I took my Omega Seamaster 300m with Blue dial to a reputable jeweler to install a new battery and pressure test.
I received it back and noticed that the face of the watch was different -- the blue wave face is there but it is covered with what appears to be tiny little gold dots. The blue is not "clean" anymore. This was visible with a lighted loupe. The luminescence is gone from the lines of the 12, 9 and 6. The second hand is no longer tipped in red but is a "washed out" white with a little touch of red on the tip. The little round luminscent dots for the numbers are dull.
I am so upset. My watch was mint (2382.80). It was never flooded. When diving, I would use an actual dive computer watch and so never wore this in the ocean. It was never in over 15 feet of pool water.
I contacted one of the owners of the store (the store sends out the watches for battery replacement and pressure testing) and he said that he will check in to it tomorrow.

Does this happen frequently in the watch world? I have always taken my Omega to this jeweler (they are a high-end jeweler in my city and have been around for over 50 years) and had the service performed.

Please, any advice would be appreciated. I am so angry about this.

 

Make sure you got the right watch back. It could simply be the centre staff picked the wrong 2382.80 up to return to you.
Check the serial number against your paperwork.
If you don't have paperwork showing the serial number, then I guess there may be some guy saying
"Wow, didn't they do a good job on my watch!".

Hope not though, good luck with it.

 

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.
I do have the original box and paperwork. The serial number matches what is on the case. However, I believe that the inner workings of the watch including the face have been switched.

Are there serial numbers located on any of the interior of the watch?

Can it be determined if the inner parts of the watch have been switched?

 

The serial number is on the movement too, so you could check that. No idea about the dial though. Can you upload some photos?

 

I don't believe I've ever seen a serial number on a modern Omega quartz movement...so I doubt there would be one in this case.

Cheers, Al

 

Wow! Bait and switch? Hopefully you just got the wrong watch..imagine the nerve?

 

I stand corrected.

 

Hello,

Here are some photos. The first photo is how the watch appeared prior to the battery change.
The second photo is what I received back.

The Serial Number on the case is right on with my paperwork.
Is there a serial number on the inside of this watch?

If so, is there a way to report it with Omega as stolen?

Thank you .

 

Looks like they may have put the wrong dial and hands on or something - the dial markers are all much darker in the second photo, but the lume on the hands look similar. However the red tip of the second hand is now much lighter.

Very strange stuff indeed, and very odd that this would happen during a simple battery change. You should show the "before" photos to the place that did the work and have them explain what happened....

Cheers, Al

 

I am wondering what is bracelet in top of the first picture? I mean under the hand, you have two watch?

 

I have two of these watches, both bought at the same time. One is still new in the box and the other one I have worn.
You are seeing part of the bracelet from the watch that had the battery replaced.

 

I have an appointment to see the jeweler today regarding this. The preliminary information that I was told is that sometimes the Helium from the pressure testing can cause the finish to "flake off" from certain parts of the face. I was told that this can happen on watches that are of a certain age.
It is difficult for me to believe this, but admittedly, I am not an expert on the process of pressure-checking a watch. If anyone has any advice on this, I would be appreciative to receive it. I am going to do my due diligence on this and try to obtain further information on it.

 

Thank you for that observation. I will bring that up in my conversation when I return to the jeweler today.
Admittedly, I have not seen a watch with water damage so I am unable to compare it to one that has been damaged as such.

 

Okay so that is not a "before" and "after" series of photos. Do you have photos of the watch that had the battery replaced before it was taken in for service?

 

No, I do not have a photo of the watch prior to the battery change. I work in the medical field and am looking at the watch many times daily as I use it to time heart rates and respiratory rates. It looked like the new one (dial face) when I had taken it in.

 

This Helium excuse makes no sense. I know of no pressure testing that involves using Helium...

There are different types of pressure testing, but the 2 types that Omega specifications call for are using a dry pressure testing machine that produces both a vacuum and pressure, and measures the deflection of the case to determine if the watch is leaking. For watches rated more than 100m (the limit of most dry testing machines) then a high pressure wet test is performed at the rated depth of the watch +25%, and this is in addition to the dry testing tests.

The testing is done in several stages, starting with the case empty. First the dry testing machine is used to detect major faults such as pinched gasket, etc. If it passes there, the empty case is put in the water filled testing chamber for 30 minutes at no pressure, then the pressure is raised to 37.5 bar (for a 300 m rated case) for one hour, then back down to zero pressure for 30 minutes - so 2 hours in the water in total. The case is then removed from the chamber, dried off, and placed on a heating unit for 30 minutes. Then a drop of room temperature water is placed on the crystal for 60 seconds, wiped away, and the crystal is checked with a loupe for condensation on the inside of the crystal - no condensation means the watch has passed.

Once the watch is assembled and all timing checks are done, the whole process is repeated with the watch fully assembled.

You say that you are taking it back to the jeweler....do they have a watchmaker on the premise, or are they sending it out? If they are sending it out, ask to be given the contact information for the watchmaker directly, because it's likely the people you are dealing with have no idea how to repair or pressure test a watch.

 

Thank you, Archer. I am going to print this out and take it with me. I'm leaving to go there now.