- Posts
- 1,527
- Likes
- 4,353
Tom Dick
·Evening all
I am not a huge poster on the Omega forum but an avid follower and aware there are many a wiser soul than I who frequent this forum.
As a few of you will know I have been on a bit of a personal mission of late following Omegas recent enforcement of their policy that all category 4 vintage watches need to go back to Switzerland for servicing. For many years I have used STS (Swiss Time Services) in the UK to service all of my watches, including my category 4 pieces (a quick google search of Omega category 4 will show you quite how many watches that actually is).
When this policy was enforced it created me with a massive problem as Swatch/Omega no longer service quite a few calibre's in my personal collection either in the UK or in Bienne itself however the Swiss Time Group are the only people who have the knowledge and the skills to still be able to work on a lot of these watches, specifically Megaquartz's and more specifically Calibres' 1510, 1511 and 1516 (the Stardusts and Marine Chronometers), they also carry a large range of the associated spares as vintage NOS items.
From a rant over on TZ-UK I was advised to contact James Averey at Swatch (their Head of UK Customer Services), James has been a massive help and a real advocate and after dozens of emails he has confirmed today that I can continue to get my cat4 watches (specifically Megaquartz and my Marine Chronometers) serviced through SWISSTEC, who are the sister company to Swiss Time Services and based in the same buildings.
SWISSTEC are official UK agents to Ball and Ebel but also cater for a lot of other Swiss brands, having had a length conversation with their MD today he is confident that they can continue to offer the same level of service for my watches that they would have done through Swiss Time Services. The work will be done without the Omega endorsed warranty and on the understanding that SWISSTEC are not an Omega approved service centre, but still with a full and comprehensive warranty on the work that they do. More importantly they can do the jobs I need doing: strip and rebuild a magnetic motor system for a cal 1510: no problem, replace the LCD screens on my chronoquartz: no problem even remanufacture me a new part of my moon phase: no problem
This suits me just fine as I have seen their facilities, their watch makers all trained at Swiss Time and their Director spent 15+ years at Swiss Time before starting up SWISSTEC. There are lots of other great people servicing vintage Omegas such as Duncan at Genesis and Rocco at Watchworx (in the UK) but this offers me a great solution for some of my more exotic Omega watches like the MQ's, Marine Chronometers and some of my really rare pieces.
This is a massive life saver for me and a lot of other collectors of watches like the Megaquartz, Speedsonics etc and a lot of the other Cat 4 Omega work that I need to be done and will give me personally total peace of mind that I can not only get the same great service I enjoy when using STS but also can get my rarer and more eclectic pieces still catered for through SWISSTEC
Anyway, I am aware that many collector curse anything with a battery for a heart but I don't and I know Swisstec can support a lot of other now obsolete cat 4 calibre's so I thought fellow forum members might like to know.
I am going down to Swatch HQ in a few weeks to meet James in person and thank him for his support face to face, also to get a look round their facilities as I hear they are extremely impressive, I am also taking down one of my 321 straight lug 105.002 Speedies for a service to see how their work compares as I have heard some great things about the work they are now doing.
Anyway, that's it for now but I thought I would share this bit of great news with everyone.
To celebrate I sent one of my Omega Megaquartz F2.4Mhz Stardusts down to be serviced today, watch this space for the results
Cheers Tom
I am not a huge poster on the Omega forum but an avid follower and aware there are many a wiser soul than I who frequent this forum.
As a few of you will know I have been on a bit of a personal mission of late following Omegas recent enforcement of their policy that all category 4 vintage watches need to go back to Switzerland for servicing. For many years I have used STS (Swiss Time Services) in the UK to service all of my watches, including my category 4 pieces (a quick google search of Omega category 4 will show you quite how many watches that actually is).
When this policy was enforced it created me with a massive problem as Swatch/Omega no longer service quite a few calibre's in my personal collection either in the UK or in Bienne itself however the Swiss Time Group are the only people who have the knowledge and the skills to still be able to work on a lot of these watches, specifically Megaquartz's and more specifically Calibres' 1510, 1511 and 1516 (the Stardusts and Marine Chronometers), they also carry a large range of the associated spares as vintage NOS items.
From a rant over on TZ-UK I was advised to contact James Averey at Swatch (their Head of UK Customer Services), James has been a massive help and a real advocate and after dozens of emails he has confirmed today that I can continue to get my cat4 watches (specifically Megaquartz and my Marine Chronometers) serviced through SWISSTEC, who are the sister company to Swiss Time Services and based in the same buildings.
SWISSTEC are official UK agents to Ball and Ebel but also cater for a lot of other Swiss brands, having had a length conversation with their MD today he is confident that they can continue to offer the same level of service for my watches that they would have done through Swiss Time Services. The work will be done without the Omega endorsed warranty and on the understanding that SWISSTEC are not an Omega approved service centre, but still with a full and comprehensive warranty on the work that they do. More importantly they can do the jobs I need doing: strip and rebuild a magnetic motor system for a cal 1510: no problem, replace the LCD screens on my chronoquartz: no problem even remanufacture me a new part of my moon phase: no problem
This suits me just fine as I have seen their facilities, their watch makers all trained at Swiss Time and their Director spent 15+ years at Swiss Time before starting up SWISSTEC. There are lots of other great people servicing vintage Omegas such as Duncan at Genesis and Rocco at Watchworx (in the UK) but this offers me a great solution for some of my more exotic Omega watches like the MQ's, Marine Chronometers and some of my really rare pieces.
This is a massive life saver for me and a lot of other collectors of watches like the Megaquartz, Speedsonics etc and a lot of the other Cat 4 Omega work that I need to be done and will give me personally total peace of mind that I can not only get the same great service I enjoy when using STS but also can get my rarer and more eclectic pieces still catered for through SWISSTEC
Anyway, I am aware that many collector curse anything with a battery for a heart but I don't and I know Swisstec can support a lot of other now obsolete cat 4 calibre's so I thought fellow forum members might like to know.
I am going down to Swatch HQ in a few weeks to meet James in person and thank him for his support face to face, also to get a look round their facilities as I hear they are extremely impressive, I am also taking down one of my 321 straight lug 105.002 Speedies for a service to see how their work compares as I have heard some great things about the work they are now doing.
Anyway, that's it for now but I thought I would share this bit of great news with everyone.
To celebrate I sent one of my Omega Megaquartz F2.4Mhz Stardusts down to be serviced today, watch this space for the results
Cheers Tom
