zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Well, I've had a good year so far and wanted to
: treat myself for it. I've been wanting a
: nice watch for a very long time, my Fossil
: has been beat to hell, but doesn't command
: any class.

: So I came to a crossroads, which brand should I
: get? I was drawn between Omega and Rolex.
: After doing extensive research, I've come to
: the conclusion that Rolex is a household
: name for watches, but their mechanicals
: aren't that superior to much in the luxury
: watch game.

: My requirements were pretty simple: 1. Have a
: high water resistance rating (I do dive)
: 2. Be automatic (I'm always looking to prepare
: for the S*** hitting the fan, and if EMP
: wipes electronics out, quartz watches are
: screwed.)
: 3. Require little maintenance
: 4. Have little clutter on the dial
: (chronograph...OUT!)
: 5. Be from a well known manufacturer that is
: known for quality and luxury.

: This brought me to the Omega Seamaster Aqua
: Terra Chronometer 2503.30. Water resistant
: to 500 ft. and no clutter on the dial.

: However, the defining peice over the Rolex for
: me was the Co-Axial Escapement technology in
: the Omega. Whereas a Rolex is ideally
: supposed to see factory maintenance every
: 3-5 years, I've discovered that the Co-Axial
: will need to be seen every 10-15 years for
: maintenance. WOW!

I really don't want to "burst your bubble", since I know how exciting it is to get a new watch, but those 10-15 year claims are either false or unproven. When Omega first started mass producing the co-axial, they proudly touted its 10 year service interval (I have never heard them claim it could go as long as 15 years, however). Since that time they have backed off and have been gradually reducing that number. Their most recent e-mail to me claims 6-8 years depending on usage, and they have sent e-mails to other members claiming 4-6 years. Since the co-axial escapement has only been in Omega watches for about 6 years, we really don't have any "real world" data on how long these movements can go between servicings. Thus, a 10 year claim is unsubstantiated and even Omega has backed off from this claim.

: Now I was at a crossroads for where to buy it.
: The MSRP on this badboy was around $2800. I
: had plenty of money to spend on it, but I'm
: always looking for the best deal. We all
: know the internet will always surpass a
: retail store for pricing. But why?

Not true. There are deep discounting authorized dealers out there who will come close to and in some cases beat the prices you see on the internet. You just have to know where to look and where to come for referrals to such AD's (like this website).

: When it comes to watches, the answer is not the
: simple, usual "large overhead that
: consumes profit" answer. But it is in
: the warranty that pricing on the net is so
: different. Stores like Mayor's that are
: authorized dealers include the factory Omega
: warranty, in which with any problem you
: encounter with the watch, you can mail that
: sucker back to the factory directly.
: However, buying from an unauthorized dealer;
: which isn't necessarily saying they acquired
: illegally or unethically.

Gray market dealers on the internet DO acquire their watches unethically. Omega strictly prohibits its authorized retailers from selling watches directly over the internet. Gray market dealers obtain their watches from authorized dealers who buy in bulk and then sell these watches to gray market dealers. So, the authorized retailers who engage in this activity are actually violating their agreement with Omega. This is why many gray market dealers DO remove serial numbers - so that the watch can't be traced back to the original AD who supplied them. This disclaimer from authenticwatches' website openly admits how they obtain their watches:

Certain timepieces are decoded, unless the product description states "With Serial Numbers." This is common practice with most authorized dealers who sell to online companies, and is done in order to protect their Authorized Dealership license from the manufacturer. The manufacturer does not approve of discounting the prices of their products beyond a set amount. They do this to ensure the values of their timepieces are kept at a certain level. These numbers act as a means of monitoring the products they sell; thus, they will often purchase timepieces from our site in order to obtain these numbers. With these numbers they have the capability of tracing any piece back to the original dealer, who purchased the particular item, and possibly suspend their Authorized Dealership license. All decoded pieces are done professionally, with absolutely no marks, blemishes or scratches left behind.

:But anyway,
: through an unauthorized dealer, you are not
: out of luck. Many of them offer the factory
: warranties. However, you do not get the
: Omega warranty card and therefore you must
: send the watch to the dealer, to which they
: will then forward to Omega.

