch fully. Forget what the AD told you about counting clicks, that's nonsense. You properly wind any manual watch until you can't turn the crown any more, it hits a full mechanical stop. Take your watch and wind it fully, it might take awhile but keep going as the resistance grows, and keep turning until you suddenly feel a full, hard stop and you can't turn it anymore. You won't hurt anything, the watch's mechanism is designed for that life. It's then fully wound and the chonograph will work properly at that point. Try it, you'll like it.
Got it, tried this out and I will see if it has any issues. My only concern is when I talked tit he Omega rep on the phone, he said that the chronograph should not get stuck, even with low power reserve. Should I still have it checked out? I had a video of it as well.
 
H
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H Horologist2003
Got it, tried this out and I will see if it has any issues. My only concern is when I talked tit he Omega rep on the phone, he said that the chronograph should not get stuck, even with low power reserve. Should I still have it checked out? I had a video of it as well.
Sorry typos, talked to the omega rep*
 
Archer
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H Horologist2003
Got it, tried this out and I will see if it has any issues. My only concern is when I talked tit he Omega rep on the phone, he said that the chronograph should not get stuck, even with low power reserve. Should I still have it checked out? I had a video of it as well.
Fully wind it. The Omega rep has no idea what they are talking about…
 
Evitzee
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H Horologist2003
Got it, tried this out and I will see if it has any issues. My only concern is when I talked tit he Omega rep on the phone, he said that the chronograph should not get stuck, even with low power reserve. Should I still have it checked out? I had a video of it as well.
Say a chronograph watch runs for, say, 50 hours on a full wind without using the chrono. If you then fully wind the watch and start the chronograph it will NOT run for 50 hours, it will stop before that because there is added resistance when the chrono mechanism is engaged. That's normal. I believe your problem was you never got the watch wound enough so it was always in the low power reserve condition which caused the chronograph to get 'stuck'. If it's fully wound you won't have that issue. Let us know how your watch now runs, with or without the chronograph engaged. A current 3861 is guaranteed to run 50 hours (no chronograph engaged) but they will actually run for 60-62 hours. If the chronograph is engaged it will probably run for about 48-50 hours before it stops.
 
Speed2Sea
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When I purchased my Speedmaster last year, it stopped well before the 50 hour spec and folks on OF told me I wasn't fully winding my watch. I said I am winding it fully. However, as it turns out in fact I wasn't probably due to my fat fingers and not owning a manual winding watch for many years.
 
padders
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It takes about 80 twists to wind a 3861. 25-30 clicks as you call it isn’t even half way. Dealers don’t know shit. The 1861s and 321s seemed to take less, 60 or so.
 
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