Omega calibre 610 calendar wheel issue

I am not sure that getting a parts account is that simple.

The main reason the parts are restricted, is that some were using them to create questionable watches. Such as happened with the WachCo seamasters. Omega crystals have an anti counterfeiting mark in the center of the crystal.

I notice that here is the SF Bay area there are few if any Omega certified watchmakers. Perhaps they all have exclusive client lists. Could also be that US rights protections are not favorable to the manufacture. Most of the repair shops tend to favor Asian supply chains. So cultural forces are at work. This is what it is and no amount of playing the blame game is going to make any difference.

I still think there needs to be a middle area. Where hobbyist can get parts for personal use. This is what the materials houses enabled. Granted they were the "middlemen." Some say the markups were pure greed and they deserved what happened.

Eventually the shadows of these will fail. Companies want to sell new items. It is not in their interest to keep vintage and antique products active. This is not just an issue with Omega. Maximum returns for minimal effort is the normal here.

What really hurts the independent watchmaker is the liability. This is an overhead which makes it near impossible, at least in the US to run a shop. Tools and training are insignificant expense compared to rents, utilities, and staff. Customers expect service. Look at Simon Freese. One person can not handle the repairs and keep customers happy. Odds are much better wining a lawsuit than winning a lottery. So frivolous litigation abounds. Too many people want a piece of the action.

I am not surprised you responded line by line to my posts. See the post I just did in the we need to talk about it. I have not been able to work on this stuff the way I have wanted to in the last year for personal reasons.

Yes you did it! You have to be right all the time. I do not care. I get PMs after post like this what basically say 'you go girl.' That is not what I am about. You won the lottery I did not. I was told thirty years ago I was too old to take the classes. I worked for Apple and Steve Jobs. They probably thought I wanted the company. I probably still do. I did get a pipe organ relay company, but I can not run it my way till the rights holders pass on. Which might be too late. The technology is obsolete.

There is no conspiracy theory. It is just the way things are. I read a lot of history. We are naturally territorial, and can not bear to think that the world exist without us. Companies need to pay the overhead. There is no creativity in Hollywood. everything is a product.

You @Archer do provide a lot of support here. I actually changed a lot of my attitudes and bench practices based on your advice. You made me see what my mentors were telling me. I enjoy your posts and the way you look at things. Neither of us though is going to change the world. (well I already did. And possibly a few times.) We have similar ways of looking at things. I mill my own trees to repurpose them. You pay others to do it for you. I send you light, you return darkness.

The difference is I do this for entertainment. (which is what we are providing here) I did it for relaxation in the evenings as something to do. This is also expensive. I spent more than 6000,00 USD on watches last year. never more than 150 for a part. (well I may have paid a bit for the Val 22 or was that the prior year.) This is an expensive hobby. There are not many who can simply throw away 5 or six grand without thinking about it. I live with the rarest of the rare. Stuff people may see once in a lifetime. There is not a lot that people know about me. Which is as it should be.

I simply learned one does not have to have cash flow and a fat bank account to enjoy the finer things of life. Which can go away at a moments notice. I collect knowledge and information. Nothing more nothing less.

If I contacted Omega, they would see as you do just as just more whining. By someone who wants something for next to nothing. Probably they are right. They and others probably do not even realize I exist.

There are many with much more serious issues. Whom do not have those to speak for them, who are seen as lazy whining burdens to society, and should be eliminated for the greater good. People who fly flags of sympathy yet have no idea what is really going on.

None of this helps the OP or others who simply want to fix things. Like we did when we were children. This is what in some ways is wrong with modern society. That so many are being told they can not be what they want to be. Or even have the chance to contact omega and ask to take the training.

I stopped going to the clubs because they were so much about territory and competition. Church became about racial and lifestyle profiling why believers are better than infidels. Successful people who have made it and have the right to bully others. Until they get bullied themselves, then lash back.

I probably have the part the OP wants. I also am selfish, and hope that I might find a good dial for it like the OP is doing. They seem to have a few posts, unlike many who seek parts. Had they contacted me I might have even given it to them. I can always get or make another.

Perhaps the OP can jump through the hoops get a parts account. So in that end, the advice is valid.

At 65 years of age, it is unlikely I will be the sort to open a watch repair shop. So I am not really a threat here. Which is how post like this come across. That somehow I threaten your way of doing things, or respect. None of that is intentional.

We are not engineering problems that need fixing.

I have no argument here. They wanted full time watchmakers. And it was not Omega it was WOSTEP. I am not upset about any of this. All I do is to state my experience.

I have mostly given up on dealing with misinformation. I doubt there are any real professionals here anyway. Look at all the YT vids what show watches being fixed and offer to take on repairs from viewers.

Yeah, Simon is an issue of life causing him problems and being unwilling for him to admit it and reduce his backlog.

That said, a lot of watchmakers would benefit from a good amount of automated communication while the watch is in progress.

Even a website that showed the status/place in line/etc would go a long way to keeping customers happy. And you could do that with very little data entry in a CRM.

I set something similar up about 25 years ago for a wedding photographer. He has a barcode scanner and printer. When he finished taking photos he put the film in a box, and printed off a barcode sticker. Then any time it changed "state" (like editing, developing, waiting for "parts" for albums, etc), he just scanned a pair of barcodes, and it updated his queue and sent emails to anyone who was involved.

In the end, he said it made his customers way happier, reduced the amount of time he spent taking "where are my photos!" calls, and made him "faster" as far as customers were concerned.

Its a shame to see how many of these watchmakers seem to deal with bare bones technology... If it were a bigger market, I'd think about making an Off the shelf version for sale!