Here's another disclaimer from authenticwatches' website:

Any decoded timepiece is ensured to be identical to any piece with numbers intact. This will not affect the warranty on the watch either, because the warranty is provided by our company directly to save you both time and money. We found that forwarding timepieces into the manufacturer generally took far too long to be worked on, because all manufacturers outsource their repairs to authorized service centers. The turn-around period for a general repair took anywhere from 8-12 weeks, often times with extra costs involved; whereas, a general repair* processed by AuthenticWatches takes 2-4 weeks . Based on our years of experience in our industry, we have developed relationships with multiple service centers to both expedite any repair, and lessen the costs involved in non-covered issues.

* Warranties only cover manufacturer defects and will not cover any physical damage caused by the user.

A gray market dealer who sends the watch back to the manufacturer for repairs is the exception, not the norm. Typically they simply use their own in-house jeweler or a local service center who may or may not be qualified to work on your watch. By not providing you with a factory warranty, they are under no obligation to make sure that the watch is repaired by Omega factory-trained technicians and watchmakers.

: When buying a watch I had to research the
: places on the net I was willing to buy from
: and see if they would be around for the
: duration of my warranty. This brought me to
: Authentic Watches.com which has been around
: since 1979. I also researched their feedback
: across the net. Places I looked at were
: eBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo and some small
: places. But I was more than overwhelemed
: with positive feedback.

One thing to keep in mind is that ebay feedback is typically left right after a person buys a watch. Once they receive it and wear it for a week or so, they'll leave positive feedback if the watch runs okay. However, what happens if the watch breaks 2 months later and they encounter problems trying to have their watch repaired? It's too late to go back and change their feedback. I know that more than one person has had a difficult time getting a gray market dealer to fix his watch properly, and authenticwatches was one of those dealers. Still, to be fair, you can have a poor service job done by the Omega factory, as I personally have experienced. However, by having a factory warranty, I know that Omega is obligated to fix my watch properly even if it takes them half a dozen attempts. With a gray market warranty, you have no idea who will work on your watch or if it's even possible to get a proper repair job.

: So I checked their website out, and since I'm
: always skeptical, especially with large sums
: of cash being involved, I looked at the
: product description very carefully. They
: offered free overnight shipping,
: manufacturer's serial numbers, 3 year
: warranty, Certificate of Authenticity and
: free bracelet sizing (which was no use to me
: because I had no way to measure my wrist, so
: I had to take it to a local jeweler.)

: So, figuring this was everything I wanted, I
: wanted to talk to a customer service rep to
: verify. I'm pretty picky about things and
: one of the main reasons I didn't want to buy
: from Mayor's or Jared (aside from price) was
: because I didn't want a watch that had been
: fondled by Joe Blows who couldn't afford it
: but wanted to dream about it. The customer
: service rep told me the watches were brand
: spanking new and have never encountered a
: human wrist since birth and they assured my
: satisfaction.

: So that was it. I was sold (since I was using
: my Mastercard anyway, if they were stubborn,
: I'd return it and file a credit card claim
: with my bank). I bought the watch on Friday,
: so overnight shipping would be useless, so I
: sucked up the extra $25 for the Saturday
: delivery. On 10am this Saturday, my FedEx
: man woke me up.

: After opening the very tightly packed, FRAGILE
: tape sealed box, this is what I found
: inside:
:
:
:

: Needless to say, I was overly impressed with
: the contents of my package. I had not
: expected to recieve the actual Omega box,
: manual, Pictogram placard and Chronometer
: certification placard as well. I figured to
: get only the Red Omega box and that was it.

: So for a whopping total of $1900 for a $2800
: watch, I am a new Omega customer, my
: experience with Authentic Watches.com was
: phenomenal, my wallet is happy, and I'm
: thrilled with the product I've recieved.

: I am already wanting to save for more watches
: :-)

: Thanks for listening.

I know I'm long overdue in this post to say, "Congratulations on your new watch." Truly, I did not mean to imply that you got a bad deal on your watch or scare you into thinking that you will have problems with your warranty. However, I hate to see someone be misled with deceptive information, so I felt I needed to clarify some things in your post. The fact is, there are a few authorized dealers I know of who would have come very close to the price you paid and given you the 3-year Omega co-axial factory warranty. This is just something to think about for your future purchases.

Congratulations on the new Aqua Terra!!

-John