The swan neck regulator on my "new" watch is broken, my watchmaker has offered a replacement at US$120, does this sound steep to you? Becuase it does to me!
Could anyone give me the part number? I have seen a couple on ebay at about US$20 but they have different part numbers even though both are for a cal 550. Here is a picture of the movement.

 

Part number is either 72205501356 or 72205631356. The first one is discontinued and replaced by the second.

I'm assuming he's not just charging you $120 for the part, but also for installation, correct?

 

Thanks Al, I am already paying him for a service, and the way he said it, it sounded a lot like US$120 for part only

 

I'll check on a price with Omega for you...if he is supplying a new part, then it may not be out of line. Sometimes Omega has whacky pricing on things so it's hard to say what they would charge for this. I'm often surprised at how expensive some simple parts are, and then how cheap some very complex parts are. There does not seem to be much reasoning to it, but knowing that this part is highly polished, it would not surprise me if it's expensive.

If you are buying a used part on eBay, well that's really not a fair comparison to a new part from the manufacturer. The end results might be the same, but new parts are often much more than used parts are.

Buying a donor movement can be very economical. For example I just finished up a vintage Bulova Snorkel diver, and a Gruen Veri-Thin. I have a source for "parts movements", and was able to buy entire movements as spares for less than $30 each. If I needed to buy just one wheel or bridge for either of those movements, it would likely cost more than a whole spare parts movement does.

I service a lot of vintage Doxa watches, so I bought up a whack of old ETA 2472 movements a while back. I can tell you they saved me a lot of time and trouble, as I can just simply pick off a part, run it through the cleaning machine, and I'm good to go. I have saved clients hundreds of dollars doing this, but not every watchmaker takes this approach.

Cheers, Al

 

I am thinking he was going to take it from a donor movement, it was just the way he thought about whether or not he had one. He did not say I can order one from Omega, this is the one I saw on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Omega-Cal-5...840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e86b57530Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
He also suggested running the watch without one, but this does not feel "right" to me, even though the watch would apparently run fine

 

Cost from Omega for the 72205631356 is $38. So yes, he is charging you a lot....

The watch will run without it. It's really only there to keep the regulating arm in position, and provide tension on the arm when adjusting using the small screw. Most watches just have the arm as yours does now, so really it will run fine without it. I would tell him you are going to supply the part, and buy that one from eBay...

Cheers, Al