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Just bought my first vintage Omega! [Pictures, advice & service questions]
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Nacoga
·Update:
I took the watch in for a service, and got some good and bad news. The good news was that the crown stem was NOT worn out, and that it was, as I thought, a question of pressing the button on the movement and inserting the crown. I was also told, that the movement was in close to perfect condition: none of the screws were stripped, there was no dust, oils or rust present and there was no sign of any water or humidity ever having entered the movement.
The "bad" news was that in some positions the movement was gaining a lot of time 60-84 seconds per day, and in others only +/- 1-2 seconds. The watchmaker told me this may be solved by applying proper lubrication and that they would have to keep the watch for a week or so to make sure there is nothing else wrong with it.
I'm hoping that they'll be able to just clean it a little and lube it up to get it ticking nice and steadily, and hopefully not costing me too much money!
==============================
One somewhat strange thing, when I asked him about the crystal, he said that he believes it best to replace old crystals with new ones, and that they would most likely try and source a new crystal: is this just him trying to charge me more money? There is nothing wrong with the crystal (other than that it was installed sideways at some point so the little Omega logo is sideways). I think he said something about the plastic ageing a certain way or something.... I wasn't too convinced, but to be fair, he's the expert. Either way, I just wanted to ask you guys' opinion on this.
I took the watch in for a service, and got some good and bad news. The good news was that the crown stem was NOT worn out, and that it was, as I thought, a question of pressing the button on the movement and inserting the crown. I was also told, that the movement was in close to perfect condition: none of the screws were stripped, there was no dust, oils or rust present and there was no sign of any water or humidity ever having entered the movement.
The "bad" news was that in some positions the movement was gaining a lot of time 60-84 seconds per day, and in others only +/- 1-2 seconds. The watchmaker told me this may be solved by applying proper lubrication and that they would have to keep the watch for a week or so to make sure there is nothing else wrong with it.
I'm hoping that they'll be able to just clean it a little and lube it up to get it ticking nice and steadily, and hopefully not costing me too much money!
==============================
One somewhat strange thing, when I asked him about the crystal, he said that he believes it best to replace old crystals with new ones, and that they would most likely try and source a new crystal: is this just him trying to charge me more money? There is nothing wrong with the crystal (other than that it was installed sideways at some point so the little Omega logo is sideways). I think he said something about the plastic ageing a certain way or something.... I wasn't too convinced, but to be fair, he's the expert. Either way, I just wanted to ask you guys' opinion on this.
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Archer
··Omega Qualified WatchmakerUpdate:
I took the watch in for a service, and got some good and bad news. The good news was that the crown stem was NOT worn out, and that it was, as I thought, a question of pressing the button on the movement and inserting the crown. I was also told, that the movement was in close to perfect condition: none of the screws were stripped, there was no dust, oils or rust present and there was no sign of any water or humidity ever having entered the movement.
The "bad" news was that in some positions the movement was gaining a lot of time 60-84 seconds per day, and in others only +/- 1-2 seconds. The watchmaker told me this may be solved by applying proper lubrication and that they would have to keep the watch for a week or so to make sure there is nothing else wrong with it.
I'm hoping that they'll be able to just clean it a little and lube it up to get it ticking nice and steadily, and hopefully not costing me too much money!
==============================
One somewhat strange thing, when I asked him about the crystal, he said that he believes it best to replace old crystals with new ones, and that they would most likely try and source a new crystal: is this just him trying to charge me more money? There is nothing wrong with the crystal (other than that it was installed sideways at some point so the little Omega logo is sideways). I think he said something about the plastic ageing a certain way or something.... I wasn't too convinced, but to be fair, he's the expert. Either way, I just wanted to ask you guys' opinion on this.
To clarify, they are fully disassembling the watch and movement, cleaning it, and then reassembling, oiling, and adjusting, right?
If all they are doing is adding lubrication, that won't solve anything and is very bad practice to add lubricants to a watch that hasn't been fully stripped and cleaned first. Simple lubrication is not going to solve that sort of positional variation - it will require proper adjustments being made (things like manipulation of the balance spring, spacing of regulating pins, perhaps posing of the balance).
And unless the crystal has a known fault, there's no real reason to replace it.
Cheers, Al
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Nacoga
·To clarify, they are fully disassembling the watch and movement, cleaning it, and then reassembling, oiling, and adjusting, right?
If all they are doing is adding lubrication, that won't solve anything and is very bad practice to add lubricants to a watch that hasn't been fully stripped and cleaned first. Simple lubrication is not going to solve that sort of positional variation - it will require proper adjustments being made (things like manipulation of the balance spring, spacing of regulating pins, perhaps posing of the balance).
And unless the crystal has a known fault, there's no real reason to replace it.
Cheers, Al
Yes! I must have not made it clear enough, they will see what issues are there, and if it needs to go beyond adjustment, they'll disassemble, clean and assemble with lubricant applied in the necessary parts. They are an Omega-approved service center, so I would trust they know what they are doing.
As to the crystal, that's what I thought. If they say it has to be replaced as it may compromise how sealed it is or something, then I'll think about it, but either way I'll definitely be keeping the original. However, as far as my personal preference goes, I'd rather keep it all original, just maybe have them take it out and re-install it with the little engraved logo facing the right way.
I am glad that they made it clear that they will not do anything without my approval, for now its just 7 days of observation so that they don't miss any potential issues, but the guy made it sound as though everything was perfect, other than some timing issues.
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Nacoga
·Update:
Hello everyone! I have now heard back from the watchmaker, with some rather jarring news. He gave me an over 450 euro estimate, including 260 for the service (taking apart, cleaning and oiling), 80 for an Omega crystal, 33 for a stem, 30 for a gear, 30 for a crown, and 11 euros for a new seal for the case.
This seems somewhat steep to me, and I will not be going ahead with it, as I am currently a student with no income, and 400 euros could mean 10 days of holiday at the beach for me... not that I have 400 euros to spend!
I'm going to contact another watchmaker I know who does all these things at a much more reasonable price, and hopefully he will have a better price for me 😁
Here are some pics I took before taking it into service:
Hello everyone! I have now heard back from the watchmaker, with some rather jarring news. He gave me an over 450 euro estimate, including 260 for the service (taking apart, cleaning and oiling), 80 for an Omega crystal, 33 for a stem, 30 for a gear, 30 for a crown, and 11 euros for a new seal for the case.
This seems somewhat steep to me, and I will not be going ahead with it, as I am currently a student with no income, and 400 euros could mean 10 days of holiday at the beach for me... not that I have 400 euros to spend!
I'm going to contact another watchmaker I know who does all these things at a much more reasonable price, and hopefully he will have a better price for me 😁
Here are some pics I took before taking it into service:
