I don't think vintage watches are for you sir. I have quite a few and I'd have been perfectly happy with 'spot on' as a description of 10 seconds a day. They're for the aesthetic and the history anyway. Accurate timekeeping is an unexpected bonus!
Hood
I am not backtracking. My position is simple. If you own a decent watch such as an old Omega, you have a moral duty to look after it and have it maintained by the best people possible.
The best people are Omega or one of their approved agents. If that is controversial, then I just give up.
I have never sold a watch in my life, but if I were to ever sell one, the buyer would be assured that they are buying a watch that has had the best possible care because I use OEM.
The great Mick has spoken..........I am not worthy!
My stash of vintage Omega parts will go on ebay, my collection of vintage Omegas will all be sent to Omega UK for a thorough service....never mind the expense, I shall not sleep easy till this task is complete.
It’s a question of morality, these poor old watches have been subjected to my inept ham-fisted efforts and they clearly deserve better.
The guy’s a star!
Walter,
It's nothing personal but I have the right to chose who I want to service my watches. I want the best people and that means, in this case, Omega.
If I bought a watch that had just been serviced by you, it would still go straight immediately into Omega . Not that I don't trust you, but I want the people with the parts, the equipment, the resources and the training to do the job and there is nothing wrong in that.
Do Omega even service their own old watches?
It's just a matter of time...
There's something very special about needlessly choosing to address someone by name, and then getting it wrong.
That’s your opinion. When it comes to vintage Omegas though, most people with experience would disagree.
Paul (Walter ) serviced a 1964 constellation for a friend and got it running to within 5spd. Owned from new, it had been serviced by Omega mainly until they did a very poor job. He was very happy with Paul’s work and won’t send it anywhere else in future.
IMHO, it’s far better to send something like this to someone who’s passionate about the brand rather than having it passed through a corporate production line with the minimum of interest in the actual watch.
My vote goes to Walter!
I disagree with Mick. The Omega service centre will operate like a Rolex or other service centres, replacing stuff left right and centre to get it as close to today's standards as possible.
Sometimes someone with a valuable vintage piece (say an early 60s Speedmaster for example) wants the movement serviced, but doesn't want any of visible parts replacing, rare dial, hands, crown etc. In that case far better to send it to an expert like Simon Freese who knows what he is doing and will discuss your needs with you, rather than risk giving it to some battery hen repairer in an Omega commercial unit who doesn't understand the first thing about why the watch in their hands is special.
Yes certainly. But ...
Unless you specifically send it for restoration to Bienne Switzerland, as I already said the national service centres here and in the US will routinely replace any parts with significant patina for modern versions using Superluminova etc. It is a sure fire way to destroy the charm and value of a vintage Omega. Mick really hasn’t a clue on this and just isn’t listening. I know of cases where watches have been sent in with specific instructions to not change parts and these have been ignored as they have strict policies on returning the watch in a condition which won’t get a warranty recall or suffer water ingress. It is also a 4 figure process and you get a watch back worth less. Stupid move. See all those redials on eBay? Many were performed by Omega themselves.
Last edited by Padders; 15th December 2018 at 10:04.
This thread could stagger on until Christmas. Next we could have why vintage Omegas aren't as valuable as Rolex.I had a gorgeous Seamaster DeVille, my first watch, bought new in 1966 for £35. It lasted twenty-five years, without service, then the hands fell off and I threw it in the bin.
I should have saved-up for a Submariner. But I'd never heard of one.
Writing this has reminded me that I've been interested in watches for half a century. Quartz was the only real change.
Last edited by paskinner; 15th December 2018 at 10:21.
'moral duty'
Back on topic. Is it Ok for a recently serviced 60-70 year old movement to be out by 10s a day? Well its not unexpected. Ideally you would want it regulated to gain rather than lose as on a hacking or backhacking movement it is easier to allow for but as I say not unexpected. Would I describe a watch doing so as spot on? Probably not but nor would I expect the buyer to mind if I said it was losing a little, if he did I would find another buyer. To be fair, unless the seller had a timing machine or wore the watch solidly for a week, he is unlikely to have been able to form a precise view of the timekeeping anyhow, so possibly gave a vague reassurance based on an overnight observation.
Last edited by Padders; 15th December 2018 at 11:42.
I can see youve had it adjusted to minus 4 per day by a Omega trained tech.. wouldnt this invalidate the warranty with that watch and why didnt you get it adjusted to run in the plus range!
You are selling it in SC and until someone asked you didnt mention the accuracy,,
Im dissapointed to be honest and feel you should be totally upfront with your add considering this thread
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Back on topic..........timekeeping has apparently improved from -10 secs-day to -4. Does that mean the original seller will get the apology he deserves? Watch was serviced in March, still under guarantee.........where was the problem?
Gross over-reaction from the OP, but its turned into an interesting/ entertaining thread.........and my new forum nick-name is now Walter which amuses me greatly
Mick reminds me of a guy I worked with years ago named Rigby, he always claimd to know everything and was never wrong..........we called him Rigsby* to wind him up!
Paul(akaWalter)
*for those too young to know, Rigsby was the landlord in the classic comedy ‘Rising Damp’
It’s quite worrying for me what the OP is expecting out of an old watch purchased on here.
I’ve literally just drafted out a sale advert and it’s stuff like this that really puts me off.
As private sellers of old mechanical objects (which at that age are essentially more jewellery to me than precision time keeping instruments) are we really to be treated like we’re a branch of Goldsmiths selling a brand new watch and to take it back at the drop of a hat!
One thing people always forget about these old watches is what’s accurate on one man’s wrist may be totally different on another man’s wrist. Position of the watch, activity of the wearer, how long it’s on or off the wrist, if they hand wind it as well as it auto winding, even temperature!
