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Omega Service, advise needed please

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I recently sent for my 2011 Omega Seamaster Professional 300m Co-axial (ref. 212.30.41.20.01.002) off for a Service through an AD.

Having Collected the watch I noticed that the bezel insert was misaligned, the luminous pip at 12 o’clock had been changed (and was now flush with the bezel) and the minute hand lume now did not match the ‘blue’ lume colour of the hour markers and pip. It’s now a ‘yellow’ colour which matches that of the Cermaic bezel inserts of the newer models.

The AD and Omega have now said on separate occasions that the hands and pip were and were not changed during the service. They’ve also now said that despite it being serviced by Omega and then returned within a week the ‘amplitude to be a little higher than expected’ so are having to re-service the watch.

I am certain that the .002 had all blue lume and it was not until the .003 was released that the pip and minute hand lume were changed to be a different colour. Does anyone know of a way I can prove this?

Any advice/ help would be greatly appreciated
 
Evitzee
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Who actually did the service? Omega or a third party? Never heard of an Omega Service Center with a turn around time of one week which would indicate someone else did the service. Worth following up on.
 
Dan S
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Before and after photos would be helpful.
 
P
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Evitzee Evitzee
Who actually did the service? Omega or a third party? Never heard of an Omega Service Center with a turn around time of one week which would indicate someone else did the service. Worth following up on.

Omega carried out the service. It was returned to them a week after they had completed the service to address the above issues
 
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Dan S Dan S
Before and after photos would be helpful.

Unfortunately I have no before photos but all watches of the same reference online have all matching blue lume.

after pic below
 
Modernism
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Where are you based, I'm still waiting more than 12 weeks for one of my POs at Omega?
Yours was turned round in a week, and that was for a full service? Something isn't quite right, wherever you're based, I waited over a month just for the appraisal before they even had time to look at it, to get my approval for the work
 
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Modernism Modernism
Where are you based, I'm still waiting more than 12 weeks for one of my POs at Omega?
Yours was turned round in a week, and that was for a full service? Something isn't quite right, wherever you're based, I waited over a month just for the appraisal before they even had time to look at it, to get my approval for the work
The service took 16 weeks to complete.

my watch was returned to Omega within a week because of the above issues
 
F
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It's disappointing to hear stories like this. I went with a highly-regarded independent watchmaker and got it back with a damaged chrono hand. Now I'm waiting 6 weeks for him to get a new hand (at my request) so it can be replaced.

You pay many hundreds of dollars for a regular service and it should come back looking the same or better than when you left it. I really don't think that's too much to ask.

It makes me reluctant to have my watches serviced and to wait as long as possible, which is sad.
 
anselmw
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For the original poster, which AD or at least which Omega service center did the job. When I have sent my pieces to the Omega Boutique on 5th Avenue and NYC. Whenever they do a full service, they return all parts they have changed with the service. Did you get a bag of old parts with the service? There had to be some parts that were changed so if you did not, unless they have changed policy, that would be a sign something is not right.
 
7enderbender
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It would be helpful to know the location. I love my Omega watches. Getting them serviced is a nightmare, at least here in the US where all the "service centers" are outsourced to third party and more often than not this resulted in bad outcomes.
Since the last time my wife's Constellation was butchered and needed to go back I'm dead set to only have my Omegas serviced in Europe, either back to Switzerland or Munich. Only good experiences there. And yes, that's a logistical nightmare unless you travel there more or less regularly.
It's really a sad state of affairs.
 
Tekashi_145.022
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7enderbender 7enderbender
It would be helpful to know the location. I love my Omega watches. Getting them serviced is a nightmare, at least here in the US where all the "service centers" are outsourced to third party and more often than not this resulted in bad outcomes.
Since the last time my wife's Constellation was butchered and needed to go back I'm dead set to only have my Omegas serviced in Europe, either back to Switzerland or Munich. Only good experiences there. And yes, that's a logistical nightmare unless you travel there more or less regularly.
It's really a sad state of affairs.

