zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Opened July 1999, zOwie is the Internet's first and longest running discussion forum dedicated to Omega brand watches.

Feel free to discuss pricing and specific dealers. But 'for sale' postings, commercial solicitation and ads are not allowed. Full archive of all messages is accessible through options in the Search and Preferences features. Privacy, policies and administrivia are covered in the Terms of Use.

For the answer to the NUMBER #1 most frequently asked question here--for details or value of a specific older Omega watch you have--go to: Tell Me About My Omega.

Learn more about How To Include Photos and HTML In Your Postings.

To contact someone with a question not relevant to other readers of the forum, please click on their email address and contact them privately.

Forgot your Password? RSS

Return to Index Read Responses

Re: Who REALLY Makes Omega's Movements?

In Response To: Who REALLY Makes Omega's Movements? ()

: I read through a disturbing thread on
: timezone.com that I thought I'd bring over
: here to see if anyone can give me a clear
: answer.

: Basically, the thread began with the assertion
: that Omega does not actually MAKE any of
: their own movements, but rather that Omega
: has ETA make all of their movements for them
: according to their specifications. In other
: words, ETA makes the co-axial movements
: according to Omega's specifications and then
: sends them to Omega to be put into their
: watches.

: We all know that Omega's movements are
: ETA-based, but everything I have read on the
: internet and in watch magazines clearly
: states that "Omega heavily modifies
: these ETA movements", not "Omega
: tells ETA how to heavily modify these
: movements for them and then ETA actually
: assembles them." In other words, does
: Omega buy the base movements from ETA and do
: the extensive modifications themselves, or
: do they just tell ETA what to do and place
: an order for X number of a specific
: movement?

: If Omega doesn't actually modify the movements
: themselves, then aren't they really just a
: "final assembler", not a full
: manufacturer? This may be an extreme example
: since Omega and ETA are both part of the
: Swatch Group, but to me this is kind of like
: buying a Ferrari only to find out that the
: engine was built by Ford according to
: Ferrari's specifications.

: Can anyone provide a definitive answer on this?
: Thanks.

First of all I remember reading an interview with the president of ETA talking about the very subject of ETA manufacturing movements to "customer specifications" for many watch brands. In fact he said that ETA's future plans are to make COMPLETE movements for such brands as Omega, etc. Nonetheless, currently they just deliver base calibers (accroding to Omega official statements) and Omega modifies them in-house. SO the question is, is caliber such as 1120 Omega or ETA? Well I don't think its wrong for omega to call it "thier" movement because ETA does NOT make movement 1120--but 2892-A2. My old FORD Escort had a mazda based engine but FORD called it an FORD ENGINE--, HP Printers have CANON made engines but HP modifies it--so is it HP PRINTER or is it CANON? We can go on with many more exmaples. The point is, that until Omega will start using these COMPLETE made to specification ETA calibers, in my opinion thay have a right to call theses modified ones their own.