Omega watch repair, that’s not Omega?!

karlbird

Well-Known Member
Random one. Google not helpful as it’s hard to tell what’s genuine and what’s not. I know there are watch collectors on here.

I have an Omega Seamaster that’s stopped working. At a guess it’s 5-10 years old. Where I got it from can’t help as they have ditched Omega, and my local watch shop says to return to Omega ( which they don’t recommend) is £800 and could take 8 months to get it back.

Has anyone had an Omega repaired locally at a watch shop they could recommend please?
 
Don't whatever you do use the folks that have a pop-up presence in many shopping centres called "The Watch Lab". My advice contact Omega and see who they advise. For my father's Rolex I used Sykes Jewellers in Anstey, Leicestershire. Proper watch repairer.
 
Send it to martins of glasgow
A lot cheaper than omega dealers and excellent service I’ve had two Rolexes and and seamaster done there
 
Random one. Google not helpful as it’s hard to tell what’s genuine and what’s not. I know there are watch collectors on here.

I have an Omega Seamaster that’s stopped working. At a guess it’s 5-10 years old. Where I got it from can’t help as they have ditched Omega, and my local watch shop says to return to Omega ( which they don’t recommend) is £800 and could take 8 months to get it back.

Has anyone had an Omega repaired locally at a watch shop they could recommend please?
Sick of Omegas prices and their penchant for insisting on doing work I felt unnecessary I gave up on them a few years ago.
I now send my Seamaster to Robin Martin in Portsmouth. Last used them for work on two watches of my wife's just 3 or 4 weeks ago.
If you email them with details of what you require, Collette will reply and arrange for you to send your watch by RMSD at a time to suit. She'll then confirm receipt and send a quote for the required work with an honest summary of anything untoward they have discovered. She'll contact you again after you have given the go ahead to tell you it's done. You pay, she let's you know when to expect it back by insured post.
I can't recommend them enough.
 
Don’t bother with watch finder service centre either.

Unlike Omega, they don’t send back the items they change. The bracelet was supposed to be repinned but wasn’t and my watch stopped working after 11 months
 
Either use omega or a reputable person like 20-250 mentions?
My only experience is getting my Seiko watch repaired by seiko. I sent it to their UK repair centre and they sent a quote for the work and it was done and returned in about 2 months. Its a £250 watch new 15 years ago, It was repaired 5 years ago (did 10 years before the rechargeable battery failed) and its still going well now. The repair cost £100. Good luck.
 
Try these.
Very good, lots of communication and a quote before any work starts.
They serviced my Sinn watch perfectly, they do Omega also, as an authorized repairer. Fairly quick turnaround too.
 
I sent my Seamaster back to Omega through one of their stockist, just under £500 I think for a full service.

Was running a bit slow prior to the work.

I was happy with the work.
 
Random one. Google not helpful as it’s hard to tell what’s genuine and what’s not. I know there are watch collectors on here.

I have an Omega Seamaster that’s stopped working. At a guess it’s 5-10 years old. Where I got it from can’t help as they have ditched Omega, and my local watch shop says to return to Omega ( which they don’t recommend) is £800 and could take 8 months to get it back.

Has anyone had an Omega repaired locally at a watch shop they could recommend please?
Karl

Omega is part of the Swatch Group, so getting hold of spare parts is not always easy. In that respect, I’d recommend choosing either Omega themselves or an Omega specialist.

If the watch is less than 10 years old I’d personally be inclined to send it back to Omega. That way you get the official extended warranty directly from Omega themselves. If you want to sell the watch, full papers can add to the resale value. I had my SeaMaster Co-Axial GMT repaired by Omega and, when it developed another problem 18 months later with a faulty crown seal, it was then repaired by Omega FoC.

Beyond that, perhaps look at Swiss Time Services:


You can see their price guide here:


If you prefer an independent repairer, then Simon Freese is probably the best known Omega repairer - he used to be the main service manager at Swiss Time Services:


I’ve sent my older Omegas - and many other vintage watches for restoration and servicing - to Brendan Hoey:


Brendan is ex Jaeger LeCoultre, and has brought back to life some watches I thought were well beyond saving.

