zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: I was wondering if anyone new if the Co-Axial
: Movement is "In House" for Omega

It does not fit the classical definition of in-house, as the components are manufactured by a division that is owned by OMEGA's *parent* company, not OMEGA themselves. This is a somewhat fuzzy borderline issue that have some people arguing that it is effectively the same as in-house while others declare it not to be.

In specific, the "coaxial escapement with free sprung-balance without index" portion of the movement is in-house designed by OMEGA and manufactured exclusively for OMEGA by ETA. These components are then fit to base ETA calibre and then given additional OMEGA-exclusive customizations. The resulting coaxial movement is exclusive to OMEGA and no other brand has access to the coaxial components.

The whole concept of the value of 'in-house' was originally based on the merits of focused quality, design and execution you get under the direct control of the watchmaker's own staff. This was as opposed to companies that simply bought components from elsewhere and assembled then with their name on them.

But when you get into companies the size of ROLEX and OMEGA that use mass production factories to manufacture millions of luxury watches a year, you are dealing with large coprorations broken down into multiple divisions or sub-companies. Trying to apply the original 'in-house' definititon to determine relative merit of the products produced by these modern mega-companies is pretty useless.

If true old-fashioned in-house quality is really significant to you, look at highly exclusive limited production brands like Patek Phillipe. Now that's a watchmaker where in-house production still really means something!

: and how long b/f there patent is up.

The patent I believe was registered 20 years ago, so should still hold for another 50-70 years.

: anyone has any links about this movement or
: any information would be greaty appreciated,

There is a great section on it on the offical OMEGA website at:
http://www.omegawatches.com/omega/launch

And more info here:
http://home.xnet.com/~cmaddox/daniels_co-ax.html