Sounds a bit (or very) stupid but I think I got a bit carried away when giving my Aqua Terra a clean and polish before putting the original bracelet back on and now the first part of the serial number is now faded beyond recognition?

Has anyone else had a similar problem and is there a fix?

 

I’m afraid you can’t put the metal back once it’s gone... Let’s see some pics anyways.

 

What did you use to polish ?

 

looks like you're an old school gray dealer now

 

Just a very fine polishing cloth, trying to clean up some marks from changing the strap!!

 

Think I’m too embarrassed to share

 

Just a cloth? Crikey-Moses sounds like one better take watch off before getting frisky with the missus!!!

 

Was the polishing cloth attached to a dremel?

 

Perhaps it was a Cape Cod polishing cloth - those things are volatile as anything

 

If you are not selling it, then it doesnt matter.

 

But did you at least remove the spring bar scratches which I assume you were trying to polish off? జ్ఞ ‌ా

 

Yeah I believe so

 

Almost but not quite

 

No plans on selling as it was my first watch, just hope it won’t cause an issue for servicing etc

 

I’ve asked my OB this question a year or so back. He said it is common as cases are often replaced during service when damaged and it doesn’t matter with future services. The serial # is still on the movement.

 

Thanks, that’s good to know

 

I beg to differ. I brought my 2531.80 Seamaster to an Omega Boutique for servicing and they wouldn’t touch it since it didn’t have the caseback serial. Mine actually was an early grey market buy, from the time they removed the serials, but I wasn’t claiming warranty service, just a paid for routine maintenance. Still, they said they couldn’t accept it.

Fortunately a local watchmaker had no problem accepting it for service (at a much lower cost than Omega).

 

Unless the serial number was also removed from the movement, they were not acting within Omega policies. Omega will certainly service a watch with the serial number removed from the case, as long as it's still on the movement.

 

Fascinating. They didn’t open the case to look — they just saw it wasn’t on the case and sent me packing.

Other threads seemed to imply that individual Boutiques seemed to have nonstandard policies on a variety of issues. Wish Omega would do a better job in mandating uniformity.

 

In many states buying, selling or possessing property with an obliterated serial number is a misdemeanor.