Omega Seamaster GMT losing an hour at midnight (date change).
Gary Sanderson
We have a customer that has a Seamaster GMT (sold in 2000) which has an
intermittent fault where occasionally during the night, the normal hour
hand will jump backwards 1 hour during the date change at midnight. The
24 hour red GMT is unaffected and remains true.
Our customer is somewhat concerned being that the watch is only 4-5 yrs
old - obviously out of it?s warranty ? but has recently been
serviced/overhauled and had an hour wheel spring replaced at that time
(approx 2 weeks ago). This did not improve the issue and it continues
to happen only occasionally.
Any help on this being an 'already known' issue or help on fault
finding would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks, Gary.
Frank Adam
wrote:
You didn't say what caliber this is, it may spark someone's brain cell
if you did.
I can't recall having that sort of problem though, especially not with
an Omega. However, i can think of a couple of things to check/try.
0)
Fit the dial properly and lock it down. Grab the hour wheel with your
general tweezers. Lift as hard as you can and twist, turn winder so
hour wheel advances about 2-3 teeth. Repeat to go around once.
1)
Dial off. Check and make sure that the hour wheel sits down at least
half way into the height of the minute wheel pinion. If it's iffy, try
using two or three hour wheel washers and curl them a bit more by
running the outside of your tweezer's tip across the washer a few
times. This will just about roll it up, but it's ok, once on the wheel
it opens up again..
2)
If this is a model with a standard canon pinion, then make sure that
after fitting it all the way down, the pinion does not rise when the
hands are turned. If it does, get a new one or alter the location of
the tightening notch(or whatever that thing would be called).
If it's a centre canon pinion type(ie: 1010 on), make sure the centre
post is sitting flush to the plate. These can raise up at times,
lifting the centre canon pinion just onto the edge of the teeth of the
minute wheel.
3) Check the date ring and make sure the teeth are ok and
nothing(burrs, scratches or other hamfisted watchmaker leftovers) can
obstruct it on the main plate.
4) Put the hour wheel into a suitable hole on your staking set (gear
up) and flatten the teeth by gently tapping down with your largest
flat punch. This defeats the checking of the teeth, since you will
make sure that they are all level after this.
In dire straights, you can try and slighly curve the teeth downwards.
Last resort !
Hope that gives some ideas... good luck.
--
Regards, Frank
the swisswatchguy
Gary, Frank: I feel that his is a problem, which should be submitted
directly to Omega's Customer Service:
http://www.omega.ch/contact_form/Contact_Form.php
others ways to contact them are indicated at:
http://www.omegawatches.com/omega/cp_contact
I can assure that they shall be very helpful, as what you describe
should not happen.
Good luck. Please report in due time.
Frank Adam
<swissw...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Gary, Frank: I feel that his is a problem, which should be submitted
>directly to Omega's Customer Service:
>
Watchmaking is not(or should not be) about chucking a tantrum and
running home with every little problem..
It's about solving the problem and only when all ideas were tried and
failed, call Mum. Not Dad, it'll take too long.
An attitude of 'why bother trying to understand the problem and fix it
when i have a phone', is what drives helpdesks gitty.
>http://www.omega.ch/contact_form/Contact_Form.php
>
>others ways to contact them are indicated at:
>
>http://www.omegawatches.com/omega/cp_contact
>
>I can assure that they shall be very helpful, as what you describe
>should not happen.
>
They are very helpful and honest in fixing generic design faults even
well out of warranty, no doubt.. On the other hand, they are(at least
here in Melbourne) not so willing in revealing fixit tips to
watchmakers, unless one has a mate there(as i do). At best they tend
to give a vague reply which leaves a bit more to be explored.
They will more than likely request the watch to be sent in. 4 to 6
week wait for the customer for something that very likely can be
checked and fixed on the bench in a few days or so, testing incl.
If the customer is willing to wait and someone is willing to swallow
the postage and/if other charges, it's the easy way to go without a
doubt.
--
Regards, Frank
the swisswatchguy
The problem lies in the competance and knowledge. You are a big boy and
as such can find the solution by yourself successfully without damage
to the watch. In the above case, it appeared to me that the watch had
already been tampered with inadequatly enough, justifying writing to
the world's headquarters, where the solution is only an answer away.