Where does Omega service the 50th anniversary Speedmaster Snoopy?

[Cabinetman]

About two weeks ago my year and a half old Snoopy stopped running. I wore it on a Wednesday after a full wind and put it on again on Thursday and realized mid-morning the time was off and the second hand had stopped. I tried to wind the watch, but there was a lot of resistance. I only wear this watch about 3 or 4 times a month, and I didn't drop it or hit it on anything.

Last weekend I dropped the watch off at the Omega Boutique in Dallas for warranty service. When I asked them where it would go for service, I got conflicting information. The manager thought it would go to Seattle while one of the associates was certain it would go back to Switzerland. Any idea who is right?

 

[YY77]

I'm guessing Seattle as it is just a (bog)standard 3861 with an extra wheel which drives the hand on the caseback. The OSC's should have trained watchmakers by now who can service this co-axial movement as it is a 4 year old movement.

 

[Cabinetman]

YY77

I'm guessing Seattle as it is just a (bog)standard 3861 with an extra wheel which drives the hand on the caseback. The OSC's should have trained watchmakers by now who can service this co-axial movement as it is a 4 year old movement.

That is what I was thinking. I knew the movement wasn't anything special. When the boutique manager told me it could be up to 12 months if they send the watch to Switzerland I was hoping Seattle could handle it.

 

[YY77]

C Cabinetman

That is what I was thinking. I knew the movement wasn't anything special. When the boutique manager told me it could be up to 12 months if they send the watch to Switzerland I was hoping Seattle could handle it.

My A11 3861 also stopped running, it took only 3 weeks (EU).

 

[s2000_driver]

Only vintage and 321 speedmasters go back to Switzerland. Everything else goes to Seattle. It is true that any watch that goes to Switzerland takes a very long time. A friend of mine had a vintage flight master serviced which took almost a year to come back.

 

[Evitzee]

There have been a handful of Ed White New 321 watches on OF that needed warranty service, they went back to Bienne but were repaired and returned in around six weeks. Perhaps they fast track warranty claims, but the turnaround times were very reasonable.

 

[ErichPryde]

Seems like this is pretty thoroughly answered but I live in Washington and have frequented the Bellevue boutique a few times. I asked one time where they sent their modern watches to be worked on and they said they sent stuff just down the road to Seattle. Hope this helps!

 

[Cabinetman]

I went to the Dallas OB yesterday to pick up my wife’s AT that was getting a battery swap. I spoke to the manager about my Snoopy. He told me it was sent to Switzerland. He couldn’t get me any update on the turnaround time. He said he would know more once he got confirmation the watch was received.

I guess they haven’t trained the USA watch makers on how to deal with the animated case back. I know the movement isn’t anything special, but there must be a reason they won’t work on the watch in Seattle.

 

[Evitzee]

C Cabinetman

I went to the Dallas OB yesterday to pick up my wife’s AT that was getting a battery swap. I spoke to the manager about my Snoopy. He told me it was sent to Switzerland. He couldn’t get me any update on the turnaround time. He said he would know more once he got confirmation the watch was received.

I guess they haven’t trained the USA watch makers on how to deal with the animated case back. I know the movement isn’t anything special, but there must be a reason they won’t work on the watch in Seattle.

The animation on the Snoopy is simple and requires no extra expertise. I suspect they are sent back to Bienne at this point because the factory wants to learn if there are any field quirks to the two added rotating parts.

 

[Archer]

There’s no technical reason for them to go to Bienne.

 

[Cabinetman]

Evitzee

The animation on the Snoopy is simple and requires no extra expertise. I suspect they are sent back to Bienne at this point because the factory wants to learn if there are any field quirks to the two added rotating parts.

That explanation makes sense. Regardless, I just hope it doesn’t take forever to get it back.

 

[Sauzo]

C Cabinetman

I went to the Dallas OB yesterday to pick up my wife’s AT that was getting a battery swap. I spoke to the manager about my Snoopy. He told me it was sent to Switzerland. He couldn’t get me any update on the turnaround time. He said he would know more once he got confirmation the watch was received.

I guess they haven’t trained the USA watch makers on how to deal with the animated case back. I know the movement isn’t anything special, but there must be a reason they won’t work on the watch in Seattle.

My OB told me Snoopy goes to Seattle for service as it’s just a 3861 movement. The 321 goes to Bienne guessing because Omega doesn’t want to release the 321 parts outside the mothership.

 

[Archer]

C Cabinetman

That explanation makes sense. Regardless, I just hope it doesn’t take forever to get it back.

The 3861 is a local service movement - the added complications on the case back (if you can call them that) are irrelevant to where it's serviced. If they are sending it to Bienne, I suspect it's related to something else - for example the workload at the local service centers. I've seen other examples of regular watches being sent to Bienne because of this.

 

[Cabinetman]

Sauzo

My OB told me Snoopy goes to Seattle for service as it’s just a 3861 movement. The 321 goes to Bienne guessing because Omega doesn’t want to release the 321 parts outside the mothership.

This is what the Dallas OB manager told me as well. However, they did end up sending it to Switzerland based on the update I got a couple of days ago. It could be purely because the Seattle service center is overloaded and Omega is moving some work to lighten the load. It could be because my Snoopy is one of the few that has had an issue and they want to trouble shoot it in Switzerland. I don’t know. I just wanted to share my experience in case someone else with a Snoopy has to have warranty work performed.