zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: This has been an interesting discussion!
: Georges' last post has me wondering about
: the servicing of ETA and Rolex movements.
: Georges stated that the ETA 2892-2 movement
: needs to be serviced every five years. Rolex
: recommends that the 3135 movement be
: serviced every five years, so the movements
: have similar service schedules. Omega
: recommends servicing the co-ax movements
: every ten years, which is longer than the
: service schedules recommended by Rolex.
: Therefore it appears that the cost of
: ownership is significantly less with an
: Omega, especially since I believe Rolex
: charges more than Omega for servicing.

: How does servicing a movement impact its
: long-term reliability? Is a movement
: "like new" after being serviced?
: If not, what is the expected life of the ETA
: 2892-2 and Rolex 3135 movements?

Omega's ETA based caliber 1120 has only been around for the last 10 years or so, so there's no real "data" as to its expected lifetime. The Rolex 3135 has been around a lot longer, and I don't think anyone has had one completely die on them yet. We need more real, long-term data before we can speculate on the service life.

As for the servicing itself, Omega's co-axial movements have only been around for 6 years (some even less than that), so we don't even know for sure if Omega's 10 year service interval claims are true. However, from a logical standpoint, their claims do seem to have merit. The co-axial not only results in less friction (and thus less wearing of the parts), but it also requires less lubrication to run properly. Less lubrication means less lubricant to gum up, etc. On the surface it seems to be a brilliant concept, but time will tell us if it is all that it's "cracked up to be".

As to your other question, Omega does replace all of the lubricants and any worn or damaged parts when you have your watch serviced, so it does come back as good as new (or at least it should if they've done everything properly!!). With proper servicing, there's no telling how long a watch can last.

In reading another question in a post below about how long to go between servicings, there have always been two schools of thought. One is to do as recommended by the manufacturer, and the other is to wait until the watch doesn't keep good time anymore. I'm of the thought that, like a car, having your watch serviced regularly is the way to go. This way you can be sure that your watch is always properly lubricated and that you aren't causing even more damage to any of the internal parts because the movement lacks the proper amount of lubricantion. I wouldn't wait until my car engine breaks to get the oil changed, and the same goes for my watches.

As always, just my 2 cents (which may only be worth a penny by now)...