WATCH POP

Just wanted to check with any of you experts out there what would be considered normal for problems with a auto chronograph.

Sadly I bought a Broad Arrow in 2004 and it looks like I will be packing it up once more (the 5th time now) to send to Bienne with a problem associated with the minute chronograph hand not turning over.

The watch does keep great time, but the chronograph cannot be guaranteed to work 20/20 when engaged (fails 3 to 4 times out of 20, usually in a row before if gets back on track).

I have read a few lines of discussion on this forum regarding this movement line-> is there any current news from Omega that they may change this movement due to its unreliability?

Or am I the lucky one that may have bought quite an expensive lemon?


Stumeister Posts: Broad Arrow movement problems [Sep 10, 2006 - 10:59 AM]Just wanted to check with any of you experts out there what would be considered normal for problems with a auto chronograph. My personal opinion is that it seems to vary from chronograph movement to chronograph movement. Aside from known chronograph movement traits (like the well know 7750 "Wobble/whirring" and many different chronograph movements sometimes suffer from " Chrono Hour Creep". This doesn't seem to effect the Lemania automatic movements (c.134x (Omega c.1040/1041) or c.5100 (Omega c.1045), but not only does the Lemania c.2310/2320 (c.321) and c.1873 (c.861 family) occasionally suffer this, I've seen Valjoux 72 series and 7750's suffer "creep". Incidentally I've never seen an El-Primero or a c.33xx suffer from Chrono Hour Creep either.As for the BA's movement... It sure seems to have a proclivity for several types of problems/behaviors/failures beyond what I've noted above. Sadly I bought a Broad Arrow in 2004 and it looks like I will be packing it up once more (the 5th time now) to send to Bienne with a problem associated with the minute chronograph hand not turning over. For the 5th (FIFTH?!?!?!) time?Wow, I can't believe Omega hasn't replaced or offered to let you pick another model... You may have recourse under local "Lemon Law's" if you want to investigate that course of action.The watch does keep great time, but the chronograph cannot be guaranteed to work 20/20 when engaged (fails 3 to 4 times out of 20, usually in a row before if gets back on track). With the Broad Arrow movement I've really only heard of one complaint with regards to timekeeping (that being Keith's dealer) and even his example runs fairly consistent in the +8 second per day range (which is outside of COSC). With a regulation it would likely be spot on. He's never had a lick of problems otherwise with his. Several owners here also report never experiencing any of the difficulties with their examples and they keep great time according to their owners.The problems seem to be limited to the chronograph part of the mechanism, and the with the self-winding mechanism and not with the timekeeping portions.I have read a few lines of discussion on this forum regarding this movement line-> is there any current news from Omega that they may change this movement due to its unreliability? Omega's standard PR stance has been that the problems with the c.33xx's have been ,,,limited to a few early production examples,,. And they really haven't budged much on that publicly, despite the introduction of remedial parts to the service chain in the late 2002 early 2003 epoch. They (Omega) has been mum on the subject other than that. Or am I the lucky one that may have bought quite an expensive lemon?Well, I don't think you're alone on this. However having one person experience a failure five times on one watch has to be a new record.I don't know what to tell you other than your story isn't a new one... We've seen a number of people report similar problems with the Broad Arrow in the past. We've also seen more than a couple of people report having to send their c.33xx's in for repairs multiple times for repair. But five times is a bit much. Were I in your shoes, I'd really start holding Omega's feet to the fire, if you haven't already. Clearly this is not the norm for a modern Swiss chronograph. It's time for them to either give you a complete and full refund for your watch (including expenses for shipping/insurance/etc.) or credit towards a new watch of equivalent value (including generous discount for your trouble) your choice. If you bought the watch through an Authorized dealer, (hopefully they're still an authorized dealer and still have pull), they should go to bat for you, even if you haven't, you should be able to mention consumer protection (Lemon) laws for leverage.I suspect you really like the watch otherwise to have put up with this much inconvenience, it's a shame since many people really like this model. At some point it becomes ridiculous though.It's sad really... Please keep us informed and updated on this matter. It's important to know. 5 times? that's too much. If I were you, I would either ask for replacement or refund. It's totally unacceptable that you had to send it back for the 5th time. It has to be some kind of record.

Good luck, mjb a replacement watch or at least the Movement. I cannot believe that Omega is letting this slide. That's B.S.

I take it this was all done under a Warranty? Was the watch new when you received it? Any assistance from your A.D.?

