chealwatch Ltd
 01797 260693
chealwatch@btinternet.com  
Chris Heal FBHI Watchmaker
 
Home Links  watch repairs costs sending send form info repair enquiry contact Search
watch name Omega
Range of watches Quartz , Mechanical and Mechanical automatic , Co-axial
I have attended a number Omega repair courses at Omega service centres in past years and have all the tools, manuals and equipment recommended by Omega for servicing Omega watches.
We are able to Service and repair  this brand and fit battery and reseal where required and  are able to obtain original parts from the UK importer including  straps and bracelets.
We only fit  genuine parts including original glasses , crowns and movement parts.
Straps and bracelets may not be available for older models.


Recommendations for service intervals
A watch needs regular servicing to ensure that it functions perfectly. As a general rule, a watch should be serviced every 4 to 5 years, depending on the conditions in which it is used. A watch’s water resistance cannot be permanently guaranteed. It may be affected by the ageing of gaskets or by an accidental shock on components ensuring the water resistance qualities.

Click here for some useful technical information about Omega watch movement.
This table also shows the timing limits and power reserve for mechanical Omega watches

Click here for a full guide to timing standards and rates expected from fully serviced and regulated watches

Over view of watch service.

 

Omega Service charges
 
  Service mechanical timepiece £80.00
  Service mechanical Automatic £100.00
  Service Automatic Seamaster  including pressure test to 300m ( James Bond ! watch ) £150.00
  Co Axial and Planet Ocean Chronograph please see below  
  Service mechanical Chronograph ( Speedmaster moon watch etc ) £180.00
 
  Service mechanical Automatic chronograph ( modern speedmaster etc ) £200.00 or estimate
  Service quartz battery watch £80.00 - £150.00
  Service quartz Chronograph and some multifunction watches as estimated
 
All Omega watches marked 150 m - 300m will be
pressure tested
 
     
  Battery and check sealing only 150m - 300m  £30.00
  Case/bracelet restoration and refinishing only including seal check and battery if appropriate. £60.00
  A guide to extras  
  New rotating bezel £210.00
  New Acrylic glass genuine Omega £40.00
  New sapphire glass £190.00
  New crown omega £40.00

We no longer serviced Service Automatic Seamaster Planet Ocean and omega co axial including pressure test at chealwatch ltd- please contact us for recommendation chealwatch@gmail.com

Our main Omega material supplier, has been appointed official Omega spare parts stockist for the UK and can supply all Omega movement and casing parts  and they offer an exchange system for the more expensive movements.

If you require a replacement links/bracelets/clasps etc for Omega we require the number from inside the clasp.
Complete bracelet numbers look like this 1455/448. The first four digits is the bracelet body and the last three is the end piece. Only the first four digits is required to order the Stainless Steel links .
We recommend you visit this web site
http://www.ofrei.com/page661.html to identify the parts required and either obtain from the US or contact us if you will require these parts to be fitted.

 

History and company information

History.

Foundation

 

The forerunner of Omega was founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by 23-year-old Louis Brandt, who assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He sold his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way of England, his chief market. After Louis Brandt's death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César, troubled by irregular deliveries of questionable quality, abandoned the unsatisfactory assembly workshop system in favour of in-house manufacturing and total production control.

Relocation

Due to the greater supply of manpower, communications and energy in Biel/Bienne, the enterprise moved into a small factory in January 1880, then bought the entire building in December. Two years later the company moved into a converted spinning-factory in the Gurzelen area of Biel/Bienne, where its headquarters are still situated today.

Their first series-produced calibres, Labrador and Gurzelen, as well as the famous Omega calibre of 1894, would ensure the brand's marketing success.

Merger

Louis-Paul and César Brandt both died in 1903, leaving one of Switzerland's largest watch companies — with 240,000 watches produced annually and employing 800 people — in the hands of four young people, the oldest of whom, Paul-Emile Brandt, was not yet 24.

Brandt was the great architect and builder of Omega.[4] His influence would be felt over the next half-century. The economic difficulties brought on by the First World War would lead him to work actively from 1925 toward the union of Omega and Tissot, then to their merger in 1930 into the group SSIH, Geneva.

Under Brandt's leadership and Joseph Reiser's from 1955, the SSIH Group continued to grow and multiply, absorbing or creating some fifty companies, including Lemania, manufacturers of the most famous Omega chronograph movements. By the seventies, SSIH had become Switzerland's number one producer of finished watches and number three in the world.[citation needed].

Financial takeover

Weakened by the severe monetary crisis and recession of 1975 to 1980, SSIH was bailed out by the banks in 1981. During this period, Seiko expressed interest in acquiring Omega, but nothing came out of the talks.

Switzerland's other watch making giant Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG - supplier of a large range of Swiss movements and watch assemblers) was in economic difficulty. It was the principal manufacturer of Ébauche (unfinished movements) and owner, through their sub-holding company GWC (General Watch Co), of various other Swiss watch brands including Longines, Rado, Certina and Mido.

After drastic financial restructuring, the R&D departments of ASUAG and SSIH merged production operations at the ETA complex in Granges. The two companies completely merged forming ASUAG-SSIH, a holding company, in 1983.

