zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Hi

Let me reply you. Omega and ETA has nothing in common. Omega before the mid eighties was building its own inhouse movements which were and are much high grade and of far better quality than any eta movements. The calibres 100x, 101x and 102x are of far better quality than a 1120 let alone a 2500. They didn't need to be serviced every five years unlike the eta 2892-a2 and the Omega 1120 and the 6-8 years unlike the coaxial 2500. Hayek merged the SSIH with the ASUAG, then Ernst Thomke and Hayek agreed to cease the inhouse production of Omega movements. Hayek then switched to fit all Omegas with eta movements. The cal 1108, 1109 and 1111 are just another eta 2892-a2 with omega engraved on the rotor and with zero modifications.
The 2892-a2 was never a high grade or very well reputed movement plus the etachron accuracy regulating system is not the best accuracy regulating system found on a watch.
The Rolex movements have proven their ruggedness and extremely good reliability during the years. On the other hand, eta 2892-a2 and eta 2824 have never reached the same level of ruggedness and durability as rolex movements. The inherent flaw was something described by andrew babanin but fact is that I know several people wearing their vintage and new rolex since decades while practising rough activities like golf, mountain biking, tennis and even big bore gun shooting. Not a single of them had a problem with their watch and most them never serviced their watch for over 15 years. I know cases of people who got their watches where having their rotor unscrewed itself while playing golf or tennis. Most of the watches who got their rotor unscrewed were eta 2824 and eta 2892-a2 powered watches.Are the eta 2892-a2 and 2824 movements made to take huge and very severe abuse? Not really. Plus you have to service your 2892-a2 every 5 years and your coax every 6-8 years instead of 10 years as announced by Omega before.
Perhaps I should remember you that the first 360° winding rotor selfwing system was the rolex built in 1931 and certainly not an eta. ETA was never known as a prestige movement manufacturer but as an average movement manufacturer and this is still its status.
The Rolex has a reputation to be prestigious because of its very good durability, ruggedness, accuracy over the long run and because it is a proven product and not a marketing hype product. I have never seen advertising for the 3135 unlike Omega does for the coax but yet it is a better movement because its hasn't known three variants and it is very durable and you never hear problems with rolex movements unlike with Omega 1120 and 33xx movements. Substandard finish? The rolex movements have an aluminium bouchonné finish as well as geneva waves. A rolex movement puts the accent on solidity rather than on unreliability.
And talking about rotor thickness, I have seen at my watchmaker en eta 2892-a2, an omega 1120, an omega 2500 and a rolex 3135 rotor, the rolex 3135 has the thickest rotor of all, so please don't make assumptions when you don't know.
Just compare an eta 2892-a2 with a 3135
http://www.horlogerie-suisse.com/Complications/Rolex/3135.html
http://www.horlogerie-suisse.com/Complications/2892/2892-A2.html
Eta 2892-a2 are used by many manufacturers because they are cheap and easily coscable. Most of the watch manufacturers just engrave them but don't do any modifications to make them rugged,reliable and accurate.
IWC refinishes their eta 2892-a2by improving the ball bearing winding rotor system as well as refinished the movement with a gold finish. Omega has the 1120 entirely subcontracted and made by eta which is not the case of IWC. IWC now starts to fit their watches with the calibres 5000, 5011, 50611 and cal 80110 which are all inhouse and all fitted with the famous and proven samuel pellaton winding system that was found on the vintage IWC calibres 851, 851, 8531 and 8541. The IWC inouse movements are maybe not cheap but they are of much better quality than an eta, the finish is also much better than many other watches on the market.
Fact is that you lose more money when you try to resell an eta 2892-a2 than a rolex 3035 or 3135.
Timezone isn't representing the whole world. The subs and dewllers have risen in msrp and in value so this is more a matter of how much the seller is setting price of resale than something else.
Buying at a healthy discount doesn't mean buying something outstanding. Like I said before, there is buying for buying (especially because of marketing hype) and there is buying because the object is a long term investment.

just my two cents on this subject

regards

georges