Unfortunate repair situation

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thatone

·Mar 10, 2024

https://imgur.com/a/boEjvuy

Wanted to get your thoughts on how I should proceed with an unfortunate repair situation. I bought a used Omega PO ceramic black 39.5 (beautiful watch!) last year. Being a clumsy fool I dropped it, probably less than 2 feet, from my hand to the bathroom floor and the ceramic chipped – can see the picture – near the lug hole. I sent it in to my watch dealer who stated if they were the ones to send it to Omega, they could perhaps get a discount on the repair.

I do just that – last month I get an email from the watch dealer saying that Omega, in an effort to take out the strap, worsened the damage on the watch. They stated it now cost $4800 to fix (a used watch value at around $8500, mind you). Omega offered 25% off due to the damage they caused, now at around $3600. My dealership offered another $600 off.

On one hand, I am happy that they offered the discount, acknowledging the damage they caused. On the other, despite my clumsiness, I’m furious that the cost of repair is so high for a seemingly small drop for the watch! I had been tempted to ask the dealership to allow me pay for the repair and then return the watch for the full value it was sold to me; I’m certainly aware they’re under no obligation to do this for me.

Curious to your thoughts on this.

 

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Dan S

·Mar 10, 2024

I'm curious if this can really be repaired. I would have thought they would just replace the case, in which case why would it matter if Omega further damaged it. More generally, I think this is one of the risks with ceramic. It doesn't accumulate scratches, but it can shatter.

Please include photos in the thread. As you know, that's the way things are done here, and will get more engagement. Many people don't like to click on links, and photos hosted elsewhere often disappear, making threads useless.

 

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X350 XJR

·Mar 10, 2024·Vintage Omega Aficionado

I'm guessing that the quoted "repair" cost is actually for a new case, hence the cost.

 

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Zman4eva

·Mar 10, 2024

Picture for everyone.

 

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Annapolis

·Mar 10, 2024

I’m not surprised that a repair would cost $$$$ out of warranty—that’s how it goes with expensive watches. There are risks and maintenance costs associated with owning them.

But I’m having difficulty accepting the premise that Swatch wants you to cover the cost of additional parts & service for a mistake they made. Even for a piece that’s out of warranty, that makes no sense to me, and I’d fight that right up the customer service chain of command.

On the brighter side, you should end up with a watch that looks and runs brand new, and you’ll have a 2-year OEM warranty, which is true peace of mind.

If they won’t back down on service costs, hopefully they’ll offer you a free NATO or something.

 

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Annapolis

·Mar 10, 2024

Oh… now that I see the pic I’m just confused. That case would have already needed replacing, no?—even without Swatch ‘making it worse’? What else could they have done besides replacing the entire case?

 

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YY77

·Mar 10, 2024

Annapolis

Oh… now that I see the pic I’m just confused. That case would have already needed replacing, no?—even without Swatch ‘making it worse’? What else could they have done besides replacing the entire case?

Yeah very generous to offer 25% discount because that case was done anyway.

 

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Annapolis

·Mar 10, 2024

Agreed. I think this is actually a count-your-blessings situation. You should probably be on the hook for the entire amount.

 

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Fish70

·Mar 10, 2024

Dang, that is a lot of money for a little piece of machined ceramic. I will have to stick with steel!

 

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Archer

·Mar 10, 2024·Omega Qualified Watchmaker

X350 XJR

I'm guessing that the quoted "repair" cost is actually for a new case, hence the cost.

It's for a new case frame - the middle portion of the case. The entire case is much more than the full price the OP is quoting, so they will replace the middle section, and use the bezel and case back over again I suspect.

He is getting a bargain if Omega is paying part of the cost, and the AD is contributing $600 as well...about the best case scenario (no pun intended) that you could ask for.

Honestly if I was the AD and was asked to take it back after offering all this, I would not be happy...I don't think the OP understands how much of a favour is being done for him.

 

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Larry S

·Mar 10, 2024·Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.

Sounds like a square deal to me.

 

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thatone

·Mar 10, 2024

Appreciate the responses. It is an expensive lesson, I probably won't be going towards ceramic cases in the future because of this. I think a steel watch might have suffered a scratch, if that?

