Like I said, I should have known about this site a year ago. I got a recommendation to go to [a good dealer, who] lived up to EVERY word of the glowing recommendation that one of the regulars in here gave him. Knew everything about the Omega organization and product, had a 2293.52 IN STOCK in the vault, and the box had the original factory bar code labels as well as his OWN personal accuracy test sticker. Turns out he runs his chronos for a week to make sure they are performing to spec. (!) The watch is NOW on my wrist, just 21 hours after I called him up for the first time, and he fit the band perfectly. (I'm a 7 1/8th)
[Some details above deleted by the moderator. Private recommendations by members are meant to be kept private and given out on a person-to-person basis, not public posted. -- Moderator]
As far as my previous nightmare is concerned, I'm now almost certain that I had an authorized dealer slip me a used watch. It came with only a dealer card, no COSC sticker or card, and no caliber card with the feature icons on it. That, plus the openly touted 35% discount, and all the other little oddities are consistent with this. It would certainly explain why a supposedly new Omega would break after 3 weeks of mundane office work, and might also explain why it never got repaired, and why the computer at the dealer's always showed it as still being in the store. The serial number WAS still on it, and if it had gotten shipped back to the repair facility its previous history probably would have come up on the system somewhere. That poor lonely single warranty card sitting all alone in the 7 compartment card case did look rather odd. I guess I'll never know for sure one way or the other, but I had this kind of funny feeling even for the three weeks I was wearing that watch.
By the way - the 2293.52 is WAAAYYYYY cool. Titanium has a totally unique feel and weight that is like nothing else out there. In appearance it can be confused with 6061T6 aircraft aluminum that has a heavy patina layer, but when you hold it in your hand the sensation is absolutely unmistakable.
