zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: FYI, yesterday I spoke w/ 4 authorized service
: centers here in the U.S. and all told me
: that they could care less about the serial
: number being there or not on the watch. All
: require that you send them the watch before
: they quote you work to be performed and
: price, at no obligation. By implication, it
: seems like you could send a watch out and
: get it back in under 2 weeks, and that this
: process would authenticate an Internet watch
: purchase where the seller could provide no
: documentation. Am I right or wrong on this?

Sadly, you are correct. I meant to post here earlier after reading a long thread on timezone.com a few days ago. Omega has altered their policy on servicing gray market watches without serial numbers. They will now accept them provided, of course, that you pay 100% of the repair costs since these watches are NEVER covered under warranty.

Many of us remember the disclaimer on Omega's old website that clearly stated that watches without serial numbers would not be serviced by any Omega authorized repair facility. Thus, we had all assumed that this policy was still in effect even though the new website no longer lists it.

As it turns out, people on timezone.com (and Dell from here) have confirmed directly from Omega that they will service watches without serial numbers. Personally, this policy infuriates me because it only continues to encourage the practice of gray market selling. Omega knows without a doubt that a watch without serial numbers was purchased from a gray market dealer, yet they'll repair it simply because they want to make money on the repair job. Out of one side of their mouth they say they want to crack down on gray market dealers, but then their actions indicate that they really don't want to do anything to discourage the practice of selling these watches.

If Omega really wanted to crack down on gray market dealers, they could refuse to service any watch without proof that it was purchased from an authorized retailer. Not only will they not do this, but they'll now go so far as to service a watch with the serial number scraped off. As much as I hate to say this, Omega needs to send someone to Rolex headquarters so he or she can learn what Rolex does to keep gray market dealing so incredibly low. Repairing watches that are devoid of serial numbers is a step into the gutter for Omega.