I've got a 2225.80 Seamaster Chronograph, which was just serviced by Omega.


The bezel was heavily scratched before service and Omega did a pretty good job of buffing it, but obviously some scratch marks remain. The watch is on eBay and I've had a couple of messages asking about the cost of replacing it. I have tried several avenues to try to ascertain the cost of this, but - as with seemingly all things when you're talking about Omega - the responses vary. My Authorised Dealer in Belfast seemed to think that the watch would need to go back to Omega and have the bezel replaced as part of a full service, which is clearly nonsense. I tried Simon at STS but being Saturday there was no answer. I then called two Omega Boutiques in London. The Westfield branch said they "thought" it would be about £230 to order and install a new bezel, but were unsure. Totally unhelpful. Then I called the Oxford Street branch who said it would be £205. I just don't understand why there is this variance in responses, even in OBs. It's a simple request. The part needs to be ordered and installed. That's it. Honestly, I'm at my wit's end with Omega at the minute. There's no transparency. Nothing is straightforward.

 

If your AD doesn't have someone who can do the work, and doesn't have the proper tools to do this, then the answer they are going to give you is to send it to Omega. If it was really just serviced at Omega I would be surprised if they said it needed another service.

An OB may have a watchmaker or boutique technician that could do the work, but that depends on how the boutique is manned as not all of them are setup with these people. It's possible that because it's a weekend the people who could look the part number up on the Omega Extranet and price it out with installation are simply not there.

I know everyone expects instant answers to anything they might want to know no matter what day of the week or time of day it is, but really this isn't a life or death situation. Call back on Monday and you will likely get more concrete answers...

 

My AD has a full in-house servicing department. It's the place to go to for luxury watches in Northern Ireland. But getting anything done seems to involve it being "sent back to Omega" and having it done as part of a full service. It's ridiculous..

 

Your AD is an independent business, correct? If they have watchmakers on staff but still send the watches to Omega for small repairs, that would be an issue with the AD, not necessarily Omega. I can tell you it's not an Omega policy to send a watch to the service centre for a full service just to change a bezel. It's a 5 minute job...

 

Exactly Al. A 5 mnute job. But the OBs aren't independent businesses. So why the discrepancy in quoted prices? Asking for a quote to do the job is pretty straightforward, or so I would have thought. Apparently not.

 

Regents street is currently the only OB in London with a watchmaker... maybe try them?

The others are guessing because they don't know... they'd send the watch to Omega in Southampton, who would then quote.

Might be worth calling omega customer services on Monday.

 

Send it to Swiss Time Services in Essex, they are an authorised repairer with a parts account. Assuming the chrono bezel is a similar price to the 3 hander version (it is a different part though) then you can get it swapped for around £250 all in, of which ~£50 is the part repair fee and £10 is the return postage. The part is actually around £190 and it would have been best to have it swapped during the service but it sounds like whoever forwarded it didn't give you that option, meaning you are now having to pay twice for the labour.

ps Simon Freese is no longer with STS and has set up as an independent, he may be worth trying but may have trouble sourcing you a new bezel.

 

I can't speak for the OB's that you are referring to, but some are not owned directly by Omega, but are owned and run by large AD's. I've already explained that the people who may be the only ones who can give you an answer might not be there on a weekend.

I can't really understand why this is causing such a foot stomping hissy fit to be honest. You have a range of prices to work with, and for the purposes of those asking about the cost for your sale, give them the higher number and you would be safe. But it seems like you are looking for a reason to be bothered about this.

Anyway, good luck with the sale...

 

I'm not having a hissy fit Al. I'm just exasperated that getting a definitive price from official outlets for a simple job is so difficult.

 

Many thanks Padders.

 

Again it probably isn't if you call back on Monday...

 

I will. Cheers..

 

If you're selling, and people who are interested in buying want to know what a new insert will cost... I'd personally be suggesting they go find out...

 

It's not your job to price parts for buyers. Just ignore the message(s) or tell them to find out themselves.

 

I try to answer any queries I get as accurately as I can. And TBH if I didn't get the price I'm asking I'd be perfectly happy to keep the watch, in which case I would probably get the bezel replaced anyway if it wasn't exorbitantly expensive. Should have had it done at service but stupidly didn't..

 

Incidentally, what's the deal with "inserts"? I'm under the (maybe mistaken) impression that you can't just swap out the blue / black part but need to replace the whole piece. In which case, why do these inserts - which are all over eBay etc, genuine or not - exist?

 

Omega doesn't sell the bezel inserts separately in most cases. In the past they did for the aluminum inserts, but they have not sold them for many years now. They do sell some of the ceramic inserts separately now.

The insert on the bezel you have is easily removed and replaced...but the inserts for sale are pretty much all fake...

 

Cheers Al.

 

Hi Padders, just FYI I just spoke to STS and the guy quoted me £330. Regent Street OB quoted £212.60....

 

Ouch! In theory they should be the same price or similar to Omega themselves since they charge the same for the parts. There is a chance they have upped their prices then. Sorry for the bum steer. The OB price sounds reasonable, £190 for the bezel and ~£20 for the fitting.