zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: 1)So you are saying that Marco Richon, Fabrice
: Bonjoux and Daniel Anselmi who are working
: at Omega are wrong and you are right? I
: trust people at Omega. I will email Omega
: for more details.
Anybody could be wrong, myself included of course.

I don't know the official specs of 3303. The single direction winding impression was from past experience. I once found that my Broad Arrow stopped on my winder (non-expensive, reversable direction type). Then I manually wound it and it stopped again. That's when I realized it might be single direction winding just as Valjoux 7750. I changed the winding direction of the winder, this never happened again.

I tried to search for some official info onine, but couldn't find anything official, with the exception of Orbita watch database:
http://www.orbita.net/pages/17115.htm

The 3303 movement winding direction specified there seem to agree with my observations.

: 2)If you have firefox you could use the
: automatic translator
I used IE, no wonder I couldn't get it translated. Learning something everyday.

: 3)ok
I think I posted that picture on TZ long time ago. Guess the author just saved that picture. I downloaded the movement picture from a Japanese website, and photoshopped it.

: 4)A watchmaker who works at rolex and
: independant who was a former rolexmaster
: watchmaker have both more than enough
: experience to claim what is excellent and
: what is better than another product.
: Their statements are founded.

Sure, anybody can make a statement based on their own experiences. But sometimes those statements may be FAR away from the truth. How about I (a watch newbie student) make the following statements?

1. A $50 Casio radio controlled watch keeps time 1000 time better than a $5000 Rolex. In terms of time keeping, Casio is a much better product.

2. A $500 watch with ETA 2892-A2 OFTEN has better finished movement than a Rolex, and performs just as well if not better.

3. A $500 watch OFTEN has better bracelet than a Rolex.

4. A $500 watch is much easier to service than anything Rolex is boasting for. Parts availability? Anywhere. Easier service? You can drop in a new movement and save time and money.

The list goes on and on. But are my above claims true or false? There are some truth but they are not exactly true because they only cover one aspect of a product.

Many rolex movements are the leaders in their category
: want it or not. For instance cal
: 3130,3135,3185,3186, 1620 and 4130 as well
: their predecessors 3030, 3035,3085 and 4030
: have always shown their superiority against
: their competitors.

I cannot agree with you. Superiority? Frankly there is no such thing in any industry. For example, is Rolex 3135 better than Omega 2500, or even 1120 or even a quality ETA 2892-A2 ? From my experience, performance wise, they are pretty much the same. I'm very picky on movement finish: Rolex 3135 doesn't have the looks of a luxury watch, the rotor and bridge are virtually unfinished, not a looker at least. You call that superior? in what?

Iam not defending rolex
: but just pointing out that rolex prefers a
: robust and ultra reliable calibre to a
: complex and too difficult to service
: calibre.
Frankly, I'm not attacking Rolex at all. They somehow EARNED the rights to put anything on the market (good or bad), and there will be people believe they have the best watch money can buy. Good for them. Robust and ultra reliable? Maybe.

But there are other reasons too besides the acutal product. Have you ever been shopping for an used car? I found that many 7~8 year old Mercedes look like new, but many 7~8 year old Honda Accord does not look as good. Think about the reason behind it before saying Mercedes is superior in everything.

: Why do you think Rolex modified the EP? For a
: better reliability and increased accuracy.
Rolex developed 4130, not modified the EP. Very different calibres. They want something in-house. Better reliability and increased accuracy? Just claims. When designing a product, every company will have some GOALS in mind. Omega boasts 2500 as ground breaking stuff, you can choose to believe it or not believe it just as what Rolex's claims. Reality sometimes are different than expectations.
As a scientist/engineer, I tend not to believing in marketing hypes.

Engineering often involves a lot of compromises. For example, if you increase beat rate, you will have lubrication issues; if you have slow beat rate, lubrications are ok, but the sweeping is not as smooth. I guess that's why many automatics choose 28.8K nowadays.

Another example, as I noted you mention ETA's ball-bearing rotor is not as good as Rolexes in a previous post, this is also a compromise made: Ball bearing rotor has better support for the weight (more robust?), the rotor is less likely to touch the main plate, also the rotor is less likely to become loose, but this sacrifices winding efficiency because the rotor is not easily turned. You can see both type of rotors in Omegas current product lines. I've read someone has an unscrewed rotor in an Omega 3303, I'm not surprised that it could happen.

As a student in this watch thing, I learned a lot from reading quality posts on watch forums. For example, I like Chuck's posts, even though I sometimes disagree with him, he speaks out his opinion with supporting facts. IMHO, there is no wrong opinion, only wrong/biased claims or conclusions.