Hello all,

I recently sent my Grandfather's 1976 Constellation (Quartz) off to Omega Switzerland for repair as the battery had unfortunately leaked and damaged some of the movement.

I specifically asked for them to leave all cosmetic items alone - dial, hands, crown etc.

I went to pick it up today and they have clearly replaced some of the movement parts, as expected, but they have also replaced the crystal (not concerned with that), the crown and the hands! The hands are correct for the watch, and look to have 'aged' lume of a brownish colour to appear similar to the old ones. They are, however, not original.

I have the original hands and crown. Apparently at some point they tried to contact me as Omega said they would try to retain originality but may not be totally possible. I was overseas at the time.

What would people do in this case? I have asked if Omega can fit the original hands and crown back on. The crown stem did show signs of wear so I understand them replacing them but the hands?? They had nice patina as a 40 year old set of hands should, and I can't see why they would replace them as a problem of function?

The new hands look good, but are now not original and don't match the patina on the dial. I'm a little disappointed as I wanted to keep this watch as original as possible.

 

The watch in question. A couple of years ago

 

In case you follow this Forum for a while you should know the risks sending your watch to OMEGA for service. As you still have the old retured parts from OMEGA at hand you may contact a local trusted watchmaker to put them on again on your beauty. And never send vintage beauties for service to OMEGA again. Lessons learned....
But good luck anayway

 

Omega has often replaced hands on watches I've sent in. All were newer, so it was fine with me. I believe they do it because there's some risk that the hole will be enlarged when the hand is removed, and may not be tight enough if put back on. I understand that watchmakers can reduce the size of hand holes, but for Omega it's probably just easier to put new ones on.

 

Thanks for the responses thus far guys. I did try getting it repaired at a local watchmaker but the parts required were (apparently) only available from Omega in Switzerland - the US-based service center wouldn't even touch it so my hand was forced a little unfortunately.

It's an interesting point you make regarding the enlargement of the holes. I wonder, though, there are many old watches out there, still with their original hands and I'm sure most have been serviced several times?

These newer hands are a faithful representation and obviously the real deal bring from Omega themselves. It took me only a few seconds to realise they weren't the original ones though and my heart did sink a little.

 

It's rare that holes in hands will be enlarged enough for that to be the reason they require replacing, but Omega will replace hands at the drop of a hat typically. So if there is any sort of cosmetic flaw, cracked lume, etc., they will be replaced.

If you don't mind voiding your warranty, you could always get the original hands put back on the watch, but clearly there is a risk in doing that.

Cheers, Al

 

As stated above, just go to a local mom& pop watchmaker, and have them put your old bands back on the watch. You’ll have a freshly serviced watch, with the patina hands.
I recently sent in a eBay find speedy from 71, to Omega. I know their gonna replace the hands, maybe the dial. When it returns, I’ll have my local watchmaker take off the dial & hands. I have a beautiful set of hands and a correct dial that will be installed, then I’ll have a fully serviced vintage watch, with patina.

 

Thank you gentlemen. I think I'll wait to hear back from the AD who has been dealing with it on Tues but I suspect they won't change them back. In which case I'll go to a local watchmaker (the only one I know of nearby is at a Rolex AD but I know he works on Omega's and other brands). It's a shame it will void the Omega warranty however at least I'll have a fully working watch with the correct hands!

 

So, it turns out that Omega did a full cosmetic restoration on the watch - refinishing the case, replacing the crown and hands. This was contrary to what I had requested. Nothing I can do about the case, and the crown was worn. I have however sent it back to get the original hands but back on. The new ones look good and I believe are Tritium (definitely not Luminova but glow under UV light briefly)however they don’t have the patina to match the dial.

I’m awaiting a response from Omega