Looking for Advice on a Watchmaker Conundrum

I recently had my Seamaster 600 and Constellation Pie Pan serviced by a local Omega-certified watchmaker here in New Zealand. Upon completion of the work, the watches were mailed to me last week as I do not live in Auckland, where the servicing was performed.

Upon opening the package, I noticed a small crack in the crystal of the Seamaster 600, which is peculiar considering the watch was well-packaged, and the delivery box showed no damage. Additionally, the Constellation was changing date at 2:30 am, which is annoying but manageable. However, the cracked crystal is a more significant issue which needed addressing.

I have had previous issues with this specific watchmaker but returned to them due to their satisfactory rectification of the last two mistakes. These included snapping the chronograph hand on my 145.022 76 (without informing me) and failing to tighten the chronograph hand sufficiently on my Flightmaster, causing it to reset to 58 seconds.

As a result of these four issues, I felt I had endured enough with this watchmaker and decided to end our working relationship and sent the 600 to another larger Omega-certified watchmaker in Auckland (as there are no such options locally).

I informed the second watchmaker that I only required a crystal replacement, as the watch had been serviced a week prior. Today, they provided a quote of NZD$580 (USD$332.42) as the watch needed a new crystal, crown, and gaskets. Considering I had just spent NZD$905 (USD$530) on a full service, I was quite shocked.

The second watchmaker explained that they replace gaskets every time a watch is opened, which seems excessive given the recent service and brand new gaskets. Additionally, they claim the watch needs a new crown, which further raises questions about the first watchmaker's workmanship and the larger watchmaker's practices of potentially charging for unnecessary gasket and crown replacements under the guise of waterproofing.

I apologise for the length of this post, but I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to proceed.

I feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

On a side note, I had the crystal replaced on the 600 last year in Melbourne while on business. The watchmaker there completed the replacement in one hour for AUD$65 (USD$42).

Here are a couple of shots of the cracked crystal.

I will just say that it makes sense to replace the crystal gasket when replacing the crystal. The rest, I don't know.

My first reaction was -fυck that! But then thinking about it - factory crystals for all omega watches have shot up in the last few year- I don’t know the pricing but $100US wouldn’t be out of reality anymore. Crown is probably around $50-75US, gasket $10 (we are taking about Omega parts costs- not Cousins rubber band specials) and an hour of their time which for any specialty trade is probably around $100-150/hr these days, think about how much it costs to change the oil, replace a CV boot and do a standard inspection on a German car at a certified independent shop- about the same.

I say pay the shop, lick your wounds and find a new watchmaker. Several on this forum in NZ- perhaps not Omega certified, but competent and qualified and have access to parts.

I agree with this- its cheaper than flying to Melbourne!

Thanks for your responses. @JwRosenthal
Although I did mention costs entailed, I'm not questioning the expense, more the practice of dumping a caseback gasket that was inserted only a week prior, and the fact that the crown also needs replacing after a supposed 'full service'... I find the whole thing questionable, and just wanted to see if that feeling was justified.

@SOG53 it's marginally cheaper.

Ultimately I have very few options open to me based on the fact that I live at the arse end of the world and there's really only about 4 places I can get this work done.

Of course- I agree about the back gasket (crystal doesn’t have one- it’s a pressure fit acrylic) but I understand that (to use cars again) some companies consider fasteners a one-time use and will replace every fastener they remove from trim or covers etc. If they don’t know the age of that seal (considering your former watchmaker was a little questionable to begin with) and it leaks while under their warranty period- then they are on the hook. It’s cheap insurance for them that all the waterproofing parts are indeed waterproof.

If the watchmaker was Omaga certified, would the Omega mothership back you up to make it right?

I’d be going back to the first watchmaker and getting him to rectify, even if I knew it was the last time I would send anything to him.

@Davidt yeah, I feel inclined to do that... but I've been burnt too many times by those guys... if I went back it would be like returning to an abusive relationship...

@precisionhrlgy this is the type of advice I was hoping to get and will definitely follow your recommendation... even though I'm now down to the two last options in the entire country.

Thanks again.

I'm from Oakura... so only an 8 minute drive from your old hometown.

Do know that a service crown will be the modern cylindrical with fine splines style and not the petal style you have now. Since they already have your watch, if you don’t care about waterproofing and want to keep it original- just tell them to keep the original crown on there and sign whatever waiver releasing them of their liability.
Eat the few bucks on the rear gasket and have them do the crystal. Then send the bill to the former watchmaker and tell them you expect reimbursement and why yo chose not to send it back to them.

And people still bristled at $30 as a GS crystal was $4 and you could buy a SM600 for $200.

No one will love you like that watchmaker does. You are not worthy of receiving watchmaker love. You are lucky he does. No other watchmaker will give you the time of day, so don't even bother trying. Just go back to your watchmaker, and he will find it in his heart to forgive you. But you will need to work hard to make it up to him.

😈

David, this isn’t a Rolex service provider- I think you forgot the rest of the world doesn’t function like that.