Omega Megaquartz 2.4 MHz Stardust cal. 1510 - who can still

jonwa721 · Oct 2, 2026

B BrokenSkunk
I'd ask Croydon if they will work with you. Diagnose any problems and let you know what parts they think are needed.

Then it's your problem to provide the parts. It's already a non runner, and if they damage something whilst servicing it, chances are anyone else servicing it would also have damaged the part. At this stage they can't make it worse.

If you absolve them of blame, take away the pain of getting parts and offer to pay handsomely, their opinion may change.

I've worked with my local watchmaker a couple of times on this basis. "Please provide your best effort, let me source the parts. I understand it's old and just stripping it could damage parts."

I've always been able to get parts. I've not tried with a 1510, but I have done the above with a Beta-21. It needed four or five new parts, including coils.

Thanks, that's the conclusion I've come to as well.

I went back to Croydon after their initial refusal and explained that I was happy to accept the risk and wasn't expecting them to guarantee a repair where parts are no longer available.

They have now agreed that, once I have the watch back from Omega, I can send it to them and they will at least have a look. They've made clear that even if they get it running they wouldn't be able to guarantee the work, which I'm perfectly happy to accept.

I'm also increasingly thinking that if we can first identify exactly what has failed sourcing the parts can become my problem rather than the watchmaker's.

Fatcat · Oct 2, 2026

J jonwa721
That is extremely interesting, thank you. Yours looks fantastic.

Dario Ratti is a new name to me and the fact that they actually managed to deal with a micromotor issue and fully service yours is encouraging.

Do you remember roughly when the work was done? And did you deal directly with Dario Ratti in Bienne yourself?

A 12-month wait wouldn't bother me at all if they are still willing and able to work on these. I'll definitely contact them.

I left the watch in October 2025 and retrieve end of June 2026 , then I left another watch one by one already 5 months .

jonwa721 · Oct 2, 2026

Fatcat
I left the watch in October 2025 and retrieve end of June 2026 , then I left another watch one by one already 5 months .

That's fantastic, thank you!

It sounds as though Dario is definitely someone I should speak to once I have the watch back from Omega. Given how difficult it has been to find anyone still willing to work on these movements, an eight-month wait would be absolutely fine with me.

Many thanks again for the recommendation, really appreciated.

Fatcat · Oct 2, 2026

Yes meet them once and the regularly by WhatsApp

sheepdoll · Oct 2, 2026

I started modifying a coil winder for quartz motors. The supply of cheap movements dried up a few months back, So it is on hold.
I did find a whole slew of technical documentation on the 1510. So it looks fairly consistent with other quartz of the era.

I was using AI to work out replacement electronics for the more common 134x so that does remain a possibility. It got the thickness of the coil wire wrong. (told me guitar pick-up wire would work.) The other problem with AI is it creates more data/results. So I have been using it for a film scanner project I got back in 2020. It can do in 40 minutes what could take 6 to 18 months. Which is a lot of data. I also find google is about 20 percent accurate and claude to be more like 75 to 80 percent.

Hopefully these are not thrown in the trash when the heirs find them in the estate and are told they are not repairable. The other behavior is to continue to let them sit around in the drawer as they are too nice to toss. When they are listed the prices are on the high side. So some can sit for a while.

BrokenSkunk · Oct 2, 2026

Contact Chris Radek in the USA about coil winding. He has built a functioning rig and produces coils for several watches. Chris trades as The Watch Guy.
For electronics, just this week I was reading a website that pretty much detailed exactly the 1510's circuitry. It wouldn't be too difficult to duplicate with a modern IC. Provided you're not fussed about accuracy & originality.

