I sent in my wife’s aqua terra for service. Their is another one of my threads to explain why so I won’t go into it. I got the watch back about two weeks ago and tonight when she went to set the time and wind it the watch wouldn’t work. So I began inspecting the movement. Well there is an entire plate & screw that is lodged in the balance wheel thus preventing the entire watch from working.
(See picture)

This is some shitty service that we all know isn’t cheap. Are the watches serviced at omega not QC’d prior to returning to customers? I’m planning on taking it back over there. I’m not planning on being a dick to them but I would like them to make this right and possibly refund some of the money or throw in some free straps or something. Has anyone had a bad service like this from Omega and how do they right their mistakes. I’m going to be more than irritated if they shrug their shoulders and say “oh well and you will have your watch in 6-8 weeks”.

 

Yikes.

Where in the world are you based @nurseford25?

Curious which service centre should be treated with extra caution.

 

Watch maker sneezed during re-assembly? That's amazingly poor service, that is. I can understand minor mistakes, but that?!?

 

Ok this should not have happened. On the other hand if you take a sample size of let's say 1000 services a year you could expect that with human work involved, there will be errors made. Sadly bad luck struck you on this one. I certainly agree that QI should have cought that. I would at least expect them to test if a watch is running or not after the service.

Go back to the OB, and demand fixing. It will most certainly be for free but I wouldn't get my hopes up high on the turn around time, as they will most likely just send it in again like any other watch that comes in for service.

That said, if they can't prioritize your watch and the turn around time will be 6-8 weeks again, I'd kindly ask for some sort of compensation on their end.

 

I'm on my phone and can't see what the issue is that well but, looks like a part of the automatic mechanism. Perhaps Al will see this and can identify the part?

They would not have sent it out without testing so, the most likely is that the screw has worked loose and that part has migrated to the balance area. I assume that your wife has worn it and it was fine until now.

Screws need to be tight and they will stay put due to the pre tension generated in the screw. Autos will try to loosen the screws as there are significant forces being generated all the time. A bumper automatic from the 50s is far worse. I've just had a bumper in where a dial screw had worked out and got into the train as the previous Watchmaker hadn't tightened the screw sufficiently. To be fair, it hadn't been serviced in a long time so could be years of slight loosening.

Omega should just fix it but, agreed it's annoying. It can happen though.

Cheers, Chris

 

The photos are so out of focus I can't really see what's going on. Need better QC on the photos before posting.

Anyway, shit happens. People are human and a screw coming loose is not the end of the world in terms of mistakes that can be made at a service center. I make a habit of systematically checking each screw for tightness as I'm doing the final casing of the movement. But some screws seems more prone to backing out over time than others. The last Speedmaster I serviced had never been taken apart before, so this was the first service - all of the bridge screws required no force to start turning them out - usually there's some break away torque required, but these were all loose.

The OP described an "entire plate and screw" lodged in the balance. Based on that I'm guessing that it's a case clamp and screw. With the way Omega service centers work (at least the one I've been in) the trained watchmaker doesn't install the dial, hands, or put the movement back in the case. The watchmaker only services the movement, and then it is forwarded to technicians who have been hired off the street and trained to perform specific jobs. They are the people who install the movement in the case, including installation of the case screws and clamps.

It's surely inconvenient, but that's why there is a 2 year warranty on the service, to take care of things like this. The OP can certainly ask for money back, but if they do anything other than fix the problem and hand you the watch back, it won't be out of obligation of any kind, but as a courtesy.

Cheers, Al

 

The OB serviced my modern Ploprof. It came back with crown gaurd put on upside down. They sent it back. The next time I went in to have a bracelet polished they did it for free.

 

An occasional issue with service is to be expected, they can’t be perfect, and agree with Al that anything beyond fixing it would be a courtesy. However, if they want to keep a customer (and others hearing this story), they should probably try to go above and beyond in cases like these. Making things right with the customer, to a reasonable extent, should be built into their cost structure and is just good business sense.

