zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

but insisted that they could not reinstate my AD's status.

That's a Bovine Scat statement if I ever heard one [more on this later]...

They told him that Omega is headed in a new direction

Today's vocabulary word, boys and girls is...

augur |verb| [ intrans. ] ( augur well/badly/ill

(of an event or circumstance) portend a good or bad outcome : the end of the Cold War seemed to augur well | the return to the gold standard augured badly for industry. See note at predict .

• [ trans. ] portend or bode (a specified outcome) : they feared that these happenings augured a neo-Nazi revival.

• [ trans. ] archaic) foresee or predict.

An example sentence used in this context... It was at this point when it became apparent that Swatch/Omega intended to auger itself even deeper into the ditch.

that involves selling more complicated, high-end watches,

That break, left and right.

and they only want to sell in stores that carry such brands.

Fortunately the other brands have high-end movements that justify the higher cost. Omega's higher end products don't share that status.

Since my AD's two most exclusive lines are Omega and TAG, Omega didn't feel my AD adequately represented the direction Omega wants to head in.

I'm sure that IWC or Zenith would love to have a Dealership of his volume in their fold.

So, after 25 years of carrying the Omega brand as an authorized retailer, my AD was simply "thrown to the curb".

25 years of stalwhart association cast aside without even a phone call. What a shoddy way to do business with one's partners.

In my mind, this is inexcusable on Omega's part.

Remprihensible! In fact, I think I need to cut and past the thesaurus to cover all the bases.

reprehensible

adjective

his conduct was reprehensible deplorable, disgraceful, discreditable, despicable, blameworthy, culpable, wrong, bad, shameful, dishonorable, objectionable, opprobrious, repugnant, inexcusable, unforgivable, indefensible, unjustifiable; criminal, sinful, scandalous, iniquitous; formal exceptionable. antonym praiseworthy.

Yeah, that about covers it.

However, it does confirm all of the rumors we have been hearing about Omega wanting to move more "upscale" and lower the number of AD's to make the brand more "exclusive".

We've been seeing this coming.

This is EXACTLY what happened to my AD, and since my AD heard this right from the mouth of Gregory Swift, the President of Omega USA, there is no doubt these are no longer just rumors. My AD was reassured that their dismissal had nothing to do with not meeting sales quotas, not carrying enough inventory, or anything else.

This is what I was refering to when I said "Bovine Scat" above...

My AD is located in Manhattan, so he was never hurting for business.

I suspect if he was located in Hoboken he still would have been one of Omega's better performers.

This is not a case of sour grapes, either. My AD spent the last two weeks fighting to KEEP his AD status. He didn't want to give up a brand that sold so well for him over the past 25 years. He was the fourth AD in the New York City area to lose his AD status in recent months, so more cuts are certain to come.

Sadly so...

With the Swatch Group having bought about a 20% share in Tourneau earlier this year,

An Aside... My mom used to say "spontaneous combustion" whenever we drove past a business who's building had suffered from a fire, when I was a kid... I was about 6 or 7 before I asked her what that meant... She said "The Mortage was rubbin' up against the Insurance policy, poof! Spontaneous Combustion!".

So it doesn't take the sharpest pencil in the cup to dot the dots in this picture. It's clear that Omega has a conflict of interest vis-a-vis their new business relationship with Tourneau.

it appears that Omega also wants to eliminate the competition to this high-end retail chain that also, by coincidence, happens to be located in New York.

What an interesting coincidence.

Personally, I am angry at the way my AD was treated by Omega,

Omega seems to be hell bent on ruining their formerly stellar reputation for quality and outstanding customer and dealer relations that they had built over the decades the past four or five years.

I am angry that Omega would just throw away a 25 year partnership with my AD because his business isn't considered "prestigious" enough,

I don't think it's just that... I also think it's the Tourneau thing and also... Some one powerful at Omega or Swatch group has a bug up their behinds about something to drive this dopey drive to “more complicated, high-end watches” with these tremendously fickle, undependable F. Piguet movements when those movements aren't fit to hold the springbars of watches equipped with Lemania and Valjoux movements that have been Omega's bread and butter for many decades.

and I'm appalled that these "more complicated, high-end watches" that Omega is developing are the LEAST RELIABLE movements in their catalog. Prove to me that the 33xx series is fixed once and for all, and then I'll buy Omega's claim that they really do know how make reliable, high-end movements.

In a world with instant email, IM discussion forums, Omega's PR department can't cover up the fresh problem reports we see posted with a nauseating regularity. They really should smell the PR and Marketing BS they've been shoveling the past couple of years.

To the hundreds of you who have purchased Omega watches from my dealer over the years, he asked me thank you all for your business. Also, he wants me to inform you that Omega has made it abundantly clear that your factory warranties will not be affected by his loss of his AD status. They will still be honored in full.

That is good to hear. If Omega did anything different it'd be lawsuit time. Might be that time anyway [but I wouldn't know].

Lastly, Omega has allowed my AD to sell his remaining inventory with the full Omega factory warranty,

How gracious of them. We're I him I'd be tempted to send the lot straight back to Omega with a bill.

so he will be sending me a list of the pieces he has left. You can e-mail me at jwrochowicz@cfl.rr.com if you are interested.

