Anyone here into watches

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

For our 25th wedding aniversary Mrs TT bought me a Cartier Tank Francais automatic. I wear it everyday except when riding - The vibration messed up the date changer and the repairs cost me a fortune. The glass is made from the hardest material known to man - I have never seen a scratch on it.

http://www.pinstime.com/wp-content/uplo ... ncaise.jpg

[bikesnbones]

The glass is made from the hardest material known to man - I have never seen a scratch on it.

Don't know about the "hardest material known to man" but it is saphire crystal, which is used a lot on high end watches for this very reason.
Unless you take a stanley knife to it, it won't scratch, although it will shatter like glass if you knock it hard enough.

[Herb]

The glass is made from the hardest material known to man

http://www.pinstime.com/wp-content/uplo ... ncaise.jpg

what has Phil Mitchell got to do with watches?

[buzzz90]

Don't know about the "hardest material known to man" but it is saphire crystal, which is used a lot on high end watches for this very reason.
Unless you take a stanley knife to it, it won't scratch, although it will shatter like glass if you knock it hard enough.

Bah, it can't be as hard as Chuck Norris' muscles...

[slparry]

Don't know about the "hardest material known to man" but it is saphire crystal, which is used a lot on high end watches for this very reason.
Unless you take a stanley knife to it, it won't scratch, although it will shatter like glass if you knock it hard enough.

Bah, it can't be as hard as Chuck Norris' muscles...

or my ex's cold frozen heart

[dave the german]

Don't know about the "hardest material known to man" but it is saphire crystal, which is used a lot on high end watches for this very reason.
Unless you take a stanley knife to it, it won't scratch, although it will shatter like glass if you knock it hard enough.

Bah, it can't be as hard as Chuck Norris' muscles...

Walker Texas Ranger - now there was a hard man!!

[f90x]

Don't know about the "hardest material known to man" but it is saphire crystal, which is used a lot on high end watches for this very reason.
Unless you take a stanley knife to it, it won't scratch, although it will shatter like glass if you knock it hard enough.

Bah, it can't be as hard as Chuck Norris' muscles...

or my ex's cold frozen heart

I saw a sign outside an off license the other day, it read:

"BEER COLDER THAN YOUR EX'S HEART"

[Boxadog 2000]

I have an Omega Seamaster Automatic, had it for about 20 years.
3 days after I got it I fell over pissed and scratched the bezel and the case quite badly.
I send it off to omega about every 5 years for a service saying do not replace the scratched parts.
Sent the watch off for a service a year ago it took them 6 months
When the watch finally came back it lasted 1 week before it would stop for no reason ( watch is on a watch winder in the evening)
so I sent it back.
Watch comes back to me 3 weeks later.
The only original part of the watch that came back was the movement & bracelet.
As a gesture of good will they replaced everything else case,crystal,winder,bezel & hands.
So I now have a brand new 20 year old watch

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

When my Cartier was repaired (not by Cartier but by an independeant watch lab) apparently they strip it completley and clean all the parts in an ultrasonic bath, They then rebuilt it and replaced the broken date change lever and then spent 6 weeks regulating it so that it is now accurate. They also polished the case and bracelet which removed the wear & tear surface scratches

[bikesnbones]

Sent the watch off for a service a year ago it took them 6 months
When the watch finally came back it lasted 1 week before it would stop for no reason ( watch is on a watch winder in the evening)
so I sent it back.

That is quite unusual.
Did you send the watch direct to Omega yourself, or through an agent and did you get any official paperwork from Omega ?
I only ask because there was jeweller I heard about who was taking in customers watches, claiming they'd send it back to the manufacturer for service, but were in fact taking them to a watchmaker up the road, but still charging manufacturers prices.
For example, Omega charge between £300-£500 for a service on a chronograph, whereas a smaller watchmaker will charge about £100.
They were making a lot of money out of that scam, until the watchmaker who was doing their work, fell out with the owner and grassed them up to trading standards.

[slparry]

I have an Omega Seamaster Automatic, had it for about 20 years.
3 days after I got it I fell over pissed and scratched the bezel and the case quite badly.
I send it off to omega about every 5 years for a service saying do not replace the scratched parts.
Sent the watch off for a service a year ago it took them 6 months
When the watch finally came back it lasted 1 week before it would stop for no reason ( watch is on a watch winder in the evening)
so I sent it back.
Watch comes back to me 3 weeks later.
The only original part of the watch that came back was the movement & bracelet.
As a gesture of good will they replaced everything else case,crystal,winder,bezel & hands.
So I now have a brand new 20 year old watch

Triggers broom

[Boxadog 2000]

Sent the watch off for a service a year ago it took them 6 months
When the watch finally came back it lasted 1 week before it would stop for no reason ( watch is on a watch winder in the evening)
so I sent it back.

Sent via a reputable jeweler.
Cost I seem to recall was £270.
Each time the watch comes back it has a work sheet from Omega stating what had been done
That is quite unusual.
Did you send the watch direct to Omega yourself, or through an agent and did you get any official paperwork from Omega ?
I only ask because there was jeweller I heard about who was taking in customers watches, claiming they'd send it back to the manufacturer for service, but were in fact taking them to a watchmaker up the road, but still charging manufacturers prices.
For example, Omega charge between £300-£500 for a service on a chronograph, whereas a smaller watchmaker will charge about £100.
They were making a lot of money out of that scam, until the watchmaker who was doing their work, fell out with the owner and grassed them up to trading standards.

[bikesnbones]

Sent via a reputable jeweler.
Cost I seem to recall was £270.
Each time the watch comes back it has a work sheet from Omega stating what had been done

Fair enough.
It is quite unusual for Omega to cock up like that.
£270 sounds right for the basic ETA movement in the Seamaster.
The more complex chrono movments cost twice that,
I'm debating weather to send mine off to Omega or just take it up the road to a guy who is Omega trained, and does it for a fraction of the cost.

[bricking it]

I love my Omega Speedmaster Professional.
I love the history behind it, and the NASA connection.
It's an old fashioned mechanical manual wind chronograph.
I decided early on that if I was going to spend serious money on a watch, I wanted cogs, springs and wheels, not a battery and circuit board.
It was an awful ot of money, but the way I see it, it's something I can treasure and hand down when I'm gone.
Anyone else.

Yup. I wear a similar one most days, but mines a day-date model. Pressie to self when i turned a certain age. I was born a few days away from the first (alleged) moon landing. And its a very similar watch to that worn by Neil Armstrong

[bikesnbones]

And its a very similar watch to that worn by Neil Armstrong

Very true, and something a lot of people don't realize.
The current version is very different to the origina, "pre moon" model, which fetch serious money.
A friend of mine picked pn of those up in a charity shop for £25 because it wasn't running.
He sent it back to Omega for a service, then sold it for £2,500.