Hopefully they fix it and make it right with you. Good luck!

 

Thanks guys for all the responses. I think I’m going to pop over to the boutique this am. I get that things like this happen and no it’s no the end of the world. Sorry @Archer for the crappy pictures. It’s so tiny and that’s the best I can do with an iPhone. (Trust me, I tried for a while). I’ll give some updates when I get them.

 

The service center would be the Culver City Omega Service center located in Southern California.

 

That's unfortunate, good luck with the repairs, hopefully they rectify it without any further issues, they should be performed gratuitously due to their error and being under their service warranty. I am in Australia and only ever go to independent watchmakers as the OB's have a poor reputation regarding servicing, and charge more for the privilege.

 

Since it went through Culver City you sent it through your AD correct ? I'm certain the OB is going to tell you to take it back to your AD to have them send it out again back where it came. The OB's don't send the units to Culver City. I'd be insistent with my OB that I want them to send it to their service center to be repaired. I've been told that the Culver City is very hit or miss and I won't be sending my pieces back to them directly or otherwise. I had an issue with Culver City with my first service as well. It was taken care of but I won't be sending anything back to them, they weren't very careful on my screw heads at all either.

Luckily my GSOTM service checked out when I brought it into the OB to have them look over and let them run through their tests.

I'd really like Archer to service my time pieces honestly.

 

Where do the OB send their pieces to. I was under the impression that they went to Culver City since it is the closest omega service center. I dropped the watch off initially at the OB. They never mentioned where they sent it I just assumed. I’m taking back to the OB tomorrow so we will see what they say.

 

Is your OB up in LA? That could be why it went to Culver City or the New York service center is backed up. Unless something has changed in the past year that I'm unaware of where OB are being asked to ship to Culver City based on region. I could be OOTL

In reality, as @Archer stated, it doesn't matter where it goes tbh, swatch group will fix whatever problems happen with the watch it just sucks to be out the piece while it gets wrenched on. I mean they made my watch whole again, just was an inconvenience of 3 more weeks after waiting somewhere around 2 months if I recall. When it goes in for service next I'll see if I can pay to have the screws replaced that are marred.

 

It does suck to have to wait again. I thought my wife was going to bummed that her watch isn’t fixed yet but it turns out she is looking forward to wearing my speedmaster for another couple of weeks. I thought was finally going to get it back!

 

LOL I guess she's letting you know what to get her for Christmas.

 

Okay so I brought the watch over to the boutique today. The staff was fantastic. I spoke with Edward the boutique technician and he seemed genuinely embarrassed about the service results. Unfortunately he said he was unable to do anything beyond sending the watch back in for warranty service. I told him that I understand but that I was still pretty disappointed with the service results and the lack of QC, especially with the high price that Omega charges. Just as I was about to leave the manager, Jonathan, showed up and I was able to explain the situation to him. He was also apologetic but said that at a boutique level there is nothing that they can do but that he would speak with the corporate office and let me know later today what they said.
Well, tonight the boutique called me back and the corporate office has decided to refund the cost of service!! This was more than I was expecting because I had mentioned that I would be happy with just a partial refund. Needless to say Jonathan and Edward did a fantastic job and I could not possibly ask for more.

I also asked which service center did the work and it was the Seattle service center. Just FYI.

 

Glad it worked out! I'm not surprised they refunded the service cost. Anyone can make a mistake, but making it right is their job, and if they don't they're likely to lose a customer for future service.

 

I guess we just hear about the services that go wrong. Hope the watch gives years of trouble free service when you get it back. Looks like the OB team came through for you.

 

Great that CM took care of it.

We need to do a local watch walk there some day.

GO, Omega, Rolex, JLC, IWC, Montblanc, Patek, tornue and tourbillion. I’m sure I missed 1 or 2 besides swatch.