Oh, what the heck, John. Send me the list... I suspect that after the 50th Anniversary next year, and the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 in 2009, if Omega keeps on it's current path, I won't have much reason to look at any new Omega's. If all they are going to do is sell overpriced troubled watches, or Valjoux that are nice but nothing really special, or ETA-DD models. It's like the man with the badge often says... ‘Move along Junior, there's nothing to see here...’.

This situation certainly has left a bad taste in my mouth regarding Omega's business practices.

While my feelings about Omega's recent/current course are probably fairly widely known, this latest act does nothing favorable to my view of them.

I'm worried as well about Keith and Turbinator and Chuck's AD, since he is also a small, independent store whose most prestigious brand is Omega.

I understand and agree.

In fact I've been in touch with him, and he is aware of the situation. I don't know what this means, I am pretty sure he feels the same way and he will be contacting his Omega Rep as soon as it's possible.

What you say about the brands he carries is true. He carries a fairly full slate of Swatch Group brands, I don't what effect (if any) that would have though.

Omega may have been most aggressive with their AD cuts in New York City since it's the largest city in the country, but there's no doubt that further cuts are coming. I can see the day when we'll only see Omega watches in Tourneau and in Omega's "boutiques". This is a sad, sad day.

I agree even though I'm mainly a vintage, as opposed to new chronograph collector.

Thanks for listening,

No problem, John. It leaves a bad taste in our mouths too. I was really hoping that Omega would not choose to learn the hard way, but they seem oblivious.

John

P.S. From here on, if anyone e-mails me privately for an AD referral, I will be referring them to Keith and Turbinator and Chuck's AD. He is a first-class dealer, so if you're going to continue to buy Omega watches, I think it's best to give this fine gentleman your business.

As long as he is able to anyway.

Rest assured, John, were the situation reversed, the same courtesy would be extended by me.

Please feel free to contact me John if there is anything I can do.

[Here is the specific passage I was referring to above in the beginning of this post]:

Also, and this might need to be edited by Damon...

I did speak with an AD this morning who had in stock THREE NIB Gemini 4 LE's (all with boxes and papers, and a fourth one with an incorrect Red box, but otherwise complete boxes and papers), and THREE Apollo 11 LE's also NIB. These are very hard to find. Anyone who's looking for one of these, can let me along and I'll pass you along to the AD in question.

What a lousy way to start out the weekend. Sheesh!

FIRST AND FOREMOST it needs to fix its service center issues in the USA. Exclusivity is gained by a) The quality of your product, and b)How you service/maintain that product.

Absolutely correct. I mentioned this sort of thing back in a post back near the beginning of July in TZOF that Omega's problems, and there are a lot of them:

“I simply don't think that any of these problems Omega is suffering is going away without a dramatic change in to where Omega is paying attention. If their first three priorites are building facilities that are as big or grandiose as Rolex's, coming up with a couple dozen new products every year or scrapping with Rolex, these Quality Control, communication, attention to detail, etc. problems are likely to continue.”

Omega service in the US is the worst in the industry among comparable brands and it doesn't look like it will be remedied anytime soon as they are too busy copying Rolex's business model.

It would seem to me that there is little if any chance that Omega's service reputation, {and it's not just a US problem but exists in many places within the Omega Service channel up to and including Bienne) will improve anytime soon as long as the Swatch/Omega powers that be are more concerned about building plans and sparing with reporters than attending to the serious problems within their firms.

At the end of the day, they are a large faceless corporation, constantly emulating Rolex. If only they would go back to the basics and take care of the product first.

I couldn't put it better myself. In fact my attempt was three lines longer!

Cutting the knees off of a 25 year customer with NO explanation is just downright bad business.

It would certainly give me pause if I was in a business relationship with Omega, or considering such a relationship.

I can understand they want to sharpen their image, but this is NOT the way to do it, this will bite them in the ass, Karma applies to the watch world as well!!

It's no secret that has been wanting to move upmarket for several years. They want to scrap with Rolex in the worst possible way. In my opinion pressing products into the distribution channel without proper Quality Control, Testing and a support structure ready to handle the added pressure is (sadly) going about this in the worst possible way!

CajunMike Posts: That is bad news indeed. [Aug 25, 2006 - 04:16 PM]

I purchased a watch for my wife from that AD, and it was a very pleasant experience. What this means to me at least is that the Omega brand will end up like they have at my local crappy AD.

I think that Omega is in for a very rude lesson if they think that Boutique stores, full retail prices and a crappy customer purchase experience will lead to increased sales or greater profits.

Rolex will be the "king", and Omega will be the "other brand over there".

I guess Omega would rather be the runt of the litter trying to hang with the bigger kids than being the smart choice for people who value quality and value.

Its a shame that an AD with Omega as their main line cannot be allowed to sell watches.

Basically OmegaUSA's excuses were a pathetic load of shineola.

Thats ludicrous.

Agreed.

So, what Omega is actually saying is that they would rather be the second or third option in a store,

A cynical person would say "The brand of last resort". I can well imagine that John's AD could probably come up with a load of even more sarcastic slogans for ‘The New Omega’...

rather then the first, and all but have admitted that Omega in their opinion can't carry a store.

Or at the very least it's not up to being a store's flagship anyway.

It boggles the mind, and is a sad day indeed for Omega.

and a sad day for any fan of the brand. It's like watching a train wreck.

-- Chuck