Omega servicing

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Just a heads up - I’m not into watches as such, and know nothing about them.

I bought a Speedmaster Reduced (I am a skinny runt) from eBay about 15 years ago for £400. Yes, I know that’s a red flag.

I bought it as my parents (not well off) wanted to get me something to celebrate me getting a PhD, but a new one was out of their league, understandably. I did my research, and this one seemed to be real, and fortunately was subsequently confirmed as such by 3 Omega dealers (paranoia).

I’ve never had it serviced, and just used it ‘as a watch’, albeit not a daily one. Now that I have a bit of spare cash, and the poor thing is looking a *little* battered (various scratches to case and face, plus missing two of the button covers), I’ve sent it off to be serviced (£465, more than I paid for it lol!).

Dealer said they come back looking like new, so what do they actually do? Replace the face cover, polish the case etc., dismantle/reassemble internals?

Was quoted 15 week turnaround by the way.

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Jamescrs said:

It tells all on Omega's website

https://www.omegawatches.com/customer-service/inte...

I sent an old Seamaster off to be serviced around 6 years ago and it came back looking and working fantastically well, mine was gone about 15 weeks.
I have since bought a new Seamaster and would have no issue paying the cost again.

If you consider you have had 15 years of use from it and I assume not new when you bought it then it has done well really.

Yep, I’m not bothered about the cost as it stands, it’s served me well, looks great and my only other watch is a £20 Seiko. It was well used when I bought it as well, so to some extent it feels like I’m ‘buying’ a new Speedmaster very cheaply.

I have to confess wearing it whilst doing some angle grinding!

[ChevronB19]

Just a follow up on this. I sent (via an authorised Omega watch dealer) this watch to Omega in late August.

Quoted 3 month turnaround, and it’s *still* not back!

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Ziplobb said:

bloke here on the Isle of Wight I can put you in touch with who is a decent watchmaker and will be a fraction of what Omega charge. He does lots of trade work for the big dealers on the UK mainland

Thanks, but it’s already with them, but will bear it in mind for next time.

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OFORBES said:

I have just bought a Speedy Mk40 (wanted one for a long time, but always struggled to find a good one when I looked) I have looked through the Omega website and read all about their servicing and restoration services, and then I read this thread.

My nearest service centre is Aberdeen. Having read this thread, I am wondering, do the service centres send the watches off back to Switzerland or do they do them on-site, and if they do them on-site, are they still able to do a light restoration like they do when your watch is in Switzerland for 6 months?

OP here. Turns out mine went to an accredited service centre in the U.K., should get it back this week (7 months!).

Yes, they do the light restoration.

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Just to close this thread, op here.

As mentioned at the start, I’m not a watch collector or anything, this was a present from my folks when I (finally, after 5 years) got my PhD, so it’s special to me.

I finally got it back today after much chasing (originally quoted 12 weeks, actually took closer to 7 months). Went to an official Omega service centre in the UK.

Really happy, what was a slightly battered and abused watch (will now keep ‘for best’ as I don’t normally wear a watch) has come back looking brand new. No posh case, but I did get all the replaced parts back, and for some reason they added another 3 watch links to the bracelet, which the shop kindly took off for me (giving me the parts) for free.

I’m a skinny runt, hence the reduced.

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Gren said:

hilly10 said:

What was the final cost

Edited by hilly10 on Monday 6th March 19:40

£465 was quoted. It's usually an all inclusive cost regardless of what was wrong or needed replacing. A bargain if the case in this instance

Yep, £465 in total, including 2 year guarantee (I paid £50 deposit). Got all old bits back in a bag, which included a replacement back and glass, as well as various weird springs. Service was actually more than I paid for it secondhand, but it’s an important memory of my mum, so worth it. Got to say, it did come back looking brand new, and I promise never to use an angle grinder whilst wearing it again…

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NDA said:

apotek said:

I am a long way from convinced that servicing a still working watch for over £500 is worthwhile until the watch stops.

Totally agree.

It's pointless servicing a watch until it stops. A service and a repair are identical in terms of disassembly cleaning and reassembly - most broken/worn parts that need replacing are not actually that expensive when measured against the total cost.

Fair point - in my case it was due to it being broken and I’d been wearing it whilst using an angle grinder, plus doing mechanics whilst racing. It had also lost the crown caps (of that’s what they are called). So in my case, I consider it good value, but now that it is ‘for best’ it won’t be serviced again unless something goes badly wrong,