Well, it's official. One entire year has passed since the original reservation and I still have not received my watch. It supposedly left Switzerland on December 15th but it has yet to arrive locally and no one seems to know its location. Anyone else in the same situation?

 

I am with you. I was told it wouldn't leave until the 29th, still haven't heard a word. There is patient, then there is ridiculous!

 

The twelfth "we apologize" has lost any validity

 

Agreed. They're not sorry. Sadly they might not even care. I just don't get how this whole thing could be so mismanaged. It really is a shame how the QC, shipping/logistics and customer service elements of this release were handled. To be brutally honest, I'd have no problem waiting for a date ANOTHER year from now - IF what we were told was in fact accurate. But so far we've been promised numerous dates and each one passed without any repercussions. The only saving grace for this debacle has been Mr. Broer's efforts in responding to the community conversation about the watch.

 

I can assure you from my own personal experience that the Omega management really does care about you as a customer - and sincerely, not just as part of a 'customer care policy.'

If you've not been involved yourself in manufacture - especially of highly engineered, quality products - it's probably difficult to imagine how relatively easy it is for delays to occur, but the acid test is whether or not an organisation will sacrifice cash flow and constrain outputs until quality-assured products can be made available. Omega passes this test, and it's worth remembering that the price has been held for over 12 months in a cost/currency inflationary climate.

I received my Speedy Tuesday in November and I consider every day of the wait was worth it once I had the watch in my hand. I'm sure you too will be delighted with yours when it finally reaches you.

 

Happy Tuesday

 

Well, I think that's it - you might have had a pleasant personal experience but many others have had entirely different experiences (both good and bad). There was just no consistency. Some people received theirs in June and some still haven't received them (after a year!). Some picked theirs up at OBs while sipping champagne while others opened up a cardboard box that FedEx just delivered to their house. Some had flawless watches from the beginning while others received watches that should've initially failed QC and never left the factory.

You'd think that with a Swiss company that makes hundreds of thousands of watches each year that they would aim to make this special release - the first Omega sold online - as consistent and as smooth of a watch buying experience as possible - and perhaps even something that closely mirrors any traditional online purchase - "point, click, buy, pack, ship, track, deliver". Other than a reservation confirmation and a few emails, there was no guidance on how the actual process would unfold, how long it would realistically take, and no real "customer care" along the way. Omega offered no real transparency with their communication. The general emails were too infrequent. The wording was vague. The dates were soft. The promises were empty.

And it was essentially the same thing when direct emails were exchanged. In my last exchange with Omega, I've been told my watch has left Switzerland, arrived in my home country but now they "are working on finding [my] watch". Why does it have to be FOUND? If it was shipped via "express courier" to my market on December 15th, shouldn't it be here by now? And where did it go if not to where I am picking it up from? I just don't understand how this can happen.... Perhaps I don't understand the process of moving luxury goods across international borders between markets but this seems to be an extreme case or something has gone terribly wrong.

Honestly, had they just been upfront and said something like... "the actual departure from Switzerland of your watch was delayed until the 22nd due to an local strike of airport maintenance staff and the DHL driver being involved in a minor traffic accident involving a cow. It was shipped to your country's regional office where it transited customs, was inspected and worn by *only* 4 office staffers (1 per day) before being carefully repackaged. Unfortunately, due to the observance of Festivus, adverse weather conditions and a locust infestation, our offices were closed longer than expected. Also, the last staffer with your watch went missing for 2 days after New Years.. (luckily we found him - phew!). Anyway, your watch completed this phase on January 5th and was shipped via pony express 12-day to your local boutique (tracking # H33H4W2U). As you can see (assuming your rider does not die of dysentery along the way), it should arrive on Wednesday and your local boutique should contact you via singing telegram within 2 days of it's arrival to arrange pickup"...it'd actually be somewhat believable and I'd be much more at ease.

 

You're thinking too much into this while simultaneously over-simplying logistics.

Omega attempted something drastically new and "innovative" in regards to selling online directly to the consumer. If you're familiar with project management, this is pretty standard procedure: Phase 1 = Fail/Learn, Phase 2 = Adjust, Phase 3 = Perfect/Refine.

Ultimately the end game is what matters. As the years go by with more experience, Omega will nail this distribution model down. No-one will remember the failures of 2017 in the grand scheme of things.

Competitors will have the slightest advantage of analyzing this train wreck unfold from the sidelines, but ultimately, Omega's direct hands-on failures will lead to their eventual success: ie: you can bet Omega (or any competitor) won't be doing another timezone specific secret launch ever again...
Now, if Omega pulls off the exact same mistakes 2018... well then...

Omega's QA concerns is an entirely different issue. No-one but Omega knows what's going on in-house. I know they launched a new facility in 2017, and who knows how that had affected their production resources throughout 2016-2017. I don't know, no-one knows, but the production management concepts are all the same across all industries - it's simply growing pains/bad luck/bad timing/Murphy's law...

 

Think the main issue with the order, pick, pack, ship approach is that they didn’t know if it would work out. Bet they didn’t expect the watch to sell out in a few days. If they had produced all of them and then only sold a hundred it would have been a major commercial fail. Same holds true for the other LEs, they announce them, gauge interest and then manufacture. If that hits snags, there’s your delay.

 

So, technically whenever I do receive my ST I will have the 2018 Speedmaster, wow, I will be very special.

 

Ladies & Gents, for your reading and viewing pleasure... !

Speedmaster "Speedy Tuesday" - A Pictorial

 

Maybe I need to asks my friend to sell it back to me.

 

Has anyone that was told their watch would leave the factory on the 15th of December seen or heard anything?

 

Yes. I got that mail and mine arrive at my local boutique in the UK last week. Maybe you need to email Switzerland to ask them to follow it up.

 

My ST has not even got this far sadly. It’s getting silly now. Is anyone else still waiting for the watch to leave the factory?

 

I was told it would leave December 29th. I haven't heard a word. Maybe they meant of 2018

 

Any members that had some QC problems, have got your watch back from ”repair”?

 

Mines been gone since October - they had to replace the entire dial. Just got the call for pickup tomorrow!