My pal and I both have the same model of Seamaster...although his is probably 2/3yrs-ish older than mine...so perhaps 2009/10-ish.

He's just sent me a panicked txt from his holidays which can be seen below - and he's wanting to know what to do for the best.

He said the crown is as tight as nun's cuff, as is the helium valve. Seemed to have happened after a dip in a swimming pool...and it hasn't dried out after time in the sun.

Clearly we're novices by even asking these questions...but wonder if you guys can provide any advice. (As far as i'm aware, it's never had a service.)

 

Watchmaker!
STAT!

(Assuming he is at a resort or similar without tools to open the watch).

 

Cheers fellas. My pal is watching this thread with plenty of nervousness...and no doubt brushing up on his Portuguese timepiece talk!

 

He's been in the sea, but it only occurred after a dip in the swimming pool and hasn't worn it since. So looks like he has escaped from a salty incident!

 

It amazes me how my crappy 5+ years old Orient Mako XL ($159 discounted) has had zero service, keeps lousy time (gains a minute a day) and yet is still 100% water resistant, having recently seen the pool and the ocean. Yet a multi thousand dollar piece like the above has been compromised. I see this all the time. Crazy.

My Seamaster Pro 200 'Pre-Bond' has new seals/gaskets, a new crown and was successfully pressure tested. But I was told it's best "not to shower in warm water." Huh? So now I'll never take it into water of any kind out of sheer paranoi. Thankfully it's the two tone model and works wonderfully as a dress watch.

As for the watch in question, unscrew the crown, put it in a jar with rice to draw out the moisture and get it to a watchmaker asap.

 

Omega watches are not famous for WR.

 

Uh.

 

Yeah what are you speaking of. They have been notably famous for their Seamaster line which have great water resistance history.

 

Also your uh is linked to an old thread of how you damaged the AR coating on a PO8500

 

There, fixed it for you.

 

If you read the thread from beginning to end, you would have realized that I initially took the moisture on the inside of the crystal for damaged coating.

 

No. I did not touched it at all. Very design is an extra point of failure.

 

Oh yes, perfectly reasonable to condemn a whole brands water resistance because of your one bad experience...

As someone that has serviced countless Omega watches, they are typically very good for water resistance If maintained properly. Every brand has QC failures...even makers like Patek have made horrible misses on watches sold to people, so some perspective would be good here mate.

Cheers, Al

 

OMG what am I going to do now