Nothing but good results for all my vintage Omegas 'til now. Acquired a ref 2179 a few years ago, had it serviced, but dissatisfied with timing performance, which was extremely slow. Returned for a check-up, and the amplitude barely passed 200º, with beat error ~ 6.3 milliseconds. It was adjusted, with some improvement but not enough to satisfy. Took it back for some additional tweaking to the balance, but still running slow, albeit with a slight improvement. Replaced the seconds pinion, to no avail. Finally, the balance was re-staffed, and pronounced as running properly.

You guessed it: running crazy fast, at least half a minute per day. Took it back, and readjusted to ~ +4 sec/day dial down (and ~ 3 ms beat error). Immediately afterwards, timing on my wrist was ~ 2+ minutes per day.



Before it's returned to my watchmaker, do any of the experts here have an idea as to what the issue may be?


[actual movement; image taken prior to initial service mid-'14]

Thanks,

Art

 

Is the bearing of the minute wheel sound?
I think to remember one of my watches had similar problems...

 

Al, ChrisN and other professionals may chime in and give you some insight. But I am surprised by the infos you gave.

As far as as I understand, you never got a decent beat error and amplitude. I am only an amateur, but no watch I serviced had a beat error exceeding 0,8 (or maybe 1 when I was a little lasy!) - a beat error of 6 or 3 is absolutly wrong! And it is pretty easy to correct the beat error on such big balances. Moreover, a 30 caliber may have an amplitude issue if worn parts (in particular wheels pivots) have not been changed, but if it cannot get over 200 degrees, there is a BIG issue!

So I do not know what happened during the services, but all that seems weird to me. A decent watchmaker cannot send back a watch with such issues.

It is hard to guess what may cause such problems. There could be issues with the balance, the jewels or the hairspring. But the bad rate you are talking about (plus 2 minutes), and, again, the beat error (3), are so great that any watchmaker should see it immediatly and find the cause.

So hard to give a diagnosis without seeing the movement, but you can say I am surprised a watchmaker gave you back a watch with such big issues...

(Or... you are one of those guys who cannot wear a 30 caliber for mysterious reasons, and should then send the watch to me...)

 

Thanks, Erich - that's the type of clue I was looking for!

Art

 

My watchmaker has serviced at least fifty watches for me and my friends over the last six years, most of which were initially satisfactory. This one, though, is definitely an outlier.

Art

 

I was able to visually confirm the +4 sec/day result on the timing machine before leaving my watchmaker's office. Whatever adjustment he made was reflected in that result, but obviously, it didn't stick.



Beat error is way off spec, even after the staff was replaced, although technically that doesn't really effect timing per se as I understand it.

I'm going to ask him to inspect the minute wheel again, per Erich's suggestion, and to try to get the beat error dialed in a little better.

Cordially,

Art

 

Did you see timegrapher results over 6 positions? One of them may show a big variation.

 

No, I didn't. I'll ask him to check.

 

Ok.

Maybe you could also ask your watchmaker why he did not reduce the beat error.

 

Spent an hour with my watchmaker this afternoon who diagnosed the problem as the hairspring. After adjustment to the hairspring, it's running much better, but still not quite right. Amplitude is good, with timing at 10+ secs/day in dial up and down positions, but ~ 30 secs/day crown up and down. And the beat error is still way off.

He'll be working on it 'til it's right.

Art