zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Hi all,

: I wondered if anyone has heard of or indeed
: owns a Speedmaster Date or day-date that has
: minor scratches on the face? The reason why
: I ask is that I have had major major issues
: with the quality of work my day-date has
: received at the Eastleigh workshop,Hampshire
: UK.

: To recap for those of you who do not know (and
: I apologize to those who do) I bought my
: first ever Omega in June from an AD. Soon
: after (2 days) I noticed that there was a
: defect on the sapphire crystal, namely a
: fleck of dirt on the underside. This was not
: seen at the time of purchase. (Note I live
: in Eaglescliffe, the watch was bought in
: London, around 300 miles away) I instantly
: contacted the AD, who said I could either
: return it to him, for forwarding to
: Eastleigh, or I could do it myself. Anyhow,
: after returning it to Eastleigh myself,
: almost 4 weeks later, it was returned with
: an upside down caseback, scratches on the
: rear of the case and bracelet and more dirt
: on the face of the watch.

: After seeking advice from this forum, I sent it
: back with an explanatory letter. 2 weeks
: later it was returned to me, with most (not
: all) of the scratches removed from the back,
: the caseback on correctly, most of the
: scratches removed from the bracelet, but
: still with residual dust on the face, a HUGE
: sractch on the face, almost underlining the
: word Speedmaster (appears almost white on
: the silver background) and a mark on the
: bezel.

: I returned the watch back to Eastleigh after
: speaking to the somewhat defensive and
: unhelpful customer service agent and after
: speaking to Bienne, Switzerland. I did
: suggest that if Eastleigh were happy with
: the watch then perhaps they send it to
: Bienne. I was told that it was in A1
: condition prior to it leaving the workshop,
: and that the so-called scratch was a
: byproduct of the the "manufacturing
: process" and that it was not a
: "flaw or defect." What I find
: interesting is that I did not see it before
: because IT WAS NOT THERE!!! I scrutinized
: the face to see the INITIAL problem o nthe
: crystal...do they think that I would have
: missed a huge scratch, TWICE? The agent said
: it was part of the radial graining effect.

: Has anyone got such a problem or issue with a
: radial grained face. I would have thought
: that this sort of issue would be picked up
: by QC, but on the face of it, Omega are
: charging more and more money for the same
: timepieces every year and by the way they
: treated John's AD, are looking for
: "Charlie's" (sorry, a UK slang
: term) to buy their flawed watches without
: the customer kicking up an issue cos they
: got enough money to buy new ones anyway.

: I think Omega are trying to buy into the
: neauveau-riche market, where guys with big
: bucks buy watches like Omegas like they were
: candy. I bought mine from a respectful AD,
: who had the time to explain the ins and outs
: of the watch, the type of movement involved
: (and the name) and talked me through the
: setting of the watch. Across the road was a
: huge department store (in London), where
: when I enquired about the watch I got some
: spotty teenager talking out his ass, with
: loads of false information and utter crap. I
: knew he did not know ANYTHING about the
: watch (eg,Q: what's the water resist of the
: speedy day-date? A: Oh, it will be at least
: 200 metres, probably more!) If this is the
: sort of person Omega want to sell their
: watches, then they will soon regret their
: strive to make Omega more
: "upscale."

: I'm sorry I have gone on a bit, but the whole
: "radial graining effect,maufacturing
: process" has got the wind up me.

: Any views from the veterans out there?

: Apologies and thanks for reading

: Nafees

This is inexcusible. You were fed a line of BS once again. A sapphire crystal, whether it is flat or domed, is supposed to be prefectly smooth with no scratches, chip, marks, etc. I had never heard of "radial graining" before, but in googling it all I could find were discussions of the radial graining of wood. I fail to see how this could apply to the way a sapphire crystal is formed (under conditions of EXTREMELY HIGH heat). Maybe someone here knows more about this process, but it seems absurd to try to convince you that a scratch on your crystal is "normal". I've owned many watches with sapphire crystals, and even the cheapest of them (my Tissot Seastar) has a flawless crystal.

Not to mention the fact that you STILL have dust on your dial and a scratch on your bezel!!! How many times will it take these clowns to fix it right?

Omega is putting the cart before the horse in trying to move "upscale" before they have adequately addressed their quality control and service center issues. What has happened to you is simply disgraceful.

I would send a detailed letter to Omega in Bienne insisting that they fix your watch properly. Document all of the service problems you have had so far, and explain to them that you feel they owe it to you to pay to have the watch shipped to them where it can (hopefully) be repaired properly once and for all. Given all you've been through, I think that if you raise a fuss with Bienne they will do this to try to keep you happy.

Good luck, and I'm very sorry to hear about this ongoing problem.

-John