Two years later this holding company was taken over by a group of private investors led by Nicolas Hayek. Renamed SMH, Société de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie, this new group over the next decade proceded to become one of the top watch producers in the world.[5] In 1998 it became the Swatch Group, which now manufactures Omega and other brands such as Blancpain, Swatch, and Breguet.

Movements and the co-axial escapement

In 1999, with the successful own development of Calibre 2500[6], Omega made history by introducing the first mass-produced watch incorporating the co-axial escapement — invented by English watchmaker George Daniels. Considered by many[7] to be one of the more significant horological advances since the invention of the lever escapement, the co-axial escapement functions with virtually no lubrication, thereby eliminating one of the shortcomings of the traditional lever escapement. Through using radial friction instead of sliding friction at the impulse surfaces the co-axial escapement significantly reduces friction, theoretically resulting in longer service intervals and greater accuracy over time[8].

On January 24, 2007 Omega unveiled its new Calibres 8500[9] and 8501, two co-axial (25,200 bph) movements created exclusively from inception by Omega.

Omega watches in space exploration

The Omega Speedmaster, or "Moonwatch", selected by NASA for all the Apollo missions

The selection of the "Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph" for American astronauts was the subject of a rivalry between Omega and Bulova.[10]

All subsequent manned NASA missions also used this handwound wristwatch. NASA started selecting the chronograph in the early 60s and automatic chronograph wristwatches were not available until 1969.

However all the instrument panel clocks and time-keeping mechanisms in the spacecraft on those space missions were Bulova Accutrons with tuning fork movements,[citation needed] because at the time NASA did not know how well a mechanical movement would work in zero gravity.

First watch on the moon

The "Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph" was the first watch on the Moon, worn by "Buzz" Aldrin. This watch is now believed lost. Aldrin mentions in his book Return to Earth that when donating several items to the Smithsonian Institution, his Omega was one of the few things that was stolen from his personal effects.[11]

In 2007, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph, the Omega company unveiled the commemorative Speedmaster Professional Chronograph Moonwatch. The watch had the distinctive features of the first hand-winding Omega Speedmaster introduced in 1957. It was sold in an edition of 5,957.[12]

Copyright Lawsuit

Omega is currently in a lawsuit against wholesaler Costco over grey market imports of Omega watches that challenges the legality of the first-sale doctrine with regards to international imports, Omega v. Costco.[13] This lawsuit has been granted certiorari by the Supreme Court of the United States.[14]

Sponsorship, product placement, advertising, and sport

James Bond

The Omega Seamaster, a deep diving watch. The second crown (at 10 o'clock) is a helium release valve to allow helium out of the watch after diving at great depth. The watch is similar to that shown in recent James Bond films, in which this valve is transformed into improbable hidden gadgets.

Omega has been associated with James Bond movies since 1995. That year, Pierce Brosnan took over the role of James Bond and began wearing the Omega Seamaster Quartz Professional (model 2541.80.00) in the movie GoldenEye. In all later films, Brosnan wore an Omega Seamaster Professional Chronometer (model 2531.80.00). The producers wanted to update the image of the fictional "super-spy" to a more distinctly sophisticated "Euro" look.[15]

Another possible reason for the change from the Rolex Submariner that Bond had previously worn was a change in the business environment surrounding modern high-profile films and product placement. Omega was eager to participate in high profile co-promotions/product placement opportunities, especially the James Bond franchise, to further its brand image/awareness. It accomplished this by supplying products and finance (something that the conservative Rolex company avoids, presumably because it sees no benefit for itself).[16]

For the 40th anniversary of James Bond (2002) a commemorative edition of the watch was made available model 2537.80.00 (10,007 units). The watch is identical to the model 2531.80.00 except the blue watch dial had a 007 logo inscribed across it and also machined into the caseback. The band also had 007 inscribed on the clasp.[17]

Daniel Craig, the current James Bond of Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace also wears the Omega Seamaster: the Seamaster Planet Ocean (model 2900.50.91) in the first part Casino Royale, and in the latter part (from travelling to Montenegro), and even goes so far as to mention Omega by name when questioned by Vesper Lynd. In connection with the launch of the film, Omega released an 007-special of the Professional 300M, featuring the 007-gun logo on the second hand and the rifle pattern on the watch face, this being a stylized representation of the gunbarrel sequence of Bond movies.[18]

Omega released a second James Bond limited edition watch in 2006. This was a Seamaster Planet Ocean model with a limited production of 5007 units. The model is similar to what Craig wears earlier on in the film; however, it has a small orange colored 007 logo on the second hand, an engraved caseback signifying the Bond connection, and an engraved 007 on the clasp.[19] In the newest movie, Quantum of Solace, Craig wears the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean with a black face and steel braclet (42 mm version). Another limited edition was released featuring the checkered "PPK grip" face with the Quantum of Solace logo over it.

 

 

 

Click here for some useful technical information about Omega watch movement.

The table allso shows the timing limits and power reserve for mechanical Omega watches

 

home1.gif (6807 bytes)