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Omega returned my father 1950 watch not working.. the manager said eventually it would stop working

O
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My dad took his omega 1950 watch to the omega store in Dallas, they send it to Switzerland cuz vintage watches older than 1960’s they send it there. They told his they never seen a watch that old, and that he should leave it and they will return it like new. Long story short, they returned it not working, the manager said that eventually it would stop working, but my dad has the note stating he felt it working. Has this ever happened to someone?? We wanted to take legal action, but not sure if we win
 
sleepyastronaut
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Hi Olga,

Sorry to hear the bad news about the watch. I'm guessing they didn't charge you, correct? You might want to take the watch to an independent watchmaker, maybe one with an Omega parts account.

Can you post pics of the watch?

Best wishes!
 
dsio
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Would need some photos and more information. 1950 isn’t really that old, Omega see plenty of that era in Bienne and even much earlier.
 
O
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sleepyastronaut sleepyastronaut
Hi Olga,

Sorry to hear the bad news about the watch. I'm guessing they didn't charge you, correct? You might want to take the watch to an independent watchmaker, maybe one with an Omega parts account.

Can you post pics of the watch?

Best wishes!
dsio dsio
Would need some photos and more information. 1950 isn’t really that old, Omega see plenty of that era in Bienne and even much earlier.


Talk to my day the watch is from 1945 cal321 i don’t have a pic of my dads watch but found it on the internet… apparently the Vice President of costumer service wants to look at it and make it work again without changing any parts..
 
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dsio dsio
Would need some photos and more information. 1950 isn’t really that old, Omega see plenty of that era in Bienne and even much earlier.


And yes it originally wanted to charge him 2000 dls, but then lower it.. I’ll ask him for the story
 
Davidt
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With a cal 321 I’m struggling to see Omega being unable to service it and send it back not working.

Do you have any correspondence on Omega letterhead to prove it’s actually been to Omega?
 
O
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Davidt Davidt
With a cal 321 I’m struggling to see Omega being unable to service it and send it back not working.

Do you have any correspondence on Omega letterhead to prove it’s actually been to Omega?
We have the paper when you take it to the store and they do the inspection and the budget to send it. Just talk to my dad and he said that the crown is the one not working
 
O
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The letter he recived from the Vice President, says they will try to fix it but no guarantee. That state that most likely is not working by the effect by continued degradation and lack oils in the movement
 
Davidt
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So you took the watch to a Omega Boutique and you have the responses on Omega headed paper? It’s not just an Authorised Dealer on their own headed paper?
 
O
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Davidt Davidt
So you took the watch to a Omega Boutique and you have the responses on Omega headed paper? It’s not just an Authorised Dealer on their own headed paper?
We have the paper that he took it to omega boutique north park in Dallas with the service number with an authorized budget of 1600 dls and send it to headquarters. It also marks that the watch was running in yellow gold with a hand-wound chrono.
He left the watch in July 2021 and was returned cuz the quote came back at 1640 dls, then y dad told them to take it back, and yesterday he came to pick it up the Watch nos working
Davidt Davidt
So you took the watch to a Omega Boutique and you have the responses on Omega headed paper? It’s not just an Authorised Dealer on their own headed paper?[/Q
 
Azveld
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Omega would be unable to operate a caliber 321 when it is again part of their catalog? I don't really believe it. it's such an iconic caliber.
 
140dave
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O Olga
The letter he recived from the Vice President, says they will try to fix it but no guarantee. That state that most likely is not working by the effect by continued degradation and lack oils in the movement
So a slightly different take: I read this as "your movement is so corroded it probably is beyond salvage". I think that they are just stating it nicely with the terminology.....any chance you have a picture of the movement?
 
tyrantlizardrex
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O Olga
We have the paper that he took it to omega boutique north park in Dallas with the service number with an authorized budget of 1600 dls and send it to headquarters. It also marks that the watch was running in yellow gold with a hand-wound chrono.
He left the watch in July 2021 and was returned cuz the quote came back at 1640 dls, then y dad told them to take it back, and yesterday he came to pick it up the Watch nos working

Trying to understand what went on in what order, and what I think I’m reading is:

1 - your dad took it to the Omega boutique in Dallas and they sent it to Switzerland for a quote/repair. It was running at this point (not necessarily properly, well, or for more than a few minutes).

2 - the quote from Switzerland was $1640 dollars, your dad did not want to pay this so asked for it back.

3 - when it was returned it no longer ran.

4 - You want to sue them because a watch which they haven’t serviced and, and which was “running” no longer runs.

5 - As a gesture of goodwill, they are offering to send it back to Switzerland and take a look at it.


Id say that your expectation that a watch (which sounds like it is) in dire need of service will continue to run without service is rather unrealistic, and expecting Omega to take responsibility for the mechanical condition of a watch which they have not serviced is just as unrealistic.
 
O
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Update: Switzerland got the watch once again, when the new budget was approved, and told my dad that because of it uniqueness the watch machinery could not be restore, not repair because was fully functional.. what my dad told me is that someone torn the crown to make function at the point of basically breaking it…
 
tyrantlizardrex
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O Olga
Update: Switzerland got the watch once again, when the new budget was approved, and told my dad that because of it uniqueness the watch machinery could not be restore, not repair because was fully functional.. what my dad told me is that someone torn the crown to make function at the point of basically breaking it…

This doesn’t make any sense.
 
O
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140dave 140dave
So a slightly different take: I read this as "your movement is so corroded it probably is beyond salvage". I think that they are just stating it nicely with the terminology.....any chance you have a picture of the movement?
Let me look, and ask him
tyrantlizardrex tyrantlizardrex
Trying to understand what went on in what order, and what I think I’m reading is:

1 - your dad took it to the Omega boutique in Dallas and they sent it to Switzerland for a quote/repair. It was running at this point (not necessarily properly, well, or for more than a few minutes).

2 - the quote from Switzerland was $1640 dollars, your dad did not want to pay this so asked for it back.

3 - when it was returned it no longer ran.

4 - You want to sue them because a watch which they haven’t serviced and, and which was “running” no longer runs.

5 - As a gesture of goodwill, they are offering to send it back to Switzerland and take a look at it.


Id say that your expectation that a watch (which sounds like it is) in dire need of service will continue to run without service is rather unrealistic, and expecting Omega to take responsibility for the mechanical condition of a watch which they have not serviced is just as unrealistic.
events:
Back in 2021 I was given a certain quotation for the service to be performed on my watch at Omega's Headquarters in Switzerland, which I approved. After some months went by and not hearing back from Omega, I reached out and found out the watch was already back in Dallas because the quotation given to me was off by $40 - which I was not informed of until l reached out to the dealership-, and it turned out my watch was held there for a couple of months without me being given notice. I approved the new budget and the watch was sent back to Omega's HQ. After some time, I was informed that they could not restore the watch's machinery (not repair as the watch was fully functional) and that the good news was that because of its uniqueness, the watch's worth had risen. At this point the watch was supposedly working fine.
I went to the Dallas dealership to pick up my watch only to find out that my watch, that had been working perfectly for the past 70 years, was now not functional after it was handled by Omega's experts.
 
Davidt
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To be clear, a vintage watch that has been used for 70 years but not serviced in a long time will be on the brink of stopping/not functioning. A slight knock, light breeze or a cross word may be all that is required to stop it working.

Unless it was serviced to a high standard recently, say last 5-7 years, Omega haven’t done anything wrong here as far as I can see. I’d take them up on their offer to take it up the chain and try again to service it.
 
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