Exactly why I started this thread

 

Any luck finding a cheaper source?

 

My local Omega Boutique charged me $1/ea

 

Not as of yet. Still working on it. I live in the Canadian prairies and only 1 Omega AD in my city. The next closest AD/B is in another country (Fargo, ND) so they have zero competition.

 

Thankfully, some of the Omega's I've bought over the last couple of years (regular Speedmaster, Ultraman, and Apollo 11 among them) all came with extra springbars and I haven't had to use any other ones. Charging $50 for a couple of these is terrible customer service by Omega. A good way to drive customers away.

 

It is an Omega dealer, not a boutique.

 

I bought some OEM springbars online (ebay) a few months ago, cost me around 30€ for 2 pairs incl. shipping, and the seller included a third free pair.
I did not know at that time but he is a Ex-member of this forum: he started nice but ended is journey here by - let's say - showing questionable ethics. So I guess I won't give his name...

All I can say is that the bars were as described and all went smoothly. If I hadn't see his recent reputation here afterwise, I would have recommend him :/

 

Dealer or Boutique, doesn't matter, overcharging for goods or services doesn't help your reputation for future business.

 

Irrespective of where it is coming from, paying 50 or so in either usd or euro is a ridiculous amount of money.

But off topic but for me more importantly, do original springs really make difference compare to the ones my watch shop takes out of his “big box”?

 

Yes

 

Three pages in on this guys-

I believe @Archer actually showed a pictorial on this once upon a time with detailed pictures of a factory Omega spring bar versus a cheap spring bar- and the differences at the ends where they are crimped is very different in terms of quality. I have had cheap spring bars fail and when your watch hits the asphalt- you wish you spend the extra $2. You’ll buy a $5k watch and slap a $300 piece of leather on it, but you’re penny-pinching on the $4 spring bars???

Spring bars are not just a piece of metal- they are spring loaded pins made to a specific size, with a spring of a specific tension, loaded within a tube of a specific size and material strength, with a crimp (or some form of fitting) at the ends to hold the pins in place. They can also be made of various metals, some cheap and rust prone and some of better quality. They are actually a mechanical device, and like any mechanical device, they can vary in quality depending on materials and construction.

Omega is sourcing very high quality spring bars, they are better than the cheap shit you get from China. Are they made by Omega- probably not, most likely a Swiss contracotor. Are they model specific- I highly doubt it (unless like in the case of the shoulderless 2mm spring bars Rolex used which were specific to certain models).
If the MSRP from Omega is $4, then they should be $4. If your dealer is charging you $4 plus $40 shipping, then you need to find another dealer. If your dealer is charging you $40 in the shop for factory spring bars, then you need to find another dealer.

 

At €30 for three sets of springbars he threw nothing in for free.

Last springbars I got were at Cost = $6.00 AUD each pair and boutique sent three sets out free by courier 4000km away.

 

Which bars would you rather trust to keep your multi-thousand dollar watch on your wrist?



I know which one I would trust...

Regarding what dealers are charging, I understand it sounds like a lot but these are businesses, not charities. Sure the spring bars are cheap in reality, but someone has to take the time to make up an order, package the bars up, make out whatever shipping documents are needed, and actually get them shipped. Then deal with whatever potential issues may arise if the shipment gets lost. It's not just the cost of the actual shipping you are paying for, but for the time of the people who are doing this task.

And keep in mind this isn't necessarily for a well known customer - it could be someone who they didn't know, and who may have never bought anything from their store before. Would you want to spend your days sending out orders worth $10 to random people who contact you all the time? Not excactly a profitable business model, in particular when it's not your actual business to sell and ship spring bars...

 

This is actually a great thread, thanks to all. I am learning a lot!!!

 

So all this said, I ask again, does anyone have any experience with another brand of high quality spring bars, like the Swiss bars sold by Ofrei (they say they are "the best" quality- are they?) , for those of us who want high quality spring bars in sizes other than the 20mm Omega bars, for other watches?

 

The alternate bar I show above is a Swiss made Horotec bar, so not some cheap Chinese made bar. I've not seen a generic bar that is of the same quality as the Omega bars are...they might be out there, but I've not seen them yet.

 

Thanks! I definitely have to pass by my local dealer

 

substantially different

 

So just buy Omega 18mm or 22mm bars