Servicing One's Watches -Featuring an Omega Speedmaster Day-Date

There comes a stage in owning an automatic watch that most never seem to take into account – Servicing the darn thing. The Omega Speedmaster Automatic Day-Date which you see in the photo above belonged to my late father. He bought it sometime in the mid-1990s and has gone through at least two rounds of servicing before it was handed to me.

It wasn't in good nick when I first got hold of it. The pusher button at 11 o'clock could work, and the 24 hour sub-dial wasn't in synch. I somehow believe that the movement in this Omega Speedmaster Day-Date is a little sensitive and fragile as it seemed to get out of whack quite easily. So I decided to send it for a full service at the local Swatch Group service center recently. For those that aren't in the know, the Swatch Group basically owns the Omega brand together with brands like Tissot, Longines, Blancpain etc.

Anyway, all the hands were changed as were some other bits and bobs which I do not really care as long as the thing works properly. The thing is that servicing the Speedmaster isn't exactly cheap (if you choose the official service center and not an independent party). In Kuala Lumpur, you will get charged somewhere in the region of RM1,900.00.

The irony is that when my father bought the watch, it only cost RM3,000 after discount. The watch is still on sale and is now listed at around RM10,000 or thereabouts (but is now chronometer rated). No wonder servicing costs so much.

It also goes to show that once you purchase your Swiss horological device, you should treasure it as inflation will kill you if you want to buy a new one. That is IF servicing the darn thing wouldn't do that do you in the first place. 

On a similar note, the Omega Seamaster 300 in an earlier post is also in for a service, but that one is going to Switzerland as the service center does not have the expertise to do it locally. Sigh. It seems Omega automatics will run for about nearly a decade or so before it gets gummed up.

Oh yeah, you do get a nice Omega leatherette travel case with the full service.