Hi, I am very new to watches and see all the technical recent discussion (no idea about that ). Recetly acuired railmaster 57 and after tracking accuracy for few weeks I went to service today to check as they were running faster over 5s a day. They told me it was impacted by magnetic fields and now should be all ok (I will see that soon). How does it work with magnetic resistance of 15k gauss if I was told that issue was due to magnetism ?

 

Service where? At an AD? At an actual Omega boutique?

5 sec/ day is not much. In fact, isn't it within acceptable range for the movement? Usually when magnetism is the cause of a change in accuracy it is by quite a bit more than 5 sec/ day.

 

It was offical omega service. The range is 0/5s. It actually did around 8s in the beginning and then settled at sligtly over 5s. I was told it was magnetism, they de-magnetized (if that is the word) and should be around +3s according their meassurement (can’t confirm that yet).

 

Not all components in the movement are made out of amagnetic material. To my knowledge, this means that the movement can still vary, albeit very slightly if the parts within the watch become magnetized. On the other hand, if a regular movement was magnetized, it would probably run several minutes, perhaps even several hours fast per day.

 

Yes, that is exactly what they explained. It is just from consumer perspective and if you are not much into the topic...buying watches whose one of key characteristics is resisting magnetic fields and keeping its accuracy somehow convey a message that it will resist magnetic fields under normal usage conditions. Now it feels more like signing an insurance policy with all the exceptions written in small letters around. Now, 8h later after the service check, they run around a second faster so probably the 3s a day seems realistic.

 

Please read up on how the accuracy is checked/ calculated. Your was likely still within spec. Normally magnetized watches can be off by minutes/ day.

 

I have seen the technicality behind measurements, which is interesting and import output I take from it is claimed accuracy over 1day. Over last 3 weeks I was tracking around 5-6s difference. After yesterday check, I can see today 3-4s. Obviously the measurements are not super accurate from my side (I basically compare to some onlineclock). I don’t know exactly what they did but I see 2s improvement in accuracy and I was told it was magnetic field. Being those my first automatic watches, I cannot add much to what the service told me. They basicaly suggested, that despite the movement is resistant to magnetic fields, I should be careful leaving it close to magnetic fields otherwise the accuracy could be still impacted.

 

Sometimes the movement will calm down a bit over time. Also, from experience I try to leave the time between checking more rather than less. The more often you check the greater chance of difference due to our own incorrect readings.

I check mine probably once every 2 weeks or so now. 3 secs a day is no worries whatsoever as far as I am concerned. In fact mine lose time on my winder and gain slightly on the wrist so net is ok.

 

So the accuracy was checked in all the different required positions? (6 positions are required, at both 100% and 33% reserve)

BTW, did you know you can check the Omega testing results for your specific watch here?: https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/...er-chronometer-certification/#test_METAS/home

 

That makes full sense. I am not freaking out so far . It seems all fine now. I was worried first days seeing over 8s difference. Then it settled slighly over 5s and now it seems to be within the limit. I will see over time as it develops but expect not to get worse. I mostly wear the watches around 12h a day on average and so far haven’t seen bigger fluctuations in accuracy. It was rather improving as you said .

 

I honestly don’t know what check they did. My expectation is that wearing the watches daily for around 12h, putting them off during night and exposing to any extreme situations, it should be in the 0/5s tolerance. I spent around 10min in the service center so not sure how much they could do. As far as it will remain within the tolerance, I am not planning to go back there .

 

And thanks for the link. I will check it. Wasn’t awarr of that option .

 

That's not how these timing numbers work.

 

Here is some more info on METAS certification, taken from Swatch Group's web site. Note the 0 to +5 seconds/ day is an average of multiple positions and taken at different temperatures. So just measuring in a single position at a fairly constant temperature and getting +5 sec does not mean the watch is out of specs. All positioning tests with all required variables need to be performed and averaged. For some reason I suspect the place where you took the watch may not have done that.

MASTER CO-AXIAL OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED
METAS and Omega are working together to establish a new norm for mechanical watches.

Each Omega Master Co-Axial watch given the Officially Certified distinction will be tested for:

• the function of each movement when exposed to magnetic fields greater than 15,000 gauss
• the function of each watch when exposed to magnetic fields greater than 15,000 gauss
• average daily precision (different positions and temperatures) between 0 and +5 sec/day before and after exposure to magnetic fields greater than 15,000 gauss
• autonomy (power reserve) determined in hours by the watch model
• water resistance (tested in water ) – in bar, determined by the watch model

METAS will offer the Official Certification to any watch that meets these criteria.

(Ah, Al is here. He has explained the timing accuracy testing requirements and results many, uh, times)

 

Yes, I see it is quite un educated view by reading what’s on Omega webpage. Learning slowly.

 

Today I have picked up the watches from service again and this time I had chat with the service guy. I learnt that caliber 8806 has actually 0/+6s accuracy limits for normal usage and thus the watches were really within the limit.

 

By any chance anyone knows where I can still get the 60 anniversary SM from AD in Frankfurt or HongKong. Only recently joint the omega world and missed the opportunities.

 

Seamaster should be widely available. You can find it in OB and AD (many) in Poland, Warsaw for example

 

Check chrono24 for sellers. Recently I have seen SM at the airport in Norway.

 

Hi I recently purchased the 1957 seamaster, and I think I read somewhere that the caseback is supposed to line up so that the logo is on center. Is that true? I dont mind that mine is off center just want to make sure nothing weird is going on with mine. Here is a pic of mine: