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yande
·My flightmaster Cal 911, has been the bain of my collection. Purchased in 2010, a few years later, (after I had sourced the necessities) I sent it away to have installed, new, some (5) “coloured” pushers, 2 x red subdial and Chrono seconds hands, Crystal, Caseback and to get a service. When it came back I noticed that the dial (Factory issued replacement - thankfully) had a lot of new chips around it, so had to purchase a new one and send it back to my watchmaker at the time. No apologies, no explanation.
Regretfully, that watch had around 3 or more trips to that watch maker. Inner bezel would not turn, pushers were installed incorrectly, it only had a 12 hour power reserve. Etc
When it finally returned, I remember wearing it for a day or two, still suspecting the watch had problems with the main spring as I could only wind it 12 times, instead of the 28 that I would expect in the least for a fully unwound watch. (Generally for me, it is one wind per hour of elapsed time. I wore it for a day or two, and put it back into my watch box. A year or so later I brought it back into my rotation and voila, within a day, the sub dials hours hand fell off.
On that day, immediately after the hand fell off, I ran into a friend of mine. He was my Biology teacher around 1974, and we had reacquainted a year or so earlier after I noticed him wearing a Seamaster 300 he had bought back some 20 or more years earlier.
He recommended a watch maker who had done some work for him, and after communication with her I sent my flightmaster Cal 911. That was October 2017
I will not give her name as I have much respect for this watchmaker.
On initial contact she explained that she had retired, and moved out of the city, though still did some repair work. She furthered explained that she had run her own watch repair/retail business in the middle of one Austalia’s largest cities for over 40 years. She was the second last watchmaker to be supplied parts by Omega here in Australia, and that that had finished when she retired. She used to test watch makers to see if they were capable of being approved to work on Omega watches. (I think that was in the US.) She had even had her own name on a series of watches. And oh, did I mention that she was 80!
I sent her my flightmaster. A week or two later I receive by text, a photo of a hand written note outlining all the work that had to be done. (see pic)
I communicated with her March, May, June and October. By October I had had enough of nothing happening and suggested, ever so gently, that if the watch couldn’t be done by Christmas, perhaps we need to be looking for somewhere else to finish the watch. (I have learnt never to say something like this to watchmaker, as twice now it has resulted in me being part of the reason said issue is occurring, even if, as in this case, it has been over a year!)
Looking through my notes, apart from the detailed assessment and quote of work that needed to be done, nothing much happened with the watch until June when she states she will step up and get the job done.
October 20, She has stripped it down and IS cleaning the parts!
Mid November she states that since she now has “new” glasses she is going to press on and attempt to complete the job. She also tells me about making 6 barrel screws, and losing 5 whilst polishing due to the fact that they are so small. She gives me the dimensions as 17/100th of a millimeter long and 5/100th of a millimeter wide thread, which I doubt is correct. I do admit though that they are minute and a major skill and know how in making one would be needed.
I get notice the watch is finished. I paid immediately. Ended up being $1060 due to the fabrication of the screws, removing broken screw, post, all worked out prior to commencement. I then get notice that she just needs a couple of days to finish the timing. A couple of weeks go by, and the watch is sent to me.
The watch arrived not working, about 12 turns on the winder to full wind. I shake it and nothing happens, sub seconds dial moved 4 secs. The watch does not work.
A few hours later, I shake it and the watch starts, I set it and wear it for a day. Beautiful, a very happy man! Then it stopped. A day or so later it is still stopping, and I notice it is catching on the GMT hand.
I wear the watch for 3 days, always moving the GMT hand away for the sub seconds dial hand, to stop it from catching. One day I forget, it stopped, and I could not get it to run, I tried for an hour or so. Shake,, 4 or 5 seconds, stop, on an on.. A week or so later, I pick it up, give it a shake, it works. 3 days later, the exact same thing. I cannot get it to start! This scenario has happened more than twice. Starts, stops, cannot get it to start. A week later, voila.
That is where I am at. I have the watch back on my wrist, it is working, in a fashion. I know that the GMT hand needs adjusting, and that there is a more insidious problem, that even she could not ameliorate. I expect it to stop any time.
She had suggested to give me my money back, as you can read. I initially refused this offer, though after having the watch and understanding the main problem, I realize this watch is not going to work as it should, until I send it to Omega to have the parts needed to be replaced. She states, “nothing else needs to be done, apart from installing the parts, but I am sure Omega is not going to charge me anything less than $1400 which is their rate for a Vintage Chronograph service.
I have now spent more for repairs to this watch then it cost me, and it looks like I am going to have to spend again to do justice to this beautiful timepiece.
