zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Hi all,

About a year ago as a completely new enthusiast, I decided to buy a vintage Omega Speedmaster with a 321 movement. I studied a lot, asked people a lot of questions (thanks Chuck!)and finally bought a fairly well used daily driver example from a private party on ebay. (a Model 145 012 67 SP with movement # 26551463).

For the next few months I wore the watch occasionally while I tried to evaluate where I was going to send it for maintenance. (It was running about 1 minute per day fast and the previous owner told me he had it oiled in a jewelry store a few years before). It appeared that sending a vintage Omega to Switzerland was a choice that did not appeal to me, as it seemed it took a long time, they wanted to replace virtually all the parts etc. etc. It seemed that the word on the forums was don't send your vintage watch to Omega! I live near LA and was looking for somewhere local and reputable. Walter Gooden was suggested to me but when I called there I was told that they did not want to service the watch because parts were not available for that model movement! Now of course it appears that they are Swatch, having been bought out at the beginning of the year, so I'm less inclined to send it there.)

So to make a long story short I sent the watch to a NAWC member in New Jersey. He got the watch, quoted me $450 to clean/repair etc., then proceeded to keep the watch for the next 6 months without communicating at all with me about the status of the repair etc. I finally got tired and began a relentless phone and email campaign, resulting in the watch finally being returned last week. It was returned with caked white compound under the lip of the bezel and in the crown grooves. (And he took my $450 plus shipping paypal too!) Wearing the watch for the last 48 hours, it seems it is still fast (about 1 minute per day), which is about the same rate as before I sent it anywhere.

Basically my feeling is that nothing at all has been done to the watch, and that if something has in fact been done, I don't trust it. So a year after acquiring this nice machine I'm really no closer to having it taken care of. Can anybody offer me a suggestion as to where to send it for reliable servicing and where Omega won't try to replace all the parts?

Thanks for reading all of this!

Cheers,

Bernie in Ventura, CA