Reply With QuoteThey can be good like that.
Congratulations, on the free service and the Tuesday.
Back in 2012 I bought a new orange bezel 42mm Planet Ocean with the 8500 movement. I loved the look, the profiles of the lugs, how it looked like a development of the SM300. It became my go to watch for probably the next six months or so. I then began to notice the bulk of the watch, in particular how heavy it was.
Over the next few years I wore the watch less and less, largely because of the thickness and bulk. It’s become a watch that I wear once in a blue moon.
Turn the clock forward to August this year when my Speedy Tuesday has arrived and I need to go and collect: well I can’t really rock up wearing a Rolex can I? So out comes the PO, probably the first time I’ve worn it for months.
Later that evening when getting ready for bed I notice that the PO is an hour slow. So I think “muppet, you’ve worn this wrong all day”. So I reset the time and move on. The following evening the time is an hour behind again. Something ain’t right!
Seems that it’s working fine until we get to 9.00pm. The hour hand won’t advance beyond that time when running normally. Undo the crown to position one for advancing the hour independently, roll it forward to 22.00, push the crown back in and the hand jumps back one hour. Repeat the process at 23.00 and I get the same result, back one hour. Advance the hour hand past midnight and everything is fine.
Try the same procedure at 09.00 and all is fine, the watch works as it should. Advance it beyond midday and all is good until 21.00. So I tried winding the watch on from the second position, watch hacked and hour & minute hands adjusting. The hands move fine until 21.00 where the minutes advance whilst the hour sticks at 9 o’clock and refuses to move forward.
Not very impressed, thinking I’m going to have to ship it off for a service. Anyway, having spoken with the Omega Business Development Manager about delivery of my Speedy Tuesday previously I decided to send him an email outlining the problem and asking him to forward to the Service Department.
In my collection I have five Omega’s and three Rolex plus some lesser brands. Like many people on TZ I wear watches in rotation. Some get worn more frequently than others. I estimated that the PO has been worn for probably less than 18 months total wear. My comment to Omega was that I expected the watch would need a service after five years if I wore it everyday and if it had received a hard life. The fact that I estimated less than two years total wear and it had never even got wet in that time that it had failed to live up to expectation. I was hoping for a goodwill gesture.
A few days later I took a phone call from the Service Manager at the Omega Service Centre in Southampton saying they needed to get the watch in and take a good look before they could decide on a course of action. They sent me prepaid RMSD packaging to ship it back to them.
Three weeks later I get a call saying they are doing a full service foc as a gesture of goodwill. Well I was gobsmacked. I was hopeful of a contribution such as I buy the parts and Omega do the labour, or a 50/50 split on the costs. But free of charge...wow!
Last week my Planet Ocean arrived back with me. Repaired fully restored back to as it was the day I bought it. I have to say it looks fabulous. So thank you Omega Service Centre.
Problem I have now is do I keep it or flip it? I didn’t wear it much anyway, and I ain’t feeling the love right now. Since it came back I haven’t even put it on.
They can be good like that.
Congratulations, on the free service and the Tuesday.
It's just a matter of time...
Wow that’s great!
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They are a good bunch. I had my 2254 serviced by them and soon after managed to damage the bezel. They kindly replaced it and were very light on me with the cost. Watch back good as new.
I too have heard good things about Omega. Very good of them but don't flip it; If it was fine sat there for all that time, it'll be nice to keep it amongst your watches.
Or flip it immediately ;)
It's just a matter of time...
I'm in this camp. If you only wore it because you felt you should when going to the Omega shop...Originally Posted by Omegamanic
Omega Service Centre at Southampton have in my experience been very good.
On one occasion a few years back I had a Seamaster 2252 serviced.
Around 12 months on the seconds hacking stopped working so it went back under guarantee. Since it had also picked up a few marks over the previous year so I asked if they could polish the case and clasp.
The AD came back with a quote for around £300 which they said was the price from Omega and if I'd got a problem take it up with them and gave me their number.
I called them up and Omega said that they had only quoted for the non guarantee work polishing the case and bracelet at around £60.00.
Long and short they volunteered to do the work direct and invoice me direct for £60.00 to which I agreed.
They then they came back and said that they weren't even charging for the polishing.
The watch came back looking fantastic and I was blown away with their approach to customer service going some way above and beyond.
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I had a 42mm PO 8500 and loved everything about it until one day I read a review from someone who said it was too thick and heavy. I looked at mine and suddenly thought the same. From that point on I couldn’t ignore the fact it sat nearly 2cm off my wrist when I wore it on a NATO! I struggled with the decision to sell it as it was always meant to be a keeper for me (I’m not a collector and the 8500 was by far the most expensive watch I owned) but in the end it had to go. When I finally did decide to sell I went straight to the PO 39.5mm as it is slightly slimmer. The size was great but I didn’t like the shininess of the new ceramic bezel. A week ago I got a Tudor Pelagos and on first impressions I’m very happy with it.
Long story short, but if that doubt has already crept into your mind, then it probably won’t go away. I’d sell it. It’s not going to get any thinner over time!
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Isn’t anyone curious to know what’s actually wrong with the watch?
This is a very strange problem, I can’t understand what’s gone on with the movement for it to behave like this and I’d be asking for an explanation. Is the 8500 prone to an unusual type of problem?..........I have my suspicions that the hr setting function is to blame.
