Hello everyone, I was stupid enough to crack the LCD display (Omega part no. 10.014.06) on my 1666 C ana-digi quartz calibre of a 1st generation Speedmaster X-33, PIC 3290.50.00 / TS 386.1998.
Cousins list the spare as OME16661001406, "restricted by manufacturer" here: https://www.cousinsuk.com/category/filter/omega-movement-parts
According to a local German service centre, they can only send the whole watch to Switzerland - which seems very restricted indeed.
Why would the LCD have its Omega spare part number if the guys in Biel replace the whole caliber anyway?
Does anyone have an idea how I could get my hands on a 1001406 rather than sending the whole watch for a Swiss all-inclusive holiday?
Thanks - Marcus

 

You could find a watchmaker with an Omega parts account and see if they are able to source that item.

If they can't, then it's off to Omega I'm afraid.

 

Curious, how did you crack the LCD display? Was the movement out of the case at the time? Based on quotes shared on forums many years ago the cost of a new Calibre 1666 exceeds the cost of a full Omega service, by some margin. I'm confident the price has only gone up since.

 

I'm sure you are thinking of Paul at www.electric-watches.co.uk

 

They come up on ebay occasionally, but the cost is not that different to an omega service. Id go the Omega service route

 

Sorry for my lack of response and thanks for all replies.

@Bugbait : How did I crack the display? In short: Hubris.

Medium length version: I damaged it, outside the case, when removing the hands incompetently. Seeing a risk that Omega would refuse to provide a replacement, I did not want to rock the sinking boat and shout out the embarrassing full story…

The rather long version: I bought this 2nd hand watch a while ago, and I noticed that once in a while, the analog second hand was out of sync with the digital time. Observing more closely, it appeared this would happen when the watch was left in a cooler room, off the wrist. So I put it in the fridge and confirmed that the second hand would stop when the movement had cooled down - always in the same position. My diagnosis was that there was some dirt in the mechanical movement, maybe old lubrication, which would hold up the second hand stepper when cold. Then my hubris kicked in: In the first COVID lockdown, I had started to repair old mechanical watches as a hobby. After some 20 mechanical movements I reasonably successfully disassembled, cleaned, fixed, re-assembled and lubricated, I felt watchmaker enough to strip the 1666, give it a bath, some fresh Moebius 9014 (i.e. 9010 for the fridge) and be done with it. Finding the Omega 1666 technical guide gave me just the boost of confidence to take the movement out. I placed a protective sandwich of stiff material on the display/dial in order to remove the hands, one by one. The second hand, of which I expected most resistance, and minute hand went off fine. To get under the hour hand, I had to remove one layer of my sandwich cushion, and when applying just the tiniest amount of force through my Bergeon hand levers, the pressure was, apparently, enough to crack the display with a very subtle, but expensive sounding “click”. I never made it to the wheel train.

So, I had my Canossa moment, sent the (re-assembled) watch to Omega Germany, and they thankfully didn’t even ask how the display got damaged. They returned the watch to me today, it has a new display (most likely a whole new movement), it passes my fridge test with ease and the whole exercise did cost me EUR 500. Many thanks to Swatch Group Germany for an excellent job and not asking questions. My punishment is well deserved; well - at the end of the day, it would almost certainly have cost exactly the same (flat charge for quartz chronographs) had I just sent in the dirty movement. May this public confession serve as additional penance…

Lesson learned: When removing the hands from a 1666, use something like the Horotec(?) device which lifts them without touching the dial, or perhaps get a laser cut piece of really rigid sheet steel to work on with your Presto tool or hand levers (the widest ones you can find). I am sure Omega work instructions for the X-33, which may or may not exist, would say something like that. The display is ridiculously thin and delicate and when exposed, it will probably crack if you stare at it hard enough.

 

The new movement will hopefully last you a while. I haven't have mine serviced in some time. Think I've performed at least 3 battery changes myself since the last full service, possibly on 4th battery now. The seals would be my biggest concern but doesn't stop me from getting it wet

I'm fairly sure they don't service the movements and just drop a new unit in.

 

Omega lists the LCD display module (7221666B1001406), but the price is around $4k, and it also says to return the movement to Omega for servicing.

Generally these aren't repaired - they just replace the whole movement.

 

Ouch! Back when I had mine replaced the chatter on the forums was about USD800-950 odd for the part (on top full service fee) to have it replaced or upgraded during service. This was when the 1666C was beginning to show its head and accuracy freaks wanted that thermo-compensated goodness.

 

It's way cheaper to get the whole movement repalced...no it doesn't make sense...but not a lot about Omega parts pricing does right now.