zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

I have spent over $500 on factory service and been without my primary watch (mid-size seamaster automatic) for about 6 of the last 6 months.

It seemed not to self-wind effectively, and kept running out, so I sent it in. They also replaced the dial and hands, because the luminous markings were damaged by water that entered when snorkeling (some diving watch, whether or not the crown was - which it probably wasn't). Did maintenance service. All for the bargain price of $527. They managed to screw up the promised express shipping.

Months later, I get it back. It works. For a day. Then, dead. Whether manually wound or otherwise, nothing. I am now very impressed with the quality of their post service calibration.

Send it back (at my expense). Months more of broken schedule promises and laughable claims to have expedited the service (they somehow couldn't start work on the problem until they got a back ordered replacement back that was needed for cosmetic reasons.) It STILL has the same failure to autiomatically wind as it did 6 months and $500 ago.

Here is what it does. When dead, it will start ticking after a few wiggles. However, every day wearing doesn't keep it would like it always used to. (No lifestyle changes in the meantime.)

And it sounds noisy and bad. When I wiggle my wrist right, it makes a noticable audible spinning sound, like a loose rotor. It can go for about 4 seconds of spinning. In a quiet room it can be heard spinning across the room. Like a cheap toy. I hear it making noises all the time when I make normal motions.

I recently compared it to a friend's identical model, and his doesn't do this.

Any advice? Is there competent service anywhere?