zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: 1) Are Omega watches built by hand, or machine
: made? Hand built?

Machine. Very few watch houses hand build watches anymore -- and those that do are the EXTREMELY expensive watches. Actually, it was Rolex that was the pioneer of modern high quality assembly line manufacturing of watches.

: 2) Is the Valjoux 7750 Chronograph movement
: modified at all for Omega specs, or is it
: rather "out of the box."

I believe all movements used by Omega are modified to conform to Omega's specifications before they are used.

: 3) Does Omega build their watches all in one
: place, or are the major components
: sub-contracted--so to speak?

And what would that answer really mean to you either way? Omega produces a high quality product made to their exact specifications. Do you really think you know enough about watch manufacturing to make any meaningful judgements on this information? Would you know for certain that an outsourced part would be inferior to an 'in-house' one?

Rolls Royce outsourced their engines to BMW because RR could not produce as high a quality and reliability engine! BMW produces over a half million auto engines a year. They have far greater economies of scale on research, development, and quality control than a small operation like RR making a couple of thousand engines a year. RR realized that and chose to use a source better than their in-house product.

Similarly, Jaguar cars got to be very unreliable until they started using parts from Ford and GM.

So don't let people talk you into believing that everything has to be made by an employee whose pay stub says Omega (or better yet genetically related to the Omega founders) otherwise it is inferior. It may be just as likely that the in-house components are inferior to what is available elsewhere.

: 4) I've heard that Omega isn't the watch
: company it used to be.

NO watch company is what they used to be. Modern industry and competition changed the face of the industry back in the 1970's. Anyone who would have you believe that any of these companies are small mom and pop operations finely handcrafting watches using only close family members directly bred from the man whose company bears his name is pulling your leg or severely deluded themselves.

: 5) You know I am comparing the Rolex w/ the
: Omega. My problem is deciding which to go
: with. I know you stated that both watches
: are excellent choices, but I still cannot

Ultimately, the best advice is to go with what floats your boat. You can easily overthink the issue and confuse yourself more -- which it sounds like you already have. As I said, I don't think you can go wrong with either of these two choices. And there is no way to predict what your feelings for these watches will be 10-30 years in the future. So don't overthink buying your 'last' watch. There is no way you can determine which will be the best for that now.