Hi All:
Background: I purchased a 'reduced' Speedmaster (3510.50) with 1143 cal. movement a few months ago at a bargain price. Externally it has just a few superficial scratches, but internally I think it is developing some issues. No matter if I wear it all day, it is usually dead by the next morning, the time it stops seems to indicate it lasts for maybe 5 or 6 hours before petering out. Additionally if I give my wrist a flick to try and get it to wind it up, I can hear the rotor moving quite loudly. It almost sounds like a metal-on-metal noise, but I suspect it might just be a poorly lubricated rotation. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I thought these automatic watches could be manually wound, yet when I attempt to wind the watch myself it appears to have no effect. Other than that, there is no problem setting time, using the chronograph, and the time-keeping seems to be adequate (though it rarely runs for longer than a day, so I can't say how accurate it stays over long periods.) I'd like to have someone who knows what they're doing looking at the watch, diagnose and hopefully fix any problem that might present. I like the idea of having the watch completely serviced, but the price Omega quotes on their website for servicing this watch is ~$415.
Question: Is it worth it to send a watch to Omega (or their nearest US authorized repair center) to get their 'Complete Maintenance Service'? Or is it best to take it to an independent watch shop and hope they know what they're doing? Is there a preferred watch repair shop of this forum's patrons? I'd be grateful for any advice on the subject. The Speedmaster would be expensive, but not impossible, to send back to Omega, but I have some older Omega's (1950's and earlier) that would be prohibitively expensive to send back to them if I ever need to.
Thanks.
PS - Does anyone have a diagnosis for the watch based on the symptoms I've described?