It always surprises me that people don’t ask these questions; maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s an age thing. I grew up in the days when everything was repairable and it was natural curiosity to know what had gone wrong when anything needed fixing.
This is more than the watch ‘needing a service’ !
Paul
I did ask for an explanation of what the problem was. The Service Manager, who is not a watchmaker, said most likely a lubrication issue, the oils drying out or insufficient in the first instance causing wear or something to stick. It seemed plausible enough to me. I guess that frictional forces increase when the watch approaches the time for the date wheel to advance?
On the paperwork there are a list of parts most of which are gaskets etc but along with Hour wheel H2 2.03, Yoke, Setting Lever Jumper and Kit Hands.
Seeds of doubt were sown with me when I wondered into the Rolex Boutique in Heathrow T5 and the Sales Assistant got me trying on various Datejusts and finally a gold Day Date. I then realised just how heavy the PO was.
Defintely an issue with some earlier ones, at least on two of the Ploprofs I had sent back and replaced - but that was because there is no quick set date, and the hour hands would then not engage the date change every 24 hours. Since then I’ve had no issues, and one of my oldest 8500 watches (another well worn Ploprof) has had no issues and still runs around 1 sec per day.
That said I had a similar issue with an early ceramic GMT.
It's just a matter of time...
That's quite a few parts to replace! Methinks they've had a bit of a design problem with these and I guess they've now made some modifications. I had an 8500 for a while and I never liked the advancing hr hand feature. I don`t know how it works but it didn`t impress me, it's another case of solving a problem that doesn`t really exist and I`d much prefer a tried and tested quickset date mechanism. Ironically, the date change/quickset on the ETA 2892 (aka Omega 1120, the basis for the 2500) doesn`t give any problems and it's seems very robust. Some of the ETA/Omega quartz use a similar system and that can give problems, but I don`t know if the design's the same or not
It's good that they've fixed this on a goodwill basis, but I think that's because they know the original design had issues. It happens, I`ve got Omega tech bulletins referring to early 70s Omega movements where modified parts are recommended. Thesedays I think they hush it all up a lot more and in some ways I don`t blame them. Car manufacturers do the same!
Paul
That's quite a few parts to replace! Methinks they've had a bit of a design problem with these and I guess they've now made some modifications. I had an 8500 for a while and I never liked the advancing hr hand feature. I don`t know how it works but it didn`t impress me, it's another case of solving a problem that doesn`t really exist and I`d much prefer a tried and tested quickset date mechanism. Ironically, the date change/quickset on the ETA 2892 (aka Omega 1120, the basis for the 2500) doesn`t give any problems and it's seems very robust. Some of the ETA/Omega quartz use a similar system and that can give problems, but I don`t know if the design's the same or not. It offers the advantage of altering the hr hand when travelling etc without stopping the watch, but the down side is the more laborious date setting procedure and that's more of a problem on a watch that's worn sparingly as part of a collection.
It's good that they've fixed this on a goodwill basis, but I think that's because they know the original design had issues. It happens, I`ve got Omega tech bulletins referring to early 70s Omega movements where modified parts are recommended. Thesedays I think they hush it all up a lot more and in some ways I don`t blame them. Car manufacturers do the same!
Paul
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 18th November 2017 at 13:28.
One of the features that I do like with the 8500 movement is the advancing hour hand independently from the minutes. I travel to Europe quite a bit so changing time zones in this fashion was particularly useful.
Now I think about it, it’s the most times that I’ve used the watch the past couple of years. Two day trips to one European City or another.
You would know more than most whether it is a good or bad idea from a watchmaking perspective of course but as you say, ETA have used the hour advance like this for a while, the ETA/Omega quartz 1538 has it and I think the module used with the 2892 in the SMP-GMT did something similar also. Duncan did a strip down on the quartz one on his website showing a magnetic slip clutch of some kind which seems like a decent solution to me, as long as it works of course. From memory, doesn't Rolex do something similar on the GMT-II/EXP II movements also? Or do they have both jumping hour and quickset date, can't remember!
Last edited by Padders; 18th November 2017 at 21:55.
No true quickest date on the 42mm Explorer II. Just a similar jumping hour hand to the 8500.
It's just a matter of time...
I have a Tissot with a quartz ETA 251.272, with hour advance. In fact it is one of the main reasons I bought the watch over 20 years ago, as I was starting to travel on business at the time. To me it's very useful and works really well.
I’m also a fan of Omega Service Centre and use them for all my wife’s and my Omegas.
Just had had my Seamaster 120M back from its 5 year service and it’s looking pristine.
Well Paul you are in luck, I'm here to tell you that it's not a unique problem because remarkably I have just yesterday sent my PO 8500 back to Omega for the same problem. The hour hand would not pass 9 during normal timekeeping but strangely it would when using the hour hand advance. Mine is a 2015 model so under warranty, because of that they say they will prioritise it. If I get some decent feedback I'll be sure to let you know.
Hats off to omega. I really like to see manufacturers step up and stand behind their products. All to many will do anything to pass the buck.
If I was in your position I would sell. Lack of use and knowing the watch is in great shape should help sell it and whomever buys it knows they are getting a solid watch.
That's really good to hear from Omega. Very reassuring for when I need to service my SMP. I'll definitely make sure to go to the Southampton Service Centre.
That's what you want from a luxury brand and having it serviced by them. It's in their interest after all. A little bit of goodwill is a good investment on Omega's part in terms of customer retention for both continued servicing and additional purchases.
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