The watch on the right was sent to Bienne for a full Omega service, some years before I bought it. I bought it on ebay a few years ago, for the value of the movement and case at the time. ($2300). I think worth more now. I await a nice dial, bezel and handset.

The one of the left, er, didn't go anywhere. Until I got it that is. And it cost a lot more.

I have heard Omega in Switzerland is more sympathetic to older watches now, but I still would not feel comfortable sending to them until I see more sympathetic treatment of vintage watches.

 

I have spent a life in watchmaking and seen many changes in fashion and desirability, from the introduction of quartz watches. I have been honoured to meet George Daniels and Kurt Klaus personally. I have worked for Omega for over thirty years and possibly overhauled many more 321s than any other living watchmaker. As a consequence, I cannot criticise an approach I have been taught since I was young.
Gentlemen, whatever you may think, these watches were born as good, robust and reasonably priced timekeepers. And the guideline has always been to bring them back, at any service, to their original specifications. This has always meant to change bezels, hands, dials, crowns, pushers and movement parts in order to deliver a watch performing in accordance to its original specifications.
Now the trend seems to consider these timepieces on the same level of a minute repeater with a cloisonne dial. Obviously this is not the case, but I do not judge such a trend, which might go on forever or collapse in the future, who knows.
But at the same time I must spend a word to defend the way of working of many of us who were simply following a protocol, which I am still not able to consider wrong.
Cheers.
Maurice

 

Nothing wrong about it really - just a difference in perspective / preference. Different facets of a same passion.

 

In any business, the customer is always right.
If you don't get that, you lose your customers.

 

That is a very fair point and the majority of owners would always want it so.

It is only us watch nerds who cry about it and who knows how many ten year old watches today will be considered collectible in thirty years time. Would you really send your 5 year old AT in for a service and say, "Whatever you do, don't change any of the visible parts. I don't care if it isn't waterproof."?

 

"I was just following orders".

Now where have I heard that defense before?

Bingo.

However, I don't think the Swiss, regardless of which brand, care about losing a customer or two. They have their business model, and nobody, NOT EVEN THE SUPREME COURT OF AMERICA, will tell them how to do things. It's their way or the highway, and if you've followed events in the industry for the last 5 or 6 years you'd realize the Swiss don't want independent watchmakers to exist.

 

Thanks for going there. I thought I was going to have to, but you beat me to it.

 

It wasn't meant as a critism, per se.

It was meant as an observation, and my point is only that if I wish to preserve the value on my vintage speedmaster, I hesitate still to send it to Omega.

I fully understand the attitude of the original factory when sent a watch is to return it capable of doing the best service they can.

Just look at the astronauts watches, many of which while being historically important, do not carry their original parts, as they were replaced by Omega in order to maintain them at their highest possible performance.

Omega has not made it clear to me, or the vintage community in general, that they want to cater to us.

I would be happy to hear what the official position is.

 

He who owns the watch, makes the decisions...period.

 

I thought I had heard that too.

Thank you for participating. It helps to have some inside perspective. I guess I understand the philosophy, and I have just sent a watch off that I approved more intervention than I normally would (dial cleaning, not replacement).

However, even more than destroying the monetary value of my Speedmaster, replacement parts would take the smile off my face every time I looked at it. Those old parts are the reason I enjoy the watch so much.

Hear, hear.

I fear most the cutting off of parts or forcing certain movements back to Switzerland for service if parts are needed. I know Omega is not alone here, but this is going affect me in a much bigger way than with my other watches.

 

I would appreciate it if the service center let you know what was to be replaced. Many times people get watches from their relatives and start to get into the watch hobby. At first they are excited and quickly send it off for a service which Omega restores to new with new parts. The owner is happy for a quick moment and wears it. Then upon reading more and more on the internet realizes the horrible mistake. Now I'm not saying Omega is at fault because they have a protocol and need to ensure a two year warranty.

 

I had a watch to the service center in toronto. They examined it and came back with a recommendation for an overhaul and some other parts, dial, hands, etc. I declined and they crossed them off the list and marked it as 'customer declined' - after trying hard to convince me they should be replaced.

I don't know what would happen if the watch had to go to Bienne, but in the local shop, they seemed ok with not replacing parts if the customer doesn't want them replaced...

 

For me doing that is simply destroying the soul of any watch , though can understand that someone prefers to restore to "like new" condition I am not of the same opinion

 

I appreciate Maurice taking the time to shed some light on the protocols of watch repair at Omega. If he were working at Lange, a German watch maker, a reference to Nazi Germany would be out of order and not funny.

The fact that Omega and Maurice are Swiss renders these disparaging remarks completely disgusting and beneath this forum. I have vacationed in Switzerland many times. They are not, and have never been, Germans. The Swiss Confederation has always been strictly neutral and their mountains and lakes are wonderful places filled with hard working, conscientious people.

 

The Swiss Banks also profited from the war by "being neutral" and taking fees from the Nazis for storing stolen art and other treasures. In the modern world, couldn't they be charged with "accessory to murder after the fact"?

Forgot about that, did we? Aaaah, revisionist history!

[EDIT - I removed the sentence that said I was done because obviously Gemini wants to engage me]

 

And what does any of this have to do with this Swiss watchmaker, Maurice?

 

I only made allusion to the phrase to make a point. You took it to the next level.

So, do you think Jewish families that lost heirlooms, fortunes, and most of their relatives think of the Swiss as "neutral" or more like the Nazi's fence for stolen goods?

Truth depends on your point of view.

EDIT: I believe it's called "aiding and abetting".

 

If you feel this strongly, why do you collect Swiss watches?

 

I personally would have a lot less of an issue with the replacement of parts if Omega actually used original parts every time. Instead, they use whatever parts are laying around that might fit, and they may or may not look anything like what the watch originally came with. THAT, in my eyes, is the problem. If Omega was replacing those old 321's with new, but identical to the original, dot-over-90 bezels, tritium hands, applied tritium dials, etc., then it would be a different story in my view.