Watches sent to OMEGA’s US service centers can be outsourced to third party watchmakers? I have always heard good things about their NJ service center, never heard they may redirect inventory to a third party…
 
SkunkPrince
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Because I have had consistently bad service with Omega's Miami Service Center, I send my 2245.50.00 to Nesbit's in Seattle and they did a fantastic job. Then I sent a DeVille Prestige from the 90s, same 1120 movement, and also a good job. So you migiht consider them.
 
anselmw
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At least what I have experience. The 5th avenue boutique services most modern watches there. For vintage they generally send back to bienne. Never heard of them outsourcing to a 3rd party.
 
7enderbender
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Tekashi_145.022 Tekashi_145.022
Watches sent to OMEGA’s US service centers can be outsourced to third party watchmakers? I have always heard good things about their NJ service center, never heard they may redirect inventory to a third party…

that’s my understanding. Even the one in NJ I think is just some place used by many. Probably also understaffed and with lack of experience as these people are almost impossible to find these days in the US.
My last experience with “Omega” in the US was some place in Florida which turned out to be a complete hack job.
 
savka
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7enderbender 7enderbender
that’s my understanding. Even the one in NJ I think is just some place used by many. Probably also understaffed and with lack of experience as these people are almost impossible to find these days in the US.
My last experience with “Omega” in the US was some place in Florida which turned out to be a complete hack job.

When I last serviced a watch through Omega in Nov 2021, I was told that all Omega Boutiques send watches to the Omega Service Center in Seattle, which handles Omega watches exclusively, and Omega ADs here in the Northeast send watches to the Swatch Service Center in NJ, which handles all Swatch group brands. It was strongly recommended I drop my watch off at the boutique to be sent to Seattle.
 
gbesq
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I don't send any of my watches to Omega for service. It's not that hard to find a qualified, competent independent watchmaker with an Omega parts account. Ask around on OF for recommendations in your area. Even if you can't find someone local, there are many good independents who will accept watches for service via mail.
 
7enderbender
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savka savka
When I last serviced a watch through Omega in Nov 2021, I was told that all Omega Boutiques send watches to the Omega Service Center in Seattle, which handles Omega watches exclusively, and Omega ADs here in the Northeast send watches to the Swatch Service Center in NJ, which handles all Swatch group brands. It was strongly recommended I drop my watch off at the boutique to be sent to Seattle.

I wish somebody could clarify this more. But it appears we’re all being told whatever the sales rep at the respective store franchise makes up.
And I wish there was an actual Omega “Boutique” here in the northeast. The closest for me is New York.
My wife’s Constellation went to Florida - and even that took a while to confirm since you are not their client but the store that sent it. No warranty card, no parts back. It ended up not working after a few weeks. We happened to be in Switzerland at the time and the good people at the boutique there were only shaking their heads.
 
savka
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7enderbender 7enderbender
I wish somebody could clarify this more. But it appears we’re all being told whatever the sales rep at the respective store franchise makes up.
And I wish there was an actual Omega “Boutique” here in the northeast. The closest for me is New York.
My wife’s Constellation went to Florida - and even that took a while to confirm since you are not their client but the store that sent it. No warranty card, no parts back. It ended up not working after a few weeks. We happened to be in Switzerland at the time and the good people at the boutique there were only shaking their heads.

Sorry to hear about your poor experience -- hope the work was covered under warranty. I generally drop my watches off at a local watchmaker (with an Omega parts account) but in this case I dropped my watch off at the boutique in KOP, it was sent to Seattle as I was told, and returned in about 8 weeks, which was slightly earlier than estimated. I highly recommend going through a boutique (or even directly) and avoiding ADs when it comes to service. My experience was positive and it's a shame that's not a consistent pattern.
 
Dan S
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7enderbender 7enderbender
Getting them serviced is a nightmare, at least here in the US where all the "service centers" are outsourced to third party
7enderbender 7enderbender
that’s my understanding. Even the one in NJ I think is just some place used by many.
What in the world are you talking about? I don't know where your AD sent a watch for repair, they might do it in-house, send to an independent, or to one of the Service Centers. But if you send it directly to an actual Swatch Service Center, it will be serviced/repaired by the company, either at the Service Center or in Switzerland.
 
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