HamDoctor · Oct 3, 2026

Have you tried contacting Theo in Germany? He was mentioned earlier in this thread.
I can personally recommend him, he's a great guy - and while I don't own a Megaquartz, I know that he has worked on several in the past.
If the watch runs for a bit, then stops, I would agree that the problem is likely mechanical in nature. Granted, that's not 100%, but it does sound very plausible.

jonwa721 · Oct 3, 2026

HamDoctor
Have you tried contacting Theo in Germany? He was mentioned earlier in this thread.
I can personally recommend him, he's a great guy - and while I don't own a Megaquartz, I know that he has worked on several in the past.
If the watch runs for a bit, then stops, I would agree that the problem is likely mechanical in nature. Granted, that's not 100%, but it does sound very plausible.

Yes I did contact Theo following the earlier recommendation and he came back with an extremely helpful and detailed response.

He explained some of the known issues with these movements, including motor failures, weakening stator magnets, lubrication and friction in the calendar mechanism. His view is that the chances of repairing one without parts may be fairly low, but he is nevertheless willing to have a look at it.

Fingers crossed..

jonwa721 · Oct 3, 2026

One other question for those of you who know these movements well: where is the best place to look for calibre 1510 parts today?

I realise it makes sense to wait until the watch has been properly diagnosed before buying anything, but given how scarce the parts seem to be, I'd like to understand where the remaining supply actually is.

Are there still dealers or watchmakers with NOS 1510 parts, or is it now mainly a case of finding donor movements/watches and parts held by collectors?

And if anyone here has 1510 spares or an incomplete/donor movement that they'd potentially be willing to part with, I'd certainly be interested once we know what my watch needs.

And thank you again to everyone who has contributed to this thread. The amount of knowledge and willingness to help has been quite amazing. I've learned more about the 1510 in the last few days than I managed to find out in months of trying to get the watch repaired. Really appreciate all the advice and leads.

sheepdoll · Oct 3, 2026

J jonwa721
where is the best place to look for calibre 1510 parts today?

eBay. I keep a weather eye out myself for oddball quartz stuff. Tanner Morehouse, lists a few parts. At the moment the US supply is a bit dried up. Worldwide there are more options. I did get a 1655 part from Dubai UAE.

sheepdoll · Oct 3, 2026

B BrokenSkunk
For electronics, just this week I was reading a website that pretty much detailed exactly the 1510's circuitry. It wouldn't be too difficult to duplicate with a modern IC.

Since I am working on this sort of thing for 13xx and 16xx calibers, I would be interested in the link to what you read. I just did a giggle search and the agent (which retains my prior search history) Says nothing new has been recently written about 1510. There is the technical manual, which does read like an engineering report, and the stardust tear down. The 1510 does not work the same way as other quartz watches of the era. The google chatbot claims (I find it to be 20 percent accurate on the whole) that duplicating the 1510 electronics is non trivial. Note this thread and the inquiry will now taint my future searches as the dragon eats its tail. (or the dog returns to its ...)

jonwa721 · Oct 7, 2026

A quick update on the Omega route: unfortunately Switzerland has now come back and confirmed that they won’t repair the watch, won’t diagnose the fault, and won’t recommend anyone externally who might be able to help.

A bit disappointing that omega has so little interest in their own heritage.

Knudsen1971 · Oct 7, 2026

Go to Onyx in Czech republic, they are official Omega service workshop, having oscioscope and microscope and skill/will to play with the coil winding.
They worked on my marine chronometer and dozens of my other Omega watches.
They are the best, as they are able to repair and not only change parts, if needed.

https://www.opravnahodinek.cz/

BrokenSkunk · Oct 7, 2026

sheepdoll
Since I am working on this sort of thing for 13xx and 16xx calibers, I would be interested in the link to what you read. I just did a giggle search and the agent (which retains my prior search history) Says nothing new has been recently written about 1510. There is the technical manual, which does read like an engineering report, and the stardust tear down. The 1510 does not work the same way as other quartz watches of the era. The google chatbot claims (I find it to be 20 percent accurate on the whole) that duplicating the 1510 electronics is non trivial. Note this thread and the inquiry will now taint my future searches as the dragon eats its tail. (or the dog returns to its ...)