Have you expressed you dis-belief that they would NOT replace it after the 5th Time? I am curious what their reasoning would/could be. Please keep us updated as to their response/ solution.

Good Luck,
Ron I assume you're in the US, so -

If you bought from a local authorized dealer, write a letter and say enough is enough - new watch or money back.

If not, start politely appealing to someone at Omega service for a happier resolution. Even if you bought it used or from a grey market dealer, if you paid for a repair out of pocket, Omega's repair warranty applies.

If you are now relying on the service warranty for a repair, you might want to send it to a US service center to get some state or US jurisdiction.

Go to www.nolo.com and review their Warranty Rights FAQ as well as the FTC website.

Probably too late, but if you paid by credit card, and the time limits apply, dispute the charge with the card issuer. Or, if you have an extended warranty benefit, work it through those channels.

Best of luck! www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/warrant.htm This is not an isolate incident with 33xx series. Stumeister problem is indication that Omega ignoring the fundamental problem with the 33xx watch. However pervasive the problems are, I doubt the numbers will add up to get a class action suit rolling.

Interestingly, if IBM or Microsoft sells a few million of a $100-500 product, the lawyers start perking up.

But, with XX,000 @ $3000-5000, nothing.

We've been here before - there are problems, we don't know the full story, so be wary. Or dump it and buy a Speedmaster Pro. The real problem here is damages. If IBM or Microsoft sells a product that is defective or otherwise harmful to their customers they face significant damages because of what that bad software or hardware could do - imagine banking software that loses actual accounts or a server whose crash led to clients' private e-mails becoming public, or a laptop battery fire lighting up a whole office with people inside. The liability could be huge, so lots of steps are taken and dollars spent on improvement and lots of time and dollars are spent by attorneys looking to cash in on the settlement.

If your watch is bad your damages really are limited to repair or replacement of the watch. No court would buy your story that you lost or could lose some huge amount of dough because you couldn't possibly tell the time without your expensive watch. Granted the Broad Arrow costs a fair amount of money, but its failure - even multiplied by thousands of buyers -just doesn't warm the hearts of class action attorneys working on a contingency fee basis, especially when the damages would be pretty close to what Omega is giving out anyway - repairs and replacements.

My fear, though, is that Omega may be stonewalling on this because they fear litigation. I've been reading every thread on this topic that Chuck has been kind enough to comment on, and it looks to me like corporate counsel at Omega may be driving some of the stupidity. I'd think that their real problem would be the possible loss of customer base and market confidence in their products, but I'm never surprised when anyone - including a large corporation - does something stupid because they're afraid of a lawsuit that they wouldn't lose.

I do hope that Omega gets this thing fixed, though. I'd think that someone at ETA or elsewhere in the Swatch Group would have a movement available that'd work...

Good luck Stumeister!
Greg Yikes...this is saddening to hear. I was planning on a BA GMT for my imminent 40th birthday. Might have to postpone this till this issue gets resolved.

It's still a lovely watch though, so I hope Omega makes good on your watch. Best of luck! Johan2005,

I don't think the BA GMT is based on the same movement, is it? I had not heard that these problems were affecting teh GMT line.

ZRM My first Broad Arrow went back to Bienne for warranty repairs three times. First for the early rotor problem, second and third times for the chrono seconds reset. Upon return the last time, the chrono seconds reset perfectly but the hours and minutes counters did not budge off of twelve. It always kept great time, and after the initial fix the problems were with the chronograph functions.

Took the issue to the local dealer who sold it to me, who sent it to Omega U.S.A., which in turn sent it to Bienne a fourth time. At my request, Omega Bienne replaced the watch with a new DeVille chronograph on strap, a comparable MSRP at the time. The DeVille was beautiful and worked perfectly, but wore too large to suit my tastes. I sold it and bought another Broad Arrow like the one I had. This one was 2006 "factory fresh" and has worked perfectly since day one. No problems whatsoever. If I had it to do over again, I would have just asked for my first Broad Arrow to be replaced with a like model from current production.

Love my new Broad Arrow, and wearing it on the bracelet today as I type.

Good luck.

Packing her off again to Bienne to give them their last chance.
Sadly if it is not resolved this time, I will be taking it further don't you guys worry;)



seems to me Omega owes you a new watch??

i'd be raising hell until they do what is right. no excuse for this and i hope things work out for you in the end

good luck Lev