2nd multiple Omega Chrono failure report in 3 days.
| 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. 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? I replied to Stumeister's post over in TZOF. Some Thoughts...This will make the second report of multiple failures in chronographs in the past three days. The first report was made in reply to my post in this blog about Time Flies c.3303 issue by Nick Henson on Thursday, September 07, 2006 12:20:00 PM. I haven't heard back from Nick about my follow up post to Nick in the blog, so I do not know if his Seamaster Pro Chronograph sports a Valjoux 7750 or a c.33xx. I am not going to assume it's one model or another. I'm not going to count Nick's example either way until I hear from him. Unfortunately, he didn't leave me an email address to contact him directly (Blogger recorded "anonymous-comment@blogger.com" as Nick's address), I will have to hope that Nick either posts another comment or contacts me directly to clearify things. Stumeister's example was bought in 2004, fairly likely to have been produced after the remedial parts introduced in 2002 that certain people claim have elimidated or at least caused the ,,significant decline,, of problem reports. Even discounting Nick Henson's report, the c.33xx failure's sadly continue to be reported with regularity. -- Chuck |
posted by Chuck Maddox | 9/10/2006 01:11:00 PM
8 Comments:
I bought an America's Cup chronograph in May 2004 and the watch was broken out of the box. I had four failures of various kinds and suffered through three repair attempts before the retailer refunded my purchase price under threat of lawsuit. What a POS!!! 3 grand for a watch that keeps breaking in the first year... I will never touch an Omega again. It is the most overrated item I have ever owned.
I'm sorry to drop an off-topic reply but I wonder if you ever wrote your thoughts about the bulova accutron astronaut ?I couldn'd find a email contact so that's why I'm asking it on this post
Hello Anonymous,
The Bulova Accutron... Well, I own a couple of Omega's and one Longines with tuning fork movements which were licensed by those firms from Bulova. As long as you keep good batteries in them, they seem to be good watches/chronographs.
As for Bulova the company. Once Gordon Cooper wore a Accutron on his Mercury mission [primarily because he was going to be in orbit for 24-Hours] the only possible instance I can remember of an astronaut wearing one was possibly Pete Conrad on his Gemini mission. In addition to his issue Speedmaster, Conrad also wore a watch which is nearly certainly either a Glycine Airman or a Bulova Accutron.
However, Bulova wanted, and seeming continues to wish to make great hay out of their connection to NASA and the Space program in their advertisements despite the fact that after Mr. Conrad's possible use, the only involvment was with timekeeping instruments built into the various spacecraft. Incidentally, the timer which failed in the LEM which caused Neil Armstrong to leave his Speedmaster in the LEM was a Bulova produced instrument.
Even recently, Bulova has hired Buzz Aldrin to be their spokesman:
http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=2078240&rid=0
Which is seems pretty silly to anyone who knows the history of what really happened.
For the record, I also own a Bulova Bullhead Micro-Rotor Chronograph. It's not that I don't like Bulova, it's just I don't like them trumping up their association with the Space Program far in excess to what it is. As far as that goes I've pointed out numerous times when Omega has done similar things, as I point out here:
http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&th=640569&mid=1938907&rid=146&rev=&reveal=
Let's just say, I don't often have a high tolerance threshold for Marketing types.
-- Chuck
I've seen this quote, about the mercury mission and gordon cooper's bulova..
On May 15 and 16, 1963 astronaut Gordon Cooper piloted the final Mercury mission in spacecraft Faith 7. He experienced a total power failure which knocked out his systems, including the on-board clock which he had been using to time his retro fire for re-entry. He was left to rely on the personal timepieces he had taken on board, and updates from ground control.
In his autobiography, "Leap of Faith," he wrote, "In addition to my Omega wristwatch which had lost time during the heavy G loads I had experienced during liftoff, I was wearing an Accutron watch, which was still keeping accurate time. I followed the count on it, prepared to fire on my own if I lost contact with John [John Glenn]." The auto retro burn worked fine and Cooper piloted the spacecraft to the most accurate of the Mercury splashdowns, five miles from the waiting aircraft carrier.
Given the timeframe the Accutron watch worn by Cooper would have been a cal. 214. I don't know what model, (possibly an Astronaut - another of the "Original 7" Mercury astronauts, Scott Carpenter, was photographed wearing a Bulova Accutron Astronaut 'A' on the front cover of Paris Match in 1962, but he is remembered for wearing a Breitling Cosmonaute in flight.)
Do you know of the Targa
florio Tag watch being made with a white dial?
Do you currently own colibri pocket watches as well as shown here: http://www.executivegiftshoppe.com/pocket-watch-colibri.html
? How good are they? Reading through your blog, it seems you know a lot about these things.
No, I don't own colibri anything. And to the best of my knowledge, TAG-Heuer never made a White dial version of the Targa-Florio model.
-- Chuck
Hi, I have no idea where to find out about a 2nd hand unusual watch I just purchased on holidays in Western Australia. All it says is "Mono Electronvolt Digital" It is an oval face facing elbow to hand & is what can only be described as a manual digital style of face including seconds with the hour number magnified by the fish eye converse glass. It has a stainless steel decorative band, the numbers glow in the dark with a brown patterned background. I've nevr seen anything like it and am very curious as gogle comes up with no answers eithr. please contact me if you hve any info on chelenbrett@bigpond.com.
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