I have since written her asking for what she feels about refunding me part of the total I sent her. You only have to read her notes to see how much work, time and energy she put into it. Sadly, I doubt she will ever attempt this type of watch complexity to work on again. I did express my "disappointment" at getting the watch back not working, but never scolded her or related to her in any other way then respectfully. We have quite a good relationship through phone calls etc.
I know it is a long time since I have posted here and apologies for my indulgence. I thought it an interesting story.
The moral for me, if there is one, is to never cut corners... Life goes on, as it does for all of us, through the trials and tribulations, but time is constant, as is my love of Heurology. Fortunately, even though I have not bought or sold a watch in 5 years, I get to see hundreds of wrists every weekend and that suffices my needs for the present. I still have a handful of Omegas and a couple of Heures to keep me interested.
Hello to the few that remember me and whom I have not spoken to for some time…
This is a summation as seen from my watchmaker.
December 2018
Hello Mark thank you for your update I've been continually thinking about this watch is been on my mind and that was the same thing that was happening to me with the second hand on the GMT hand. I was going to shave the GMT hand a little bit to give it a bit more clearance but with the time restraints, and I want you to get get it to you for Christmas came president.
Mark. sometimes I become quite emotional with my work and I'm a very black-and-white person over the insuring days I wrote a letter in bits and pieces I forward it to you to see what you your thoughts are on the matter please let me know.
My cousin always tells me I'm too drastic.
Dear Mark. 28 December 2018
A detailed summary of the work carried out by me on your Omega Watch. Cal 911.
————————————————————-
Mark! I wrote this after I read your letter titled Disappointed on 21 December 2018. I too am extremely despondent.
So I am sending this. I am still in a very melancholy state and This utter desolation has not left my mind.
————————————————————
Hello Mark. 21 December 2018
From the moment I started stripping this watch down, I noticed serious abnormalities.
I thought to myself, well jump in at the deep end you’ll find out what the problems are once you have cleaned the watch and started assembly.
Within three days of the first partial assembly and checking to see that what is assembled is functioning correctly, I noticed there was a serious problem with the mainspring barrel.
As it is you’re unable to see the barrel once it has been assembled because of all the work and bridging that is upon it.
So began and epitaph of my work,
I took everything apart again after checking all the wheels and all the other pieces of equipment under the microscope and then, man! oh man! did I find the problem, which I corrected.
By this time I was at the end of my second week on the watch.
I did not know it then. but for the next two months I was going to live and breathe and dream and have nightmares on this watch I got to the point where I didn’t even feel like getting up in the morning to go to the bench,
In the workshop to look at this watch to see if it was going again because it was going and stopping and going and stopping. it would go for three days and stop and I thought this is never-ending. I am married to this watch.
Of course during those weeks and months that I spent on it I found it was heavily magnetised every single part had to be demagnetised many times and reassemble to see if it was going with the wheels in.
Then the timing and the constant checking to make sure it would go the required distance, of about three days each time you work on it. Other work was done such as drilling the main plate to take out a broken screw, and new screw had to be made, handmade of course.
Also I sent you a picture of the barrel. With the screw that after five attempts I finally achieved because it was so tiny on the mainspring barrel which was finally ok.
Then came the putting of the hands and the dial, I had trouble with the Hands very limited clearance for some of the hands you couldn’t pass a hair between them. Like the second hand and the 24 hour GMT hand.
Other parts in the watch had, and especially the hands have suffered from metal fatigue over the ensuing years. Which with the coefficient of expansion the changes of temperature always made the hands go up and down, consequently one hand or the other would be touching as they were passing,
Also the intermediate minute trip wheel had a number of faces of that wheel damaged by ware which meant that sometimes when the unit was on stopwatch, the minute trip wouldn’t pass through and would stop the watch completely.
There was no adjustment on this and I could not realigned it. The only alternative was to replace all the hands as well as the minute trip wheel and anything that was necessary.
After all, this watch is 54 years old. There was also a note which they used to put out on these watches but they stop doing it.
and that was, the stopwatch should never be continually in action it should only be use for the necessary time of operation of what your timing. And then disengaged.
—————————————————————
A note on Omega. I myself did a lot of catch up courses on Omega watches, at the Omega establishment in Melbourne. In the 1970s and 1980s.
Over the years Omega where reigning in the ability for watchmakers to obtain spare parts for their watches as the years went on there was myself and one other person in Australia still in entitled to get parts from Omega but upon my retirement that ceased.
————————————————————-
I make no excuses, I have never encountered a watch like this with so many pitfalls.
I can honestly say that I spent three months of my life working on this watch. I lived and breathed and sweated over this time peace. Never let it be said that I take money under false pretences and I shall return the money to you in February.
