Omega Aqua Terra movement swap / upgrade from 2500C to 2500D possible?

darxtar · Feb 20, 2019

Hi all, I am new to this forum 😀
I am a London based - yet French accented - watch enthusiast.

I have a situation for which your expert opinion is required:

I have 2 Omega watches:
- 1 Aqua Terra first generation with the co-axial 2500C movement from 2007.
- 1 Omega De Ville bought in 2017, with the 2500D co-axial movement.

I have read in this forum that the 2500D is the latest 2500 movement revision Omega has done and is less prone to problems.
Apparently, on the 2500C a build up of residue on the escapement can cause the watch to abruptly stop, this problem has been reported on quite a few watches like the AT and the Planet Oceans with the 2500C movement.
This has not happened on my AT (fingers crossed).
Also, the 2500A, B and C have a 2 level escapement, whereas the 2500D has a 3 level escapement.
Archer (Omega Qualified Watchmaker) mentioned in another thread:

[...] to me the fact that all current Omega co-axials are the 3 level design, which completely eliminates this problem, tells me that Omega thinks the 3 level is a more robust design and has less potential to cause them problems.
The fact that the 2 level design has been eliminated completely from their offerings tells me they are not 100% confident that they have completely solved the issues.

The AT is my favourite watch and I would like to keep it long term.

I would therefore like to know if it is possible to swap movements between my De Ville and my AT ensuring long term reliability of my AT with a 2500D movement.

I have asked this question to a watch repair shop in London and their reply was:

What you are asking me, I would compare like swapping an engine from a Mercedes car with a BMW car.

The 2011 Planet Oceans series have both 2500C and 2500D in them (from serial number 8525xxxx onwards apparently) are the cases different?

Alternatively, is it possible to 'upgrade' the 2500C to a 2500D? Technical doc shows that approximately 20 parts need to be changed. Those are probably restricted Omega parts so I do not know how much that would cost.

Have some people swapped movements on their PO from 2500C to 2500D ?
This seems technically doable but maybe I am missing something... ?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Note: I did some research on this but I am far from being an expert. I do not want to start a war between 2500C and 2500D owners on which one is the 'best'.
I have both revisions and have the opportunity to make a swap, so I'm investigating the possibility.

Linzer · Feb 20, 2019

Take the watch to Omega when the service is due and they will do all the necessary upgrades. Plus you will have a warranty on the movement.

cicindela · Feb 20, 2019

I believe @Archer has discussed this before

Archer · Feb 20, 2019

Linzer
Take the watch to Omega when the service is due and they will do all the necessary upgrades. Plus you will have a warranty on the movement.

Omega will not upgrade from a C to a D version.

D darxtar
Have some people swapped movements on their PO from 2500C to 2500D ?
This seems technically doable but maybe I am missing something... ?

Yes that's doable. However the movements come in different heights for the posts that the hands mount to, so if your plan is to take the movement from the DeVille and put it in the AT, you would have to make sure that the posts on both movements are compatible. If you tell b=me the reference numbers for both watches I can check that for you.

Cheers, Al

darxtar · Feb 20, 2019

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions.

@Archer the Omega AT is a 2504.80.00 (36mm dia.) and the De Ville is a 4574.31.00 (36.8mm dia.).

Archer · Feb 20, 2019

The movement in the AT is an He (height 3) so the heights of the relevant parts are:

Hour wheel - 1.54 mm
Cannon pinion - 2.4 mm
Seconds wheel - 5.11 mm

The movement in the DeVille is an H1, so the relevant heights are:

Hour wheel - 1.04 mm
Cannon pinion - 1.9 mm
Seconds wheel - 4.61 mm

So all the posts are 1/2 a mm shorter on the movement you want to use in the AT. Doesn't sound like much, but personally I would not do this mod with that much difference. In order to correct this you would either have to take the three parts out of the AT movement (requiring disassembly of the movement) or order in the new parts.

Cheers, Al

Duckie · Feb 20, 2019

D darxtar
Hi all, I am new to this forum 😀
I am a London based - yet French accented - watch enthusiast.

I have a situation for which your expert opinion is required:

I have 2 Omega watches:
- 1 Aqua Terra first generation with the co-axial 2500C movement from 2007.
- 1 Omega De Ville bought in 2017, with the 2500D co-axial movement.

I have read in this forum that the 2500D is the latest 2500 movement revision Omega has done and is less prone to problems.
Apparently, on the 2500C a build up of residue on the escapement can cause the watch to abruptly stop, this problem has been reported on quite a few watches like the AT and the Planet Oceans with the 2500C movement.
This has not happened on my AT (fingers crossed).
Also, the 2500A, B and C have a 2 level escapement, whereas the 2500D has a 3 level escapement.
Archer (Omega Qualified Watchmaker) mentioned in another thread:

The AT is my favourite watch and I would like to keep it long term.

I would therefore like to know if it is possible to swap movements between my De Ville and my AT ensuring long term reliability of my AT with a 2500D movement.

I have asked this question to a watch repair shop in London and their reply was:

The 2011 Planet Oceans series have both 2500C and 2500D in them (from serial number 8525xxxx onwards apparently) are the cases different?

Alternatively, is it possible to 'upgrade' the 2500C to a 2500D? Technical doc shows that approximately 20 parts need to be changed. Those are probably restricted Omega parts so I do not know how much that would cost.

Have some people swapped movements on their PO from 2500C to 2500D ?
This seems technically doable but maybe I am missing something... ?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Note: I did some research on this but I am far from being an expert. I do not want to start a war between 2500C and 2500D owners on which one is the 'best'.
I have both revisions and have the opportunity to make a swap, so I'm investigating the possibility.

I don't understand.
Is the 2500C an underperformer in some way, or has it shown tangible signs it's playing up.
Why not simply have a competent watchmaker service the movement/watch in a timely manner and be done with it?
Or is servicing these movements in your locality fundamentaly problematic on a number of levels?
Or is this case of just simply wanting a later updated version of the base movement?

It seems like a lot of mucking around and added cost for little gain overall.

darxtar · Feb 20, 2019

@Archer Thank you very much for the detailled technical explanation and your sound advice.
Seems like the swap is indeed possible but overly complicated for such a little gain, so won't do it 😀.
At least now we know!

@Duckie absolutely nothing was problematic and the 2500C is fine for now. And you are indeed right: it's a lot of mucking around for not much. So things will stay the way they are 😀 I was just curious to see if it was possible.

Thanks all!

Omega Aqua Terra movement swap / upgrade from 2500C to 2500D possible?

darxtar

Linzer

cicindela

Archer

darxtar

Archer

Duckie

darxtar

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