New Member..

It was 1969, 13th Birthday and my Bar Mitzvah. My Grandfather purchased this Gold Seamaster from Wilshire Jewelers in 1968 for $150 US ( I have the original receipt) and it was my Bar Mitzvah gift. Being 13, I did not want a wind up watch, I wanted one of the new fangled digital watches that had just come out. My dad kept it for me and took decent care of it over the years. When he died in 1996, it was the first item I asked my mom about and I retrieved it before she gave away his stuff. I located a jeweler in Bel Air Ca that had an in house watchsmith to service the watch. Every other year it went in for service. They closed and I found a Jeweler in Century City that was also a watchsmith and he serviced the watch for 10 years. They closed and I followed him to North Hollywood and he continued to service the watch until he retired. 8 years ago I had Feldmar Watch do a service. I moved from Los Angeles to Palm Springs in 2020 and spent a year looking for a watchsmith. On a recommendation I took the watch to guy who claimed to be an experienced watchsmith and a service was done. A disaster. 2 months later, I had condensation on the crystal. He replaced the seals again and all seemed good. 3 years ago I traveled to England and when I landed in London i pulled the crown to reset the time and it pulled out completely. I was able to limp it along until I got back to Palm Springs. I spent a year trying find a watchsmith and finally sent it directly to Swatch/Omega.
What a mess. The watch had to be sent to Omega in Switzerland for a complete rebuild. Due to the leaking seals, the whole watch needed a complete overhaul. The movement, the dial and the hands had rusted. It sat in Switzerland for 4 months. The movement was completely rebuilt with new parts. The Dial and Hands were refinished. Not an inexpensive repair/service. The watch came back. The bag of parts sent with the watch looked like almost every gear, part and jewel had been replaced. I started to wear it and 9 months later, the crown/stem pulled loose again. Back to switzerland under warranty it went. Surprisingly, the diagnostics came back with notes of a damaged movement and tarnish/ moisture damage on the dial face again. 3 months later it arrived . 6 months later the stem/crown pulled loose again. Back to Switzerland. I've now had the watch for 6 months. Its working but runs fast after a week. I'm going to send it in in December for a service. I'm crossing my fingers. The box was damaged in 2010, when someone move it and it got crushed accidently.

wow what a journey, the dial still looks great after going through all that!

Omega refinished/restored the Dial Twice.

I miss the services available in Los Angeles. Here in Palm Springs/Coachella Valley, no jeweler will even open the case. It will be going back to Swatch for service in January 2027.

That is the bracelet that was on the watch in 1969. The clasp is an Omega Clasp. Since smaller diameter watches are back in fashion and vintage collectors recognize this watch everytime I wear it, I'll say that it will be on my wrist until the grave.

I was surprised how "fragile" it has become after being restored by Omega. It was a more robust piece before the whole rust incident. I know Omega changed all the parts out to original parts but it surprised me how easily the stem pulled out of the mechanism twice after the restoration.

Thanks gatorcpa. I would have thought that sending the watch back to the factory would circumvent all the issues I have been having. My mistake. Times have changed. On the other hand I have a Tissot that is always sent back for service and I have never had an issue.