You will unfortunately, if you wish, have to send it to Omega, they will send it to Switzerland.
but the work I have done does not need to be re-done or carried out again. You only need the parts I have suggested.
Initial Assessment
What a watch!!
New Barrel Screw
Regretfully, that watch had around 3 or more trips to that watch maker. Inner bezel would not turn, pushers were installed incorrectly, it only had a 12 hour power reserve. Etc
When it finally returned, I remember wearing it for a day or two, still suspecting the watch had problems with the main spring as I could only wind it 12 times, instead of the 28 that I would expect in the least for a fully unwound watch. (Generally for me, it is one wind per hour of elapsed time. I wore it for a day or two, and put it back into my watch box. A year or so later I brought it back into my rotation and voila, within a day, the sub dials hours hand fell off.
On that day, immediately after the hand fell off, I ran into a friend of mine. He was my Biology teacher around 1974, and we had reacquainted a year or so earlier after I noticed him wearing a Seamaster 300 he had bought back some 20 or more years earlier.
He recommended a watch maker who had done some work for him, and after communication with her I sent my flightmaster Cal 911. That was October 2017
I will not give her name as I have much respect for this watchmaker.
On initial contact she explained that she had retired, and moved out of the city, though still did some repair work. She furthered explained that she had run her own watch repair/retail business in the middle of one Austalia’s largest cities for over 40 years. She was the second last watchmaker to be supplied parts by Omega here in Australia, and that that had finished when she retired. She used to test watch makers to see if they were capable of being approved to work on Omega watches. (I think that was in the US.) She had even had her own name on a series of watches. And oh, did I mention that she was 80!
I sent her my flightmaster. A week or two later I receive by text, a photo of a hand written note outlining all the work that had to be done. (see pic)
I communicated with her March, May, June and October. By October I had had enough of nothing happening and suggested, ever so gently, that if the watch couldn’t be done by Christmas, perhaps we need to be looking for somewhere else to finish the watch. (I have learnt never to say something like this to watchmaker, as twice now it has resulted in me being part of the reason said issue is occurring, even if, as in this case, it has been over a year!)
Looking through my notes, apart from the detailed assessment and quote of work that needed to be done, nothing much happened with the watch until June when she states she will step up and get the job done.
October 20, She has stripped it down and IS cleaning the parts!
Mid November she states that since she now has “new” glasses she is going to press on and attempt to complete the job. She also tells me about making 6 barrel screws, and losing 5 whilst polishing due to the fact that they are so small. She gives me the dimensions as 17/100th of a millimeter long and 5/100th of a millimeter wide thread, which I doubt is correct. I do admit though that they are minute and a major skill and know how in making one would be needed.
I get notice the watch is finished. I paid immediately. Ended up being $1060 due to the fabrication of the screws, removing broken screw, post, all worked out prior to commencement. I then get notice that she just needs a couple of days to finish the timing. A couple of weeks go by, and the watch is sent to me.
The watch arrived not working, about 12 turns on the winder to full wind. I shake it and nothing happens, sub seconds dial moved 4 secs. The watch does not work.
A few hours later, I shake it and the watch starts, I set it and wear it for a day. Beautiful, a very happy man! Then it stopped. A day or so later it is still stopping, and I notice it is catching on the GMT hand.
I wear the watch for 3 days, always moving the GMT hand away for the sub seconds dial hand, to stop it from catching. One day I forget, it stopped, and I could not get it to run, I tried for an hour or so. Shake,, 4 or 5 seconds, stop, on an on.. A week or so later, I pick it up, give it a shake, it works. 3 days later, the exact same thing. I cannot get it to start! This scenario has happened more than twice. Starts, stops, cannot get it to start. A week later, voila.
That is where I am at. I have the watch back on my wrist, it is working, in a fashion. I know that the GMT hand needs adjusting, and that there is a more insidious problem, that even she could not ameliorate. I expect it to stop any time.
She had suggested to give me my money back, as you can read. I initially refused this offer, though after having the watch and understanding the main problem, I realize this watch is not going to work as it should, until I send it to Omega to have the parts needed to be replaced. She states, “nothing else needs to be done, apart from installing the parts, but I am sure Omega is not going to charge me anything less than $1400 which is their rate for a Vintage Chronograph service.
I have now spent more for repairs to this watch then it cost me, and it looks like I am going to have to spend again to do justice to this beautiful timepiece.
I have since written her asking for what she feels about refunding me part of the total I sent her. You only have to read her notes to see how much work, time and energy she put into it. Sadly, I doubt she will ever attempt this type of watch complexity to work on again. I did express my "disappointment" at getting the watch back not working, but never scolded her or related to her in any other way then respectfully. We have quite a good relationship through phone calls etc.
