Omega Constellation - Problem with getting watch repaired

[hessa]

Hello, I'm a newbie on the forum so please forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong place.

I bought my wife an Omega Constellation in July last year at Mappin & Webb in Guildford. The watch has never kept good time, it was consistently gaining time over and above the stated tolerance of 6 seconds per day. I was told that it may well settle down and to try winding the watch etc. I did this but it didn't help and watch was returned to Omega last October. I got the watch back a couple of months later supposedly re-calibrated. It hadn't resolved the problem and I took the watch back to Goldsmiths (part of same group a M&P) to send it back to Omega as they are closer to where I live. I also advised that the date function could no longer be adjusted on the watch and could this be looked at. Goldsmiths tell me that Omega say the watch has sustained a heavy impact to the crown and this is why the crown is not operating the date function correctly. They say this is not covered by the warranty and that the repair will cost £230. Goldsmiths seem happy to accept this from Omega, I am very unhappy, I paid £1300 for the watch a year ago it has never kept good time and my wife insists that she has never dropped the watch. I have seen a photo of the crown and it does look like it has received a heavy impact, but the watch was not with us for 2 months and I don't know if this could have happened then?

I would be grateful for any advice that any of you might have. On doing a search on here I have seen less than glowing reports about Omega and their repairs and standing by their warranty etc. It would be good to receive some advice as to how to proceed with this. I am not inclined to pay Omega £230 to repair the watch.

Thanks
John

[walkerwek1958]

If the date function worked OK when you too the watch in to Goldsmiths, then it didn`t work when you got the watch back, surely it's their problem?

Assuming the watch is a mechanical automatic it should have been easy to regulate; it's a shame that the ADs don`t have access to local repairers or have a repairer on site to do this type of thing. I guess the watch ended up at Swatch headquarters in Southampton?

I would want to know exactly where the watch was sent whilst it was away; if you are confident that the watch has sustained damage whilst out of your possesion I would stick to your guns and demand that it gets fixed under warranty. When the watch was handed over to Goldsmiths, they should have checked that everything worked OK, to avoid this sort of situation.

Having said that, I doubt whether Omega will back down over this and I think your best bet is to try and get the £230 cost reduced. If you take the watch elsewhere to get it fixed, it will still cost a hefty sum and you will probably invalidate the remaining warranty.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[hessa]

Thanks for your reply Paul.

I haven't explained myself to clearly, I'm not sure when the damage occured to the watch. I went to adjust the date of the watch before I took it back a second time and found that it didn't work, I did see that the crown looked like it had been damaged but didn't make the connection to it not working properly.

Must admit that I thought Omega would at least offer a cost repair or something, especially considering the other problem with the watch. But they don't seem inclined to offer anything. I did contact a watchmaker I saw in the repairs thread on here and they gave a rough quote of £50 for the repair, but in fairness that was from my description of the problem and what Omega have said and not having seen the watch. I'm inclined to ask that the time keeping fault be remedied and leave the fault with the date/crown until the warranty expires and then have it repaired independently. I would seriously resent paying that amount to Omega for the repair.

[hessa]

Just giving this a bump in the hope someone who may have had similar problems with Omega might be able to offer some advice?

Thanks for looking

[aldfort]

Have you tried contacting Omega directly and explaining the problem? Working through an AD when the problem is complex can be a PITA

Horses mouth

Omega SA
Customer Service
rue Stämpfli 96
Bienne 2504

++41 32 343 92 11

Can be a bit horses a*** worth a call or a letter as a starting point.

The Swatch Group (UK) Limited
OMEGA Customer Service, Charter Court
Third Avenue, Millbrook, Southampton
Southampton S015 OJA

++44 (0)845 274 3500

Swatch condider Omega a "high end" brand so should respond accordingly.

[hessa]

Aidfort,

Thanks for your reply. I'll give it a go as I don't seem to be getting anywhere through the AD. Can't make matters any worse for sure.

Thanks