i have just joined about 8 years too late by the looks of it.
Being the lovely wife that i am i purchased a second hand omega for my husband about 8 years ago. He adores it and wears it every day...or did until the battery went and he put it in to get a new battery. the repair shop sent it off to Omega and it has been sent back with a not saying that the circuit board is needing replacing and its non repairable due to the circuit board being obselete.
Is this a common thing? I am totally naive , its a stunning looking watch and he misses it terribly and find it hard to believe that it is a total write off!"

 

Welcome,

The Omega Watch Co. of today may not be the same Omega Watch Co. that made your husband's Omega. The Swatch group bought Omega some years ago, and almost immediately, the production of movements and parts of the original Omega went out of production. So for 20 years or thereabouts, supply of parts of the original company was limited to stock on hand which has gradually been used up. I suspect your husband's Omega may have been made by the original company. Without pictures of what is inside the watch case, it is tough to say. If you were to show us pictures of the "works" of his watch, maybe somebody on the OMB may be able to help. If the watch was the product of the new Omega company, I suspect the watch might have been repairable.

 

This is completely false. Omega did not "almost immediately" stop producing spare parts for pre-Swatch Omega watches and movements. Swatch still produces many parts for watches that were discontinued far longer than 20 years ago...just one example I pulled from my stock is this great wheel for a Cal. 550 automatic...



I have underlined the caliber in the part number, and also pointed out that the production date of the part is noted on the package - 49th week of 2015. I just received a wheel for a Cal. 484 (for a ladies Sapphette model) this week that was produced pretty much at the time I ordered it, as the date on the package was only from about 3 weeks ago...

Welcome and if you can give us some additional information on the watch, such as model number, caliber of the movement (which is sometimes etched on the case back) we would be able to help you better. When watches needing obsolete parts are serviced, often the brand is not the place to send it for service as you have found out. It may be possible that a donor watch could be found to repair this one, or the parts may be available on the open market - both of these options Omega would not pursue, so if they can't walk to their parts drawer and pick out the part they need, they stop working on it.

I would expect that some paperwork was returned to you from Omega, and that should have details about the model and movement in the watch on it...

Cheers, Al

 

Well! What I said in my original post certainly applies to SOME components of the older Omega company such as circuits! And almost certainly to many older Omega mechanical calibers. What I said most certainly seems to apply to the OP'S Omega.

 

You do understand that this is very different from what your first post says, right? Having some parts discontinued is very different than saying all production of parts pre-Swatch stopped almost immediately when Swatch took over.

Of course there are discontinued parts - all brands have this regardless if they were bought by Swatch or not. Try getting parts for a 5 year old Fossil watch - they won't have them.

 

thankyou so much for your replies.I believe from the original receipt that the watch was sold new in 2003. Its a seamster professional 300, caliber number 1538.
The whole watch world is alien to me im afraid, so im sorry if i am coming accross as being a bit thick!

 

Well that's odd - the 1538 is a very current movement and the electronic module is still available for it.

7221530C4000 | ELECTRONIC RoHS - $121

Even if it wasn't available, a whole new 1538 movement could be purchased and installed. I'm questioning if the repair shop actually sent it to Omega, or if they sent it to some watchmaker they use on the side who can't get the parts - would not be the first time this has happened.

I'm not sure where you are located, but I would suggest visiting an Omega boutique, or an Authorized Dealer that sells Omega. Either of those places can send the watch to Omega for you for servicing. Alternately, you can send the watch directly to an Omega service center in your country yourself, or you can find a watchmaker with an Omega parts account who can do the work.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

 

it came back with an official letterhead, in an omega pouch with a plastic cover , it all looks very genuine. ..having said that , i had a feeling that it was'nt too old . It does seem a bit odd to me that a watch of this quality could be written off so easily. We aren t rich folk, i just wanted to buy my hard working husband something special...He is a long distance trucker, and i insisted he wore it every day....he totally loves the watch, I really hope it can be mended ..if not i will have some saving to do and i will be on here asking the questions before i buy it!

 

If you tell us where your living, maybe some other member living close to you can recommend a good Omega Authorised Dealer or other local watchmaker that can have a look at the watch.

 

I have just logged back in to give you kind people an update on husbands (back on his wrist) seamaster.
the information we were given is as follows.
That particular watch had a recall on it due to one or two watches having had problems. When the same model went in to be repaired they were given a new circuit board regardless of wether they needed it or not. This resulted in Swatch running out of the part. My husbands watch had no problem with the circuit board, but as it was their policy to replace it on that particular model it was bounced back saing it needed a new part which was obsolete. It is now back from a watch repairer we found on the internet with a new battery and resealed to 300, ..for the pricely sum of £80. needless to say we are totally delighted..as well as totally disgusted at the service from swatch who it seems see fit to write off a beautifull exspensive(maybe not to some of you lot but it was to us!) watch rather than fit a new battery.

 

Well, thanks for the update, but something here doesn't add up. Not saying that you are making this up, but as I've already noted, the circuit is still available and is not obsolete. So it would seem that someone who is looking after this job along the chain of people involved doesn't know what they are doing.

Once again I have no idea where you are located, but each country keeps a stock of parts in their country. It's possible that they ran out of circuits in whatever country you are in and more needed to be ordered from Switzerland. This happens occasionally - an order I placed yesterday for about 30 different parts had 2 that were backordered and will take a few weeks to get here from Switzerland.

I'll order one of these circuits in my next order and post to this thread (next week maybe), but it shows as being available on the Omega Extranet as I've noted above for about $120.

There was an upgrade made to the circuit board - don't know that I would call it a recall, but it's common to have upgrades done to the watch when it comes in for service.

Cheers, Al

 

hey its no problem, i must admit im struggling to work it out. the first place we took it to was a watch repairers in Edinburgh, just for battery. The watch repairer told us it needed more than that and sent it off to Omega. We got a call to say that the watch was ready for collection but had been returned unrepaired as the part was no longer available. After looking around and listening to what was being said on here we sent it to a watch repairer down south. we got an email invoice for £80 saying no problem was found with the circuit board and that the model was subject to a recall or upgrade as you stated. The second succsessfull repairer told us that he had had a number of omegas in with exactly the same thing happen...that when sent to Omega they were coming back unrepairable due to the circuit board being out of stock. This was regardless of wether or not the watch needed the upgrade. I can only say what i have been told. the first repairer to his credit refused to take any money...not that it makes much difference but the watch came back from the first one in an omega case, a bit like a big fat spectacle case...and the second one did nt exactly rip us off!
The outcome is brilliant for us, as i say, we don t have the money to buy watches like this on a whim, and it meant a lot to my husband...the watch itself is just pure quality .

 

Just to follow-up, I just received the new electronic module yesterday for the watch/movement in question...





Ordered directly from Omega, still available, and definitely not discontinued...not sure why the OP was told something different, so this one remains a mystery...

Cheers, Al