I know it is a long time since I have posted here and apologies for my indulgence. I thought it an interesting story.
The moral for me, if there is one, is to never cut corners... Life goes on, as it does for all of us, through the trials and tribulations, but time is constant, as is my love of Heurology. Fortunately, even though I have not bought or sold a watch in 5 years, I get to see hundreds of wrists every weekend and that suffices my needs for the present. I still have a handful of Omegas and a couple of Heures to keep me interested.
Hello to the few that remember me and whom I have not spoken to for some time…
This is a summation as seen from my watchmaker.
December 2018
Hello Mark thank you for your update I've been continually thinking about this watch is been on my mind and that was the same thing that was happening to me with the second hand on the GMT hand. I was going to shave the GMT hand a little bit to give it a bit more clearance but with the time restraints, and I want you to get get it to you for Christmas came president.
Mark. sometimes I become quite emotional with my work and I'm a very black-and-white person over the insuring days I wrote a letter in bits and pieces I forward it to you to see what you your thoughts are on the matter please let me know.
My cousin always tells me I'm too drastic.
Dear Mark. 28 December 2018
A detailed summary of the work carried out by me on your Omega Watch. Cal 911.
————————————————————-
Mark! I wrote this after I read your letter titled Disappointed on 21 December 2018. I too am extremely despondent.
So I am sending this. I am still in a very melancholy state and This utter desolation has not left my mind.
————————————————————
Hello Mark. 21 December 2018
From the moment I started stripping this watch down, I noticed serious abnormalities.
I thought to myself, well jump in at the deep end you’ll find out what the problems are once you have cleaned the watch and started assembly.
Within three days of the first partial assembly and checking to see that what is assembled is functioning correctly, I noticed there was a serious problem with the mainspring barrel.
As it is you’re unable to see the barrel once it has been assembled because of all the work and bridging that is upon it.
So began and epitaph of my work,
I took everything apart again after checking all the wheels and all the other pieces of equipment under the microscope and then, man! oh man! did I find the problem, which I corrected.
By this time I was at the end of my second week on the watch.
I did not know it then. but for the next two months I was going to live and breathe and dream and have nightmares on this watch I got to the point where I didn’t even feel like getting up in the morning to go to the bench,
In the workshop to look at this watch to see if it was going again because it was going and stopping and going and stopping. it would go for three days and stop and I thought this is never-ending. I am married to this watch.
Of course during those weeks and months that I spent on it I found it was heavily magnetised every single part had to be demagnetised many times and reassemble to see if it was going with the wheels in.
Then the timing and the constant checking to make sure it would go the required distance, of about three days each time you work on it. Other work was done such as drilling the main plate to take out a broken screw, and new screw had to be made, handmade of course.
Also I sent you a picture of the barrel. With the screw that after five attempts I finally achieved because it was so tiny on the mainspring barrel which was finally ok.
Then came the putting of the hands and the dial, I had trouble with the Hands very limited clearance for some of the hands you couldn’t pass a hair between them. Like the second hand and the 24 hour GMT hand.
Other parts in the watch had, and especially the hands have suffered from metal fatigue over the ensuing years. Which with the coefficient of expansion the changes of temperature always made the hands go up and down, consequently one hand or the other would be touching as they were passing,
Also the intermediate minute trip wheel had a number of faces of that wheel damaged by ware which meant that sometimes when the unit was on stopwatch, the minute trip wouldn’t pass through and would stop the watch completely.
There was no adjustment on this and I could not realigned it. The only alternative was to replace all the hands as well as the minute trip wheel and anything that was necessary.
After all, this watch is 54 years old. There was also a note which they used to put out on these watches but they stop doing it.
and that was, the stopwatch should never be continually in action it should only be use for the necessary time of operation of what your timing. And then disengaged.
—————————————————————
A note on Omega. I myself did a lot of catch up courses on Omega watches, at the Omega establishment in Melbourne. In the 1970s and 1980s.
Over the years Omega where reigning in the ability for watchmakers to obtain spare parts for their watches as the years went on there was myself and one other person in Australia still in entitled to get parts from Omega but upon my retirement that ceased.
————————————————————-
I make no excuses, I have never encountered a watch like this with so many pitfalls.
I can honestly say that I spent three months of my life working on this watch. I lived and breathed and sweated over this time peace. Never let it be said that I take money under false pretences and I shall return the money to you in February.
You will unfortunately, if you wish, have to send it to Omega, they will send it to Switzerland.
but the work I have done does not need to be re-done or carried out again. You only need the parts I have suggested.
Initial Assessment
What a watch!!
New Barrel Screw
Edited:
