Got a quote for £145 on email this morning, not the £95 quoted over the phone before I sent it.

I also asked for them to quote on a replacement bezel (only wanted the insert but pretty sure Omega will only supply bezel & insert as one).

They've quoted me £418.92..! Seriously? It only had a few hairline marks on it and I'm just being picky by thinking of swapping it, but not at that price!

 

Astronauts don’t give a damn about scratched bezels.

 

That's probably because they're not the ones paying to have them replaced.

 

I think he meant that its a tool watch and a few scratches should be on the watch.... aka dont worry about replacing the bezel with a few hairline scratches.

 

if its a Gen 1, I have heard of people getting the bezel brushed to match that of the Gen 2 - have a look online, not sure where but I think I saw some pics - should be a lot less than buying a new bezel. I have been on the look out for Gen 2 parts for a while but not seen any - so brushing might be a viable option.

 

I know ;-)

I wasn’t canvassing opinion on whether I should go for it or not; I was sharing surprise at the price of a service bezel

Thanks, should have mentioned it’s a Gen 2

 

I paid $50 usd a year or so to have the OB change my battery. I'm in California. 145 seems really high

 

It is a chunk of cash, however...

In 2002, the 3570.50.00 Speedmaster Professional (was £1,395.00 (pictured below, on a strap, comes with a bracelet).




The 3291.50.00 2nd Generation X-33 on a bracelet was £1,875.00.



It was a good chunk more than the Moonwatch, for arguably a cheap(er) to produce movement, that's more expensive as a complete watch because of the titanium case and bracelet.

Fast forward 17 years (man I'm old!), and Omega have been adding in incremental increases too - the price difference between the kevlar strapped X-33 and the same model on a bracelet in 2002, was £325. Today a bracelet is well over £1000, and a kevlar strap with new titanium buckle is around £180.

Not cheap watches, so not cheap parts.

Will dig out the paperwork, but think I paid more than £95 for a battery change last year...

 

The price you received over the phone was an estimate that was subject to change once they see the watch and determine if anything else needs to be done. If they didn’t state that upfront that’s a mistake, but that’s why the price changed. You should ask why the price went up if they didn’t tell you the scope of work.

As for the bezel, I’m surprised that you are surprised at that price. Bezels are not cheap, in particular titanium bezels...

Now you know that you should treat the bezel with care to avoid major damage...

 

As mentioned, the bezel is fine, it's the (steel - not Ti) insert which ideally I would replace, however Omega's policy is to not offer the inset on its own. Now I know why.

And at £418, yes I'm surprised. And I'm surprised you're surprised. Rolex St.James for example, charge around £30 including fitting for a replacement insert for a GMT II - a watch several factors of magnitude above the X-33 in ££ value.

If you're suggesting this is anything other than a revenue stream for Omega and that titanium is truly that much more costly to manufacture in, then I am extra-surprised.

 

It’s common knowledge in the Omega community that Omega doesn’t sell inserts, but I don’t know how much experience you have with the brand.

As for the price, bezels are expensive, and again this is common knowledge with Omega collectors. This is not Rolex obviously and they have their own policies, and yes as I remind people on forums often the primary purpose for anything Omega (or any other major company) does is to increase shareholder value, as is their mandate.

 

Mine's gone off today for a new battery (a little over three years since the last one) - in 2018 I was charged £97inc VAT by Omega here in the UK (it had to go back to Southampton).

The quote for the same work in 2021 is £145.

That feels like quite a jump for a like-for-like test/battery/seals job.

I can't imagine that the parts have gone up in price that much, nor that they are paying their staff higher wages. I wonder what the justification is?

 

Times are hard, shareholders must be fed, dollars have to come from somewhere.

 

Well that could be it @JimInOz.

Although I'd be happier if they just kept pumping up the prices of new watches that I don't care about, rather than inflating services prices for watches I already own!

 

Omega prices for parts have been increasing wildly over the last few years. Things double, triple, or more overnight. A common train wheel I replace jumped from $38 to $180 in one shot.

 

Holy crap. That's insane!

 

Hope the watches do a better job holding value than the stock...

 

Guy at the mall will change it for £10-20 and tighten the screws extra hard to make it waterproof

I pay $75 AUD to change a $260 2008 Luminox watch battery and have all the seals changed and a pressure test every few years by the Luminox service centre.

 

[QUOTE="tyrantlizardrex, post: 1820748, member: 1643"]Mine's gone off today for a new battery (a little over three years since the last one) - in 2018 I was charged £97inc VAT by Omega here in the UK (it had to go back to Southampton).

The quote for the same work in 2021 is £145.

That feels like quite a jump for a like-for-like test/battery/seals job.

I can't imagine that the parts have gone up in price that much, nor that they are paying their staff higher wages. I wonder what the justification is?[/QUOTE]

I feel that I've owned mine for more than three years and - fate tempting alert - no sign of replacement battery required.

Changing topic slightly I read somewhere that if you send a Mk1 to Omega for routine work it comes back with the Mk2 crown: is that right?

 

I feel that I've owned mine for more than three years and - fate tempting alert - no sign of replacement battery required.

Changing topic slightly I read somewhere that if you send a Mk1 to Omega for routine work it comes back with the Mk2 crown: is that right?[/QUOTE]

Oh well that did the trick! Pushed button 3 in the night to backlight the time and it lit and went out whilst I had my finger on the pusher. Looked at the watch this morning and the sweep second hand is going round in 5 second increments: better buy a battery.