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Naiad Lock Issue Resolved (Finally!)

  1. bama2141 Jan 4, 2020

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    Back in July I started a thread about the misalignment of the Naiad caseback on my new Seamaster 300M Ceramic and Titanium

    https://omegaforums.net/threads/naiad-lock-caseback-tolerance-follow-up.99397/#post-1296340

    To recap, the benefit of the naiad caseback (maybe among other things) was to assure that the text on the caseback was always properly aligned to the case, to provide a pleasing visual appearance. Mine wasn't. My initial fear was that the caseback was not properly locked in place, and therefore would be vulnerable to water intrusion.

    After bringing the issue to my local Omega Boutique, we found another watch in their inventory with the same issue. Both watches then were sent to the service center for resolution. It turned out that the casebacks were, in fact properly locked, but the text on the caseback was simply misaligned relative to the locking features -- a manufacturing error.

    OK -- so a simple fix --- just screw off the discrepant caseback and screw on a properly made one. Unfortunately that simple fix took 135 days. So the watch sat at the service center for almost 20 weeks waiting for the replacement part.

    At any rate, the good news is that the watch is now fixed and back on my wrist. Omega stood behind the product and made it right (eventually).

    The bad news is that it never should have happened in the first place. Sure, stuff happens, but this was a failure on multiple levels. The caseback supplier made the error and didn't catch it. They shipped a batch of bad parts to Omega (yes - there are many more out there), and Omega didn't catch it on their receiving inspection or on the final inspection prior to shipment. Even so, if they properly provisioned for spare part availability the fix would have taken virtually no time at all.

    To their credit, the Boutique contacted the service center multiple times to track the repair and delivery. The service center promised early November, then early December. Neither happened. The only reason I have the watch back now is that the Boutique sent one of the watches in their stock (with a proper caseback) to the service center as a donor to swap with mine.

    A couple of photos:

    Before the fix, misaligned:

    IMG_3040 (Edited).JPG


    After the fix:

    IMG_3701.jpg

    Anyway, case closed (so to speak). Certainly an aggravation but in reality a minor issue in the overall scheme of things.

    Hopefully, the spares issue will be resolved soon, so anyone else out there with this issue can get it resolved in a more timely manner.

    BTW, I also started a thread about this watch

    https://omegaforums.net/threads/observations-on-the-seamaster-pro-ceramic-and-titanium.98623/

    ...and I still love it.
     
  2. Evitzee Jan 4, 2020

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    Glad it all worked out even though it should never have happened. An example of a new feature causing unintended consequences. Omega probably assumed production of the caseback would be to spec. They never thought to check the lettering alignment.

    It would seem the real issue was more than just misaligned lettering, the lettering on the old and new casebacks was correctly centered on one of the 'scallops' on the caseback. What appears to be the problem was an incorrect machining of the NAIAD mechanism relative to the caseback so the lettering did not line up. No telling how many were made before someone finally discovered that they were not made correctly. Either the original Omega spec was incorrect from the start, or an error was made in setting up the machining program. I suppose either was possible.
     
    Edited Jan 4, 2020
  3. Judder007 Jan 4, 2020

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    Thanks for the update Bama. As we previously discussed my watch has exactly the same issue. I’m not going to bother going through the inconvenience of not having my watch back.
     
    Edited Jan 4, 2020
    rominvicta likes this.
  4. Duckie Jan 4, 2020

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    How's the alignment of the Omega symbol on the Winding crown when it's screwed down?
     
    rominvicta likes this.
  5. bama2141 Jan 4, 2020

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    I would have expected random but....

    49C8F033-4F30-4B40-BF38-E91A9416967B.jpeg
     
    rominvicta and AntonisCy like this.
  6. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Jan 4, 2020

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    It is random...and in this case lined up.
     
    rominvicta, AntonisCy and Foo2rama like this.