WATCH POP

I remember that Mathew J said that Omega has better sparepartsservice for there Omegas vintagewatches, than Rolex does for theres.

I think that could be true in the States, because some of most Rolex dealers won´t service a Rolex that is 30 - 40 years old.

But here in Denmark, and I guess the whole of Europe, there are never any problems in trying to get them serviced. Now ofcourse pars may no longer be avialbe, but I have gotten 2 brand new Milgaussdials for model 1019, that was about 32 - 35 years old.

In America that could proberly not have happend, because of the attitude of the americans Rolexdealers.

I don´t think it´s posible to get a new dial for a 20 + years old Omega. I guess a restoreshing must do.

About retailprices on Rolewx that differes. In Asia some give 15 - 20 % discount on new Rolexwatchs. Here in Denmark usely only 3 - 10 %. And in America from 0 to, I think I have heard of 3 - 5 %.

So I guess everything depends on in which part of the world we are in :)))


Have a nice weekend


Regards


Nick
Hi,

This is a soap box I love to get on. Clearly, different countries have different laws that determine a manufacturers requirements to sell parts. In the US, Rolex has managed somehow to insulate itself and consequentially other watch manufacturers, from the normal requirement of selling repair/replacement parts to all comers. It is now the case that JLC, IWC, Omega, and others are all restricting parts sales to independent watchmakers. They want to control their service not for quality reasons, but for profit. The result is that independents either have to be associated with an AD, or jump through unrealistic hoops to get parts. As a result they're going the way of blacksmiths. You can't make a living replacing batteries in quartz watches.

As an analogy, imagine if the only place you could get your Honda, Toyota, MBZ, Chevy or Porsche serviced/repaired was at the dealer, or worse, the manufacturers facility in another city. How do you think this would effect the price of parts and service? They'd charge whatever they could get away with, and take months to get your car repaired. Sound familiar? This is exactly what's happening in the watch business. My watchmaker is a genius, but will not even look for replacement parts for the above mentioned brands because the time and effort to acquire parts through some backdoor source is too costly. He now does more clockmaking than watchmaking.

It's a bad situation for collectors. I have several old watches that require parts that I can't get except by sending them to the factory for an overhaul that costs some multiple of the value of the watch. If my guy could get parts, I'd be wearing them now.

I've decided I'm not buying ANY new watch from companies that won't sell parts to independents. We should all take this into consideration when we buy, because it seriously effects the cost of owning a watch over time. It would be one thing if "factory service" was always great, but it only takes a regular reading of these brand forums to to know it ain't so.

I'll step of the box now.

Best, Jonathan What a timely topic! Check out some of the pages on the ofrei site for some current litigation regarding the Cartier/Richemont group. Sounds like a state-based lawsuit filed by an independent watchmaker against the Richemont group.

I am absolutely with JonathanG on this issue -- you can buy any watch once but you have to consider how easy it is to live with it. I'm not sure how dire the parts for repair situation is at the moment, but I am so glad that Omega parts are still relatively available to all of us through certain channels.