This is why I always chuckle when I see threads about an SKX running +/- 2 sec a day, it’s just the perfect storm for that exact watch. Give it to another guy and they’ll be complaining it’s not accurate because their routine is totally different to the other guy.
As someone mentioned above, get a quartz watch if you want accurate! Heck, even a brand new COSC Rolex could be 2.5 minutes out at the end of the month. These are miniature marvels of engineering but they are not deadly accurate.
I can't believe people expect old watches to be as accurate as they do. I have several vintage watches and would never expect the kind of accuracy some on here do. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
[QUOTE=oldoakknives;4968017]I can't believe people expect old watches to be as accurate as they do. I have several vintage watches and would never expect the kind of accuracy some on here do. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.[/QUOTE
I’ve never owned a vintage watch prior to this so didn’t know what to expect, hence why I asked the seller the question in the first place
For vintage, I’ll take the old chap who perhaps worked for Omega thirty years ago, but now happily runs a small jewellery shop and fixes watches from time to time for the pleasure of it and a chance to chat with the like minded. Des in Horsham was great until he retired but there’s a few more in Sussex. I can post a couple of recently serviced vintage to support my opinion...
[QUOTE=boundary546;4968024]I think enough have said it, you’ve most likely got a gem. In fact, if you want perfection then, with a bit of effort, you can have it. First, work out how it behaves in a variety of positions: Crown up, crown down and so on. Some will be faster, some slower. Then, when you take the watch off overnight you can leave it resting in a position that will tend to bring it back to spot on. It’s quite a rewarding way to interact with your watch and can offer thermocompensated like accuracy with diligence.
Apropos of nothing, when a seller on ebay says 'serviced by a retired Omega Trained Watchmaker' it is routinely bullsh*t and generally means 'I bought this this watch last weekend at a car boot sale'. It is a terrible thing to claim in my book and guarantees poor performance. I have purchased watches from people claiming this and on more than one occasion when put on the timing machine they are running like a dog and when opened look rough. If you are such a watchmaker please call me out and correct me, otherwise I will continue to consider this claim as a badge of sh*te.
As you were.
Once a watch has been bounced through the postal system, its often not spot on anymore.
Quite frequently for older non-shock protected watches too from online stories - also potential of magnetising.
But I still have my doubts that an older movement like the one in this watch would be consistently inside COSC without a substantial amount of parts and work - and presumably some would never hit that level of accuracy. Today’s production techniques are by and large to much greater tolerances.
Last edited by Omegamanic; 15th December 2018 at 23:20.
It's just a matter of time...
Has the timekeeping improved?
Because I don't think you are being remotely obsessive enough about this.
Can you tell us a little about your testing methodology? Firstly, what timebase are you using? Are you wearing it constantly and if not are you noting the rest position and time at rest, because it will be keeping different time at rest compared to on the wrist. Have you relied on the autowind or also wound it regularly to make sure that it is fully wound?
Obviously, to make such an insanely strong claim as 'the timekeeping has improved', You'll have run it consistently under the same conditions for a week or so, carefully photographing the watch and your timebase of choice, to avoid any error. and kept a spreadsheet of the data you generated. Then after the service and having allowed a few days for the watch to settle, I assume you repeated the testing regime identically allowing for confounding variables like the changing temperature and so on?
I'm not just being stroppy:
https://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/wh...ve-283585.html
Because for all you know at this point, the watchmaker might have accidentally put the watch out of beat making it much less stable. However just by coincidence, it was already running fast and the instability has made it randomly slower. As a result, on your one quick 24 hour test you got a single anecdotal reading which was misleading. What you want from a watch is stability first and that can only be established over time. Even Omega can't work out precisely how you use your watch because they don't know your gait, how you hold your hands and so on. You might move in a way that interferes with the balance and so on. They don't know.
In short, you really are not in a position to say much about your new watch yet. You have a couple of anecdotal data points and a watch that, when set up perfectly, can be very precise indeed, but which takes some getting to know. I have an opinion about it which you can read here:
https://forums.watchuseek.com/f20/overall-best-omega-automatic-calibre-324663.html
I concede I'm being a tiny bit snarky, but you really should give the movement a bit more time. You haven't even mentioned the tick!
Last edited by M4tt; 15th December 2018 at 23:39.
Without reading through the whole thread as I’m pretty sure what I’m saying has been said already. 10 secs for a non cosc watch is spot on - why would you expect better? Especially considering it’s a vintage!! If you’re OCD about time keeping non COSC vintage isn’t for you.
No, you're missing the point. Since the ludicrous "strapgate" under your previous user name there have been countless dramas, and - lo and behold - here's another. I'd suggest that you stick to new watches in future (seriously) because the vagaries of the used market don't seem to sit very happily with you.
What a carry on 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I’ve never owned a vintage watch prior to this so didn’t know what to expect,
I'm not sure that a member here can really claim that. Have you never opened a thread about a vintage watch?
I've never owned a brand new Rolex but after my time spent here I have a good idea of what to expect of one re accuracy.
OP has been looking into SM300 for a while, starting with this post under his former ID rossi46vr (thanks to LTF for hat tip).
However, shortly after he did purchase a Blancpain FF from Tony and ended up returning it because of an additional hole which Tony had punched into the sailcloth strap. Tony offered a return, but rossi/boundary descended into a complete meltdown about a few hours delay in Tony's reimbursement and eventually got himself banned in the progress (H&V thread deleted).
One day later, new member boundary546 joinded the forum.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Oh, I remember now. The strap looked like a dogs dinner to be fair though.