Just wanted to share an estimate experience. Went to a local watchmaker, who gets good reviews and seems reputable. Got an eval done on an early 2000's speedy pro that is running fast +50 and likely way overdo for a service.

Watchmaker put it on the bench and showed me the amplitude was low. and said it was probably very dry and he recommended a Full service, which included: Mainspring, chrono runner, gaskets, chrono second hand replaced, clean, polish and 2 year warranty. Out the Door price was estimated at $650. He also suggested new pushers and tubes for around another $130. Total of $780. with a 2 year shop warranty. He also has an Omega parts account so that helps

I walked out and said to myself, I might as well get it done at Omega, lower price and they replace more. Needless to say I was a little disappointed I suppose one could say there's value in having a local watchmaker and would get it done faster etc etc. Just an FYI for people looking around out there for service.

I know places like Nesbits are basically the same price as Omega, so there is that...

 

Eh, for the same price I personally would probably use the local watchmaker vs shipping it to Omega.

 

So Omega replaces all of those parts including pushers and tubes for the fixed $750 price? Even the sweep hand? I didn't realize.

 

Yep any day.

 

It's always better to deal with someone face to face, you can communicate what is to be done and what is not.

 

I have had my former Speedmaster serviced at Omega. It... didn't always come back right. I've been told it was the Miami service center.

My 2254.50 was serviced by Nesbit's and it's flawless. The service warranty is also one year longer.

 

Yup.

 

Thanks, but I'm not interested quite enough to watch an 11-minute video. If you'd like to give the TLDW summary, it would be much appreciated.

 

I don't understand why people always say that an independent is better then Omega.....

Vintage, I understand. But for a run of the mill common speedy, why?

If you told me, I could go to a car dealer and and pay same as the mechanic down the street, I'm going to the dealer every-time. OEM parts, factory training and manufacturer backing.

 

I had my former Speedmaster serviced by Omega twice, and an early coaxial once. All three repairs were botched and the watches had to go back.

 

So a guy that sees a speedmaster every 3-6 months is better then 3 that see them everyday?

 

Not sure what to tell you, but most people trust some makers who have Omega parts accounts (and Omega training). Sending for service seems to result in hard-to-resolve issues sometimes.

 

I can’t speak for other independent watchmakers, but I service more Speedmasters than any other watch model. I’ve serviced hundreds of them, and typically have several in my shop at any given time.

If you prefer to use Omega, that is clearly your choice to make and I personally have no issues with that.

Many people prefer to use the manufacturer, rather than deal with an independent. Omega does a service very different to what an independent will. When a watch comes to me, I am the only person that touches it, so I have complete control from start to finish. At a service center, there are a number of people involved, so someone who is not a watchmaker does the initial disassembly, so removes the movement from the case, removes the hands and dial. These are people who are trained to do just this. The movement is sent to a watchmaker, who does that part, and the case/bracelet is sent to another group who do all the refinishing work, replace pushers, crown, crystal, etc. Again not watchmakers.

The whole thing is then sent back to people who do the final assembly, and these are the same people who took it apart initially. They install the dial, hands, and do the final casing and final quality checks.

For a lot of people, having one person, who is fully trained, doing the work has value. To ge able to speak to the watchmaker in person, make specific requests that you know the person doing the work will get and abide by...again these things have value. Any good watchmaker will give you a solid warranty.

But this is a personal decision for people.

Cheers, Al

 

My Speedmaster is due a service in Australia and the choice of Omega or independent is only about $50 but the independent is worth a lot more than money for @Archer s reasoning above.
( independent is the $50 cheaper option )

Sending to Omega is asking for no case polishing and hopefully it doesn’t get polished.

Sending to Independent is asking for no case polishing and knowing it won’t get polished.

 

Go independent unless it's a warranty issue. I sent a fairly minty Speedy in once to the Seattle Omega SC and it came back overpolished (crown guard was half gone), had a chip on the lume of one of the hour indexes, and a weird problem where if you stopped the chronograph at like 0:11, the chrono seconds hand would slowly slip/creep to 0:15 in about 30 minutes.

NEVER AGAIN