 

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Annapolis

·Mar 10, 2024

Many of us here have steel watches with gouges and scratches that are true mysteries: like, you look at your watch one day and there’s a scratch that wasn’t there before, and you have simply no clue how it happened. Ceramic is way more scratch resistant. There’s no ideal material here, I don’t think. (Maybe some of the superhardened materials a place like Sinn uses, but those are pretty stern, tool-ish watches, not glam pieces like our Omegas.)

Honestly, after a 2 foot drop on a hard floor—you might have wanted to send it in soon anyway to get it serviced, even if the ceramic hadn’t chipped.

 

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Evitzee

·Mar 10, 2024

It's a known issue with ceramic cases, it doesn't happen very often, but it is a small risk. Any watch dropped from more than a foot or two to a hard surface can suffer damage. $3k is fair in this situation. I never put a watch on or take off over a hard surface, never. Strap, deployant or bracelet, it doesn't matter. Just good practice

 

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Larry S

·Mar 10, 2024·Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.

T thatone

Appreciate the responses. It is an expensive lesson, I probably won't be going towards ceramic cases in the future because of this. I think a steel watch might have suffered a scratch, if that?

No … all you need to do is read around on OF … a drop like that will most likely require a trip to the spa. Ceramic is hard and compresses well, but any sort of torque or sharp localised blow, all bets are off.

 

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Syrte

·Mar 10, 2024·MWR Tech Support Dept

Annapolis

after a 2 foot drop on a hard floor—you might have wanted to send it in soon anyway to get it serviced, even if the ceramic hadn’t chipped.

But perhaps the service would not have cost a third of the recommended retail price of the watch?
As someone completely ignorant of modern Omega watches, and even though I agree with all of the above comments, my gut tells me it can’t be good publicity for a watch manufacturer when something like this happens. I mean, you pay 12000 euros/$$$//££ or whatever and 90 years after the invention of the first shock protected movements you’re having to pay a third of the value of the watch because you dropped it?
What was the point of paying for all of that expensive technology?

I do agree 200% about the discipline on where you put a watch on or take it off.

 

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Davidt

·Mar 10, 2024

I assume this is why, just like on this occasion, there are several tales of Omega replacing ceramic cases gratis or offering discounts as although it seems to be a rare occurrence, no one wants negatives reviews of the weaknesses of their state of the art watch cases becoming mainstream, making people question whether they should spend 12k on said wqtch.

If you can turn an apoplectically pissed off customer into one that’s only mildly miffed by way of a discount, chances are most won’t be bothered enough to take to the internet to voice their rage and raise the profile of the uncommon but nonetheless real weaknesses of ceramic cases

 

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Annapolis

·Mar 10, 2024

This is true.

Modern Omegas are pretty shock resistant. And the OP’s PO (how about that symmetry!) probably would have taken that licking and kept on ticking. But at least for me, I’d want to send it in after an event like that, especially if there was any notable change in performance. To my mind there are routine “shocks”—the kinds of things you experience when biking or playing sports or even mowing a lawn with a watch on—and then there are blunt force traumas like a fall from two feet onto tile.

 

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gbesq

·Mar 10, 2024

Annapolis

Many of us here have steel watches with gouges and scratches that are true mysteries: like, you look at your watch one day and there’s a scratch that wasn’t there before, and you have simply no clue how it happened.

That's certainly true, but unless a steel cased watch has been through an industrial press a la the Terminator, even a deep gouge can be laser welded and the original finish restored...BTW, he won't be back. 😁

 

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Archer

·Mar 10, 2024·Omega Qualified Watchmaker

Syrte

What was the point of paying for all of that expensive technology?

Because people like the way it looks, and it doesn't scratch easily. There are plenty of people who are aware of the trade off of a brittle case, and accept the risk. It's no secret that these cases can chip and shatter - I've posted about this nearly since these cases came out, and I was often told that I was fearmongering because people have smacked them all over the place and they had no damage. As I've said, it's about how it's hit - the location and angle - as it is about how hard.

This many years in, with photos of Omega, Panerai, and IWC cases all over the internet that are damaged, I have little sympathy for someone who buys one of these, damages the case, and then complains about the cost - in particular in light of both Omega and the AD helping out.