Hey all...

I recently took my mid-90s "James Bond" Seamaster to a local watch repair shop that was recommended to me by a friend. The shop owner doesn't repair Omega, but said the guys he sends them to are "all Omega certified".

- After the first service, the crown was barely threading onto the post. After a few days, it stopped threading onto the post entirely so I took it back for another service as was told the crown was replaced.

- After the second service, the first stage of the crown wasn't engaging. When unscrewing the crown, it immediately jumped to the second stage and started changing the date. I returned it again and was told the setting lever and post needed to be adjusted.

- After the third service, the 3 stages are working, but now when unscrewing the crown to get to the first stage, there seems to be a lot more thread travel and it clicks while being unscrewed. I didn't notice it in the shop due to ambient noise, but now that I'm home, it's very noticeable.

I'm the original owner of the watch and I'm pretty OCD, so I'm very aware of these before/after differences and this is standing out to me as being different, but not necessarily wrong.

For those of you who have, or have knowledge of, this watch, is this clicking indicative of something else wrong inside the movement? Maybe a gear or spring was replaced during the initial service and I'm just hearing the side effect of a new part. I honestly don't know.

Here's a short video of the clicking:

https://bit.ly/3md6JWy

As a side note, I had the watch serviced by Omega about 10 years ago and when Omega returned it, nothing stood out as being mechanically different. I didn't send it to Omega this time because I didn't want them to visually alter or polish the watch, which I've read tends to be a problem when older watches are serviced by the manufacturer.

Thank you!

-- Edited to change video link

 

This is a red flag - if they are not servicing it there, then you really have no idea who is working on the watch, so possibly something to consider next time.

When threads are stripped, it is normal and accepted procedure to change both the crown and the case tube. If they only changed one (the easy one) then chances are the case tube is damaged, and why the threads aren't catching properly.

What really happened is that they cut the stem too short, so rookie mistake for whoever did the work.

I could not get your video to play, so I can't hear what you are hearing. Omega crowns are designed in such a way that even when they are compressed to screw them down, they don't disengage from the stem, so the watch will still be winding as you screw down the crown. This means when you unscrew it, the sliding and winding pinions will be riding on each other that might produce a very faint clicking sound.

The sound I am referring to you can hear with the crown fully unscrewed, so if the sound you are hearing as you are unscrewing the crown is different from the sound that is there if you turn the crown CCW when it's fully unscrewed, then it's not normal at all.

I'm all for giving a place a chance to fix a mistake, but based on what I reading, you might want to find a watchmaker directly that is Omega certified, and who can properly repair the watch.

Cheers, Al

 

Noted and appreciated. My friend's recommendation and 100+ 5 star reviews on Yelp swayed me.

I'll try and find another way to post the video. I changed the linked file to MP4 but the site wouldn't allow me to edit the post. Maybe this:

https://bit.ly/3md6JWy

Yes, the click I'm hearing is different from the winding sound. I can hear the same winding sound as I thread the crown back on to the post. The clicking I hear when unscrewing the crown kinda reminds me of the click that happens when you overwind, but it's not as quick.

I'm in Los Angeles. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Well the second video worked, and no that's not normal at all.

Since I'm a long ways from LA I don't have a recommendation, but there are plenty of members in the area, so hopefully one of them can assist.

Cheers, Al

 

Just wanted to post a quick follow-up.

I reached out to @Archer asking if he would be available to service my watch. He was not able to, but instead referred me to the AWCI website, where I found a watchmaker about 15 miles away, Jorge Montoya of Montoya Watch Service Center. Before contacting Jorge, I did a quick Google search and found some older posts on other forums recommending him, along with a short interview on the NAWCC website. I learned of his work with Rolex, his Swatch Group certifications, and history as a watchmaker.

I reached out to Jorge on a Saturday afternoon, mentioned the problems I was having with the watch, and he was able to schedule an appointment to see me the following day (today). I was simply expecting to drop off the watch and wait for him to contact me with an estimate. However, he invited me in to see his shop, we chatted more about the watch, then he offered me a chair and allowed me to look over his shoulder as he started to disassemble the watch and troubleshoot the problems.

I'll admit to not knowing much about the inner workings of watches, but I do like to tinker, and seeing Jorge work on my watch, all while explaining to me in detail what he was doing, and me being able to ask him all sorts of questions during the repair, was a very enjoyable experience. He figured out the problem with my Seamaster in a few minutes -- it was an incorrect stem -- then continued to work on the watch, changed a worn out gasket, cleaning a bunch of parts, and ran a bunch of tests to make sure everything was in working order.

I ended up spending a large part of the afternoon in the shop with Jorge as he worked on not just my Omega, but an older Tag Heuer 1000 I drove home to pick up and bring back.

If anyone in the Los Angeles area is looking for a truly honest repair man who loves working on watches, I'd highly recommend getting in touch with Jorge. He exceeded all of my expectations of how a repair shop experience should be.

Cheers,
Anthony

---
Jorge Montoya
(562) 688-6171
[email protected]
http://www.montoyawatchservice.com/

 

Thank you for sharing this. I live in SoCal and just reached out to him.