Here you are:
https://omegaprototypes.com/megaquartz-2-4mhz-beta/

The non trivial bit is actually using a 2.4MHz crystal, at a low enough power consumption and a decent accuracy. You'll need to salvage the original crystal, which will have aged.

Something like a Mach XO2 would run from a single coin cell, be small enough and low enough in power.
However this device doesn't have pins to drive a crystal. You could make one quite easily out of logic, but reducing power consumption is non-trivial.

The MachXO is a CPLD, so you would need to write code in VHDL or Verilog. It's probably easier to just make a new implementation that matches the original function than it is to reverse engineer Omega's solution from those simplified schematics.
Lattice Diamond is a free tool that will allow you to write code and simulate it.

This isn't that difficult, but it is verging into the territory of a pro engineer.

Alternatively, a microchip PIC would do the job. The problem is that it needs a higher voltage.

The 1510 uses a 386 coin cell that's 11.6mm in diameter and 4.2mm thick. You could use two SR920s cell in series. They are only 2.1mm thick, so two fit nicely in the same thickness as the 386. They are only 9.2mm in diameter though, so you'd need some king of insulating spacer.

Doing this will double the voltage, and that would make something like a PIC16LF18313/18323 possible. And that device has a XO driver.
This time you'd absolutely have to bin Omega's implementation and re-design it in software.

The challenge here becomes:

Getting the layout of the Crystal traces absolutely spot on.Stray capacitance can and will throw your oscillator off frequency (and increase battery consumption).

Writing the software so that the processor spends most of it's time sleeping. You want to use the PLL to divide the 2.4MHz clock as much as you can, then wake briefly on each clock pulse to do stuff.
It's not a too difficult which ever way you go.

Alternatively, cheat and replace the 2.4MHz with somethign like a SiTime SiT7910. Running at 32KHz its a TCXO. It should hit around +/-3 seconds per year and it's a drop in oscillator. You don't have to worry about making it oscillate, stray capacitance, crystal aging etc. etc.
Not a 2.4MHz module any more though.

That help?

sheepdoll · Oct 7, 2026

Interesting. I already have a deep dive into the 13xx lavete tech. (1342, 1365) Interesting to read the history. I got off on the film scanner direction. It is amazing what AI can do to fill in the gaps. Lacunae. It also fits in with the threads here on the Alitest and the Deltatest.

Mostly though it comes down to what scraps get dumped on eBay. Nothing one can do for the units that get tossed in the trash as worthless (other than the name on the dial.)

Ironic how, George Daniels asked me when I was going to make "your watch." That I was thinking along the lines of a mechanical something or other. Not a quartz movement. The latter however being something that one could make like the early versions which is ways were more mechanical than electronic.

I have that 1/4 lb or so of guitar pickup wire to experiment with. The other irony is there are people at the local makerspace who do make guitars. (I prefer pipe organs.)

BrokenSkunk · Oct 8, 2026

@sheepdoll As I understand it, you are trying to revive a 13xx. I'm not a watchmaker but I am an electronics engineer. May I suggest you start a new thread? If you have any questions related to the electronics I would be happy to chip in.
I am not volunteering to do the design work for you, but if you wanted advice on how to go about designing a drop in replacement PCB I'd be happy to talk you through the stages, point you at design tools etc. I'm not going to teach you the skills required either, but I can at least help you understand what is needed.
Perhaps others with watchmaking experience would assist with mechanical issues.

sheepdoll · Oct 8, 2026

I have quite a few threads on the subject. I am also an electronics engineer. It is just a matter of sitting down and working on it.

BrokenSkunk · Oct 8, 2026

In that case you shouldn't need my help. Or that of artificial intelligence!
Good luck.

Omega Megaquartz 2.4 MHz Stardust cal. 1510 - who can still

jonwa721

Fatcat

jonwa721

Fatcat

sheepdoll

BrokenSkunk

HamDoctor

jonwa721

jonwa721

sheepdoll

sheepdoll

jonwa721

Knudsen1971

BrokenSkunk

sheepdoll

BrokenSkunk

sheepdoll

BrokenSkunk

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