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“New” Seamaster - problems or not?

L
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I have minimal watch experience, so please be patient.

I recently bought my very first vintage watch and it arrived yesterday. An, according to me, beautiful Seamaster 166.002 cal 562.

When I unwrapped the watch it was stopped, but as soon as I set the time it started running correctly and I didn’t think more of hit.

However, at 22:20 the same evening I noticed that the watch had stopped. It’s as if the movement didn’t have power enough to push the date over and stopped.

Easy enough, I’ll just give it a few manual winds and it’ll be set. That’s when I noticed that the manual wind has A LOT of resistance and combined with the crown being small it’s very difficult (almost impossible) to wind.

I brought it to a watchmaker today, but he was very chill. Basically said “Well, you’ve only owned it for a day. It seems to run well during the day, so I’d just keep wearing it, give it some help if it gets stuck when changing dates and see if it gets better. Yea it’s a bit tough to wind and the crown is a bit worn, but give it some time and come back if it doesn’t get better.”

He also thought that since we don’t know the watch’s history, it makes sense to wait a bit before servicing to learn more about how it runs.

What do you think about his reasoning? Am I stressing too much or was he too relaxed about it?

Cheers!
 
gbesq
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That approach would not suit me. If there is something wrong with the movement, and it certainly sounds possible, you could be doing more damage by continuing to run it. Does your watchmaker have experience repairing vintage Omega? Does he have an Omega parts account? If the answer to either of those questions is "no," you likely need to find a new watchmaker. If you can tell us approximately where you are, we may be able to recommend a watchmaker for you.
 
L
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gbesq gbesq
That approach would not suit me. If there is something wrong with the movement, and it certainly sounds possible, you could be doing more damage by continuing to run it. Does your watchmaker have experience repairing vintage Omega? Does he have an Omega parts account? If the answer to either of those questions is "no," you likely need to find a new watchmaker. If you can tell us approximately where you are, we may be able to recommend a watchmaker for you.

Thanks for your input! To be honest I’m unsure about this specific watchmakers qualifications. I’ve read recommendations for a certain watchmaker by the local vintage community here, but they’re currently closed for summer. They’ll likely open next week or so, so I might pop in then and get a second opinion.
 
speedb
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I'm a bit confused about your story - how much did you initially wind it and how long were you did you wear it for? Were you still wearing the watch when it stopped? Have you tried to reset the time to around 22:00 and check if the issue repeats?
From my (limited) experience, date functions on watches are relatively simple to fix, and sometimes a misaligned part can cause enough resistance to stop a movement, so hopefully that's the issue. Considering you have minimal watch experience I feel that I should ask whether you tried to move the hands or date backward to set the time/date? That can cause problems.

Given what you've told us and your watchmaker I don't think there's much of a problem.
 
L
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speedb speedb
I'm a bit confused about your story - how much did you initially wind it and how long were you did you wear it for? Were you still wearing the watch when it stopped? Have you tried to reset the time to around 22:00 and check if the issue repeats?
From my (limited) experience, date functions on watches are relatively simple to fix, and sometimes a misaligned part can cause enough resistance to stop a movement, so hopefully that's the issue. Considering you have minimal watch experience I feel that I should ask whether you tried to move the hands or date backward to set the time/date? That can cause problems.

Given what you've told us and your watchmaker I don't think there's much of a problem.

So initially I didn’t wind it at all. I simply set the time, the watch started running and I put it on my wrist. It seemed to keep good time until 22:20 when it stopped, still on my wrist.

After this, I manually set the time past midnight and it then kept running though the night on my bedside table.

This morning I tried to manually wind it as best I could (which wasn’t much) and set it to 21:30. It again stopped at around 22:30.

As the 562 doesn’t have quick-set, I did do the “semi-quick-set” thing to set the date. Wind it past midnight, then back to 9 pm, past midnight and repeat. My understanding was that this is OK.
 
Foo2rama
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When was this watch last serviced? When did it get a new crown tube gasket?
 
gbesq
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You might try wearing it continuously for 24 hours to see if that solves the problem. Lots of folks sleep wearing their automatics (I do). The rotor needs to have movement to wind the watch, so it's not doing anything for you while it's sitting overnight on your night table. This problem could be caused by a number of things, most of which are not an expensive fix. The bottom line is that if you don't know the service history of the watch, and it's having an issue, it needs to go in for a routine service and the sooner the better.
 
Pvt-Public
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L lehar001
He also thought that since we don’t know the watch’s history, it makes sense to wait a bit before servicing to learn more about how it runs.

What do you think about his reasoning? Am I stressing too much or was he too relaxed about it?
His reasoning sucks. Unknown service history will most of the time really mean needs a service. I’d start looking for a decent watchmaker.
 
L
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Thank you all for your input! I will wear the watch for a couple of days until I can get it to a watchmaker that I know have a very good rep and is specialised in vintage Omegas and get his thoughts on it.
 
Walrus
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I learned an important lesson and always try to wear a vintage/used watch a minimum of 3 days in a row to get a better idea. I mistakenly bought one from a regular seller just looked at it made sure the second hand moved and put it down for a couple weeks. I then found the time could not be set properly. Rookie mistake I know and you may have already discovered an issue put once you know it’s fully charged and get an idea on time keeping you have a better picture. Everything got straightened out in the end as the watch was “serviced” but definite lesson learned on my part.
 
Spruce
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When @Walrus suggests that you wear it for '3 days in a row’ he means actually wear it not take it off and put it on your bedside table overnight.

You might also buy a a watch crown winder

45579C35-09CE-415E-8F07-DB7C65658D2C.jpeg
 
Dan S
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Omega recommends that before wearing an automatic watch, you should wind it thoroughly by hand, say 30 turns or so. Then the motion of your arm should keep it wound. A watch will generally keep more consistent time that way and have better power reserve. Give it a try. Of course since the watch probably hasn’t been serviced recently, it’s possible that it needs some attention. But we really can’t determine that from the tests that you’ve done.

Your watchmaker seems to be saying that he doesn’t want to work on that watch.
 
K
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Spruce Spruce
When @Walrus
....You might also buy a a watch crown winder

45579C35-09CE-415E-8F07-DB7C65658D2C.jpeg
Very useful tools. I have 2 for different crown sizes. You do need to be careful how you fit it to the crown - metal jaws and easy to catch on the case itself. I find a bit of plastic bag over the crown helps avoid that. (I assume you have one and know that anyway).
Some automatic watches are next to impossible to wind manually. Worst I have is a 1960's IWC drsss watch with a small crown manufactured to be nice and smooth......This tool makes it easy.
 
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