Hope you get it sorted!
 
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Thanks all, can’t beat some actual honest recommendations ( and stear-clears!), I’ll have a look and contact one or two.

@willie_gunn it could be over 10 years old, I’d have to do some digging. But my local Omega dealer in Windsor said they would only very reluctantly use Omega itself now due to costs and turn around times, a ~£2500 watch shouldn’t cost (IMHO) £800+ to repair, I haven’t even had an issue with older Breitlings and a couple of Bremonts (although living 5 mins away from them, I wish it was one of those that had an issue!)

Andrew Michael, AMJ Watches, in Newark, has severed all ties with Omega due to similar issues, so something is going wrong with their aftersales and customer care.

Will look at some of the recommends. The Portsmouth one sounds good.
 
Thanks all, can’t beat some actual honest recommendations ( and stear-clears!), I’ll have a look and contact one or two.

@willie_gunn it could be over 10 years old, I’d have to do some digging. But my local Omega dealer in Windsor said they would only very reluctantly use Omega itself now due to costs and turn around times, a ~£2500 watch shouldn’t cost (IMHO) £800+ to repair, I haven’t even had an issue with older Breitlings and a couple of Bremonts (although living 5 mins away from them, I wish it was one of those that had an issue!)

Andrew Michael, AMJ Watches, in Newark, has severed all ties with Omega due to similar issues, so something is going wrong with their aftersales and customer care.

Will look at some of the recommends. The Portsmouth one sounds good.

I’m afraid the luxury end of the watch market has gone completely mad, certainly since watches became investments rather than just something to be worn and used. Since becoming part of Swatch Group, Omega’s reputation has suffered accordingly, coinciding with the apparent endless release of new models. Their after-sales service seems to treat customers as little more than an inconvenience. I have a handful of Omega's in my modest collection, but wouldn't buy a new model. Sadly Rolex seems little better.

I’ve largely given up with that end of the market, and just enjoy buying watches advertised as “spares or repair” and giving them a new lease of life. Mostly, though not exclusively, this is quartz models, and often quite cheap models at that. However even here some "brands" are getting silly price-wise. Gone are the days when I could pick up a second-hand CWC G10 for under £50, with even broken ones changing hands for well into three figures now. The later Pulsar model is rapidly going the same way.

There are still some bargains to be had though. This broken Seiko SNZG15 cost me £36, and even with fitting a new Seiko NH36 automatic movement and a double-dome sapphire crystal it all came to less than £100, yet hopefully will now go on for decades. At some point I'll take the old movement apart and try to find out what's wrong with it - most likely some tiny fragments of glass are caught up somewhere. There were shards everywhere, though fortunately the hands and dial were undamaged.

Seiko-1.jpg

Seiko-4_s.jpg
 
Sick of Omegas prices and their penchant for insisting on doing work I felt unnecessary I gave up on them a few years ago.
I now send my Seamaster to Robin Martin in Portsmouth. Last used them for work on two watches of my wife's just 3 or 4 weeks ago.
If you email them with details of what you require, Collette will reply and arrange for you to send your watch by RMSD at a time to suit. She'll then confirm receipt and send a quote for the required work with an honest summary of anything untoward they have discovered. She'll contact you again after you have given the go ahead to tell you it's done. You pay, she let's you know when to expect it back by insured post.
I can't recommend them enough.
Thanks for this, I've just 'bookmarked' their website as they're only just down the road from me.

Have used Swisstime for routine servicing twice, first time OK but pricey, second time really disappointed as bezel not properly aligned, diving extension keeps popping open whenever I undo the bracelet & was supposed to fixed & pricey to boot! Won't be using them again.

The first time I had it serviced I took it to a reputable local jellewers who took ages to do the service, charged me an arm & a leg to replace a main spring & a link pin only for it to come back with the same piece of wire through the link it went in with & was later confirmed as not having had the main spring replaced either... they refunded me in full after a face to face with their manager & a threat to get the credit card company involved!
 
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