Omega Seamaster Battery Replacement
Discussion
I have a Seamaster which needs the battery replacing and the local Omega dealer said that I'd have to send it away to the official repairer at a cost of £40 and have to wait 3 weeks as they are busy.
Now, do I have to do this? I'm not worried about going diving with it, just swimming so could I go to the local jewellers or would they need special tools?
Now, do I have to do this? I'm not worried about going diving with it, just swimming so could I go to the local jewellers or would they need special tools?
Yeah, you will need to send it away. Mine has been done twice in the ten years I have had it. It gets sent to the Omega repair centre in Hampshire. Most jewellers won't do it themselves - it can't be guaranteed watertight unless you get it done properly. £40 and three weeks? Try £100 and six weeks... Its a nice watch, worth looking after!
Edited to add: You could send it to the repair place direct, it may be cheaper. The address is in the guarantee book that came with the watch.
Edited to add: You could send it to the repair place direct, it may be cheaper. The address is in the guarantee book that came with the watch.
Edited by david968s on Sunday 7th January 01:07
david968s said:
Yeah, you will need to send it away. Mine has been done twice in the ten years I have had it. It gets sent to the Omega repair centre in Hampshire. Most jewellers won't do it themselves - it can't be guaranteed watertight unless you get it done properly. £40 and three weeks? Try £100 and six weeks... Its a nice watch, worth looking after!
Edited to add: You could send it to the repair place direct, it may be cheaper. The address is in the guarantee book that came with the watch.
Edited to add: You could send it to the repair place direct, it may be cheaper. The address is in the guarantee book that came with the watch.
Edited by david968s on Sunday 7th January 01:07
£100 and six weeks!!!! The thing only cost £700. I'm not going diving so don't really need it pressure testing.
As someone else said, you should have gone for the Automatic movement which would have avoided this. But seriously, if you want the watch guarantee of watertightness maintained to its original standard, it has to be done by someone in a chamber that allows the watch to be sealed with a slight positive pressure. If however you only want to occasionally immerse the watch in shallow water, any reputable jeweler would do.
However I had a bad experience with a so called jeweler some years ago. I had a Seiko Titanium Chronograph which I got the battery changed in. All was okay at first but six months later I was in Cyprus and went in the sea. When I came out the watch had condensation in it and it stopped shortly afterwards, never to run again. Obviously I didn't have any comeback because of thye elapsed time so I put the watch aside and chalked it up to experience. A year or so later I opened the watch myself and to my horror the idiots had totally failed to replace the tiny rubber o ring seal on the back that should have been there.
However I had a bad experience with a so called jeweler some years ago. I had a Seiko Titanium Chronograph which I got the battery changed in. All was okay at first but six months later I was in Cyprus and went in the sea. When I came out the watch had condensation in it and it stopped shortly afterwards, never to run again. Obviously I didn't have any comeback because of thye elapsed time so I put the watch aside and chalked it up to experience. A year or so later I opened the watch myself and to my horror the idiots had totally failed to replace the tiny rubber o ring seal on the back that should have been there.
Edited by Roley130 on Thursday 26th April 14:54
I've made a video of how to change the battery on my Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra.
http://youtu.be/5dZSAYQmDO8
http://youtu.be/5dZSAYQmDO8
There's an awful lot of misinformation out there about water resistance on watches. As Caruso's video shows, it's not rocket science to change a battery so that the watch will still be as water resistant as it was before you opened it. All you need to do is ensure the back seal is undamaged and correctly positioned.
But doing that doesn't guarantee that the watch is still water resistant - especially as far as a watch repairer is concerned. Note that earlier I said "as water resistant as it was before you opened it".
If a customer walks in to me with his 200m rated dive watch, I have no way at all of knowing whether or not the back, crown and glass seals are still ok. He might even know that it steams up every time it rains, but he's unlikely to mention that.
If the back seal is faulty, I'll notice during the battery change and I'll replace it. But that still leaves the crown and the glass, either of which could have all the water resistance of a loofer for all I know.
By pressure testing I can not only confirm that all those seals are correctly in place and working, I can also confirm that they're working under extreme conditions far exceeding what it'll be subjected to in use. that gives good confidence that they'll continue to do their job for a reasonable time.
I never insist on testing watches, because I see it as the owner's choice - many heavily resistant watches never even see a rainstorm - but I go out of my way to make sure the customer understands that, without testing, it will only be as good as it was before he came in and I can't guarantee what that means in terms of resistance because it's not my watch.
Incidentally, in that video, it should have been a 395 (low drain) cell, not a 399. The 399 is a high drain, intended for things like alarms, chronos and backlights, and doesn't like being used in a low drain (time only) watch - there's a (slight) risk the seals will fail before it runs out of power
But doing that doesn't guarantee that the watch is still water resistant - especially as far as a watch repairer is concerned. Note that earlier I said "as water resistant as it was before you opened it".
If a customer walks in to me with his 200m rated dive watch, I have no way at all of knowing whether or not the back, crown and glass seals are still ok. He might even know that it steams up every time it rains, but he's unlikely to mention that.
If the back seal is faulty, I'll notice during the battery change and I'll replace it. But that still leaves the crown and the glass, either of which could have all the water resistance of a loofer for all I know.
By pressure testing I can not only confirm that all those seals are correctly in place and working, I can also confirm that they're working under extreme conditions far exceeding what it'll be subjected to in use. that gives good confidence that they'll continue to do their job for a reasonable time.
I never insist on testing watches, because I see it as the owner's choice - many heavily resistant watches never even see a rainstorm - but I go out of my way to make sure the customer understands that, without testing, it will only be as good as it was before he came in and I can't guarantee what that means in terms of resistance because it's not my watch.
Incidentally, in that video, it should have been a 395 (low drain) cell, not a 399. The 399 is a high drain, intended for things like alarms, chronos and backlights, and doesn't like being used in a low drain (time only) watch - there's a (slight) risk the seals will fail before it runs out of power
Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff