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Speedmaster: Creeping chrono hour hand, full service recommended?

Chronomateur
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Hello everyone, I am new here and have a question right away:
On my 145.012-67, the hour hand of the chronograph (at 6 o'clock) moves slowly, although the chrono itself has not started. Supposedly the movement was cleaned and oiled last year. Either the fault was not noticed or it was ignored. The rate values of the 321 are currently excellent!
Is it possible to ignore the moving hand or is something worse to expect? What should I do?
Thanks for helping me!
 
Scarecrow Boat
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Chronomateur Chronomateur
Supposedly the movement was cleaned and oiled last year.
Hi and welcome. This does not mean it was serviced and is honestly not anything I would put much stock in. It’s definitely advisable to have your movement fully serviced by a qualified watchmaker. I would avoid sending this to Omega, so if you need further help on how to proceed, you can state your general location and someone may give you a few leads on where to send this to.
 
Chronomateur
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I feared it! I'm in Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), maybe someone has a tip who knows about the 321.
 
ChrisN
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Your watch needs a proper service to resolve this - it's not a major issue, usually so, put it in for a proper service and all should be fine.

Best wishes, Chris
 
Donn Chambers
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I had this exact problem on a cal. 321 Speedmaster after a service as well - and I know it was serviced, because I paid for it! Things happen. From what I understand (and I’m sure one of our resident watchmakers will correct me if I’m wrong) there is a spring that keeps that wheel from moving until the pusher is depressed. That spring is not adjusted properly, so it doesn’t hold the wheel in place when it is reset, so it is running continuously. Could be the spring needs to be replaced and the first watchmaker couldn’t find the part in a timely manner and tried to make it work, but it failed.

Now, will that hurt the watch? I don’t think so, other than introduce some slight additional wear that will be no different than running the chrono continuously, which some people do. You just have the hour hand creeping because the spring is not adjusted properly. I assume it resets back to zero, then starts creeping again? If so, I think you are okay to ignore it for awhile if you don’t have a warranty on the service.

But it might also indicate a poor service, so you might want to have your own watchmaker service it just to be sure — if you have one willing to service a 321.
 
watchyouwant
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Under the dial there is an adjustable " Brake " for the 12 hour counter wheel. That's all. If you can, ignore it.
 
Chronomateur
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watchyouwant watchyouwant
Under the dial there is an adjustable " Brake " for the 12 hour counter wheel. That's all. If you can, ignore it.
May be I'll try to ignore...
 
lucreative
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Hi. Sorry to bring up this thread again, but I'm also experiencing the dreaded chrono creep on my 321 on a 105.002. The movement had a recent service, as part of a warranty guarantee from the dealer when I bought it, but the chrono creep is still there.

However, the creep will stop at around the 2 mark. Reading through Al's various indepth responses, it seems like it might be worn teeth on the hour wheel and the lever only catches when it get's to the better teeth on the hour wheel. Or is it still bad servicing? Or both? Maybe lubrication, maybe spring adjustment (but also recent service supposedly done).

Now, I can send it back to the dealer and have them repair under warranty OR the dealer said I could he could refund me a cool $400 to pay for me to send to my own watchmaker to resolve. Since the dealer gave me a 1 year service guarantee, so I just take the $400 and deal with the chrono creep at the next time I need service, or resolve it now. It does stop at the 2 and I'm not too bothered with it. I don't incessantly reset it.
 
Archer
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lucreative lucreative
Hi. Sorry to bring up this thread again, but I'm also experiencing the dreaded chrono creep on my 321 on a 105.002. The movement had a recent service, as part of a warranty guarantee from the dealer when I bought it, but the chrono creep is still there.

However, the creep will stop at around the 2 mark. Reading through Al's various indepth responses, it seems like it might be worn teeth on the hour wheel and the lever only catches when it get's to the better teeth on the hour wheel. Or is it still bad servicing? Or both? Maybe lubrication, maybe spring adjustment (but also recent service supposedly done).

Now, I can send it back to the dealer and have them repair under warranty OR the dealer said I could he could refund me a cool $400 to pay for me to send to my own watchmaker to resolve. Since the dealer gave me a 1 year service guarantee, so I just take the $400 and deal with the chrono creep at the next time I need service, or resolve it now. It does stop at the 2 and I'm not too bothered with it. I don't incessantly reset it.
Based on your description, worn teeth would be my first thought, but to really diagnose it for certain the hands and dial would have to be removed.

Generally speaking, I don't consider dealers to be a good source of servicing. I'm sure there are some out there that would do a good job, but they know that every part they end up replacing is coming right off their bottom line, so I've seen plenty of "workarounds" made by dealers end up on my bench. The creep itself is not terribly problematic - if you actually want to time something you just reset before you start and you are good. Other than that, it's cosmetic. I wouldn't recommend resetting all the time, so it's good that you don't. All you are doing is adding wear and tear on things like the face of the hour recorder hammer.

If you have a watchmaker that you work with, and they know their stuff, I would take the money and use it towards your next service. If you let the dealer go at it again, get some evidence that they have actually fixed the issue.
 
lucreative
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Archer Archer
Based on your description, worn teeth would be my first thought, but to really diagnose it for certain the hands and dial would have to be removed.

Generally speaking, I don't consider dealers to be a good source of servicing. I'm sure there are some out there that would do a good job, but they know that every part they end up replacing is coming right off their bottom line, so I've seen plenty of "workarounds" made by dealers end up on my bench. The creep itself is not terribly problematic - if you actually want to time something you just reset before you start and you are good. Other than that, it's cosmetic. I wouldn't recommend resetting all the time, so it's good that you don't. All you are doing is adding wear and tear on things like the face of the hour recorder hammer.

If you have a watchmaker that you work with, and they know their stuff, I would take the money and use it towards your next service. If you let the dealer go at it again, get some evidence that they have actually fixed the issue.
Hi Al! Thanks for the quick response. I think I will take your recommendation and save the $400 for the next inevitable service needed for this 321. My watch does currently keep time at +5 per day for the week I've had it, so keeping timing seems to be okay. Makes me feel better that you that you think it's mainly cosmetic and may not degrade further if I don't keep resetting unnecessarily. I'm not too worried since it's a vintage watch anyway. I also have to ship and wait and have it shipped back, etc, a risk I don't want to take since it's for my holidays watch.

Speaking of which, Happy Thanksgiving from the US!
 
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