I have an Omega Constellation – a bit of a special one really. It is a f300 circa 1973 and is driven by a tuning fork mechanism. It stopped working recently so I have sent it off to a specialist service centre who have quoted me £240. When working, the watch is worth about £600. There is no sentimental value so that's not an issue.

Obviously, this is a fair chunk of cash, which would buy me a decent new watch. So – do I consign the watch to my "man's top drawer" or splash the cash and get the thing running again.

The work is guaranteed for 6 months as it is an old watch.

Come on STWers – give us some input.

DS

sell it as a non worker on ebay

I'd go for get it fixed.

if it has no sentimental value, then it might be time to go watch hunting?

Does it have any value to as is?

Trade it for a new one

Sell it…nothing to say it wouldn't stop again outside the warranty and, if there's no sentimental reason for keeping it, then it's not worth having.

Just had my Tag watch back as the battery went…£60 went up to £160 as it apparently required a service. It was gone for 3 months then came back broken so off it went again for another month. If I thought it was going to cost so much everytime the battery goes and be away for so long, I'd never have bought it.

as it is it's telling the correct time twice a day, what's the problem ? 😉

ebay it it's F'ugly

sell it as a non worker on ebay

Or get it fixed and then sell it if it's really worth £600 (ie somebody would pay that much for it). Likely to lose far more than £240 from the value for being non-working.

Put it in the drawer. Put the money towards a cross bike.

Entirely up to you and depends on value of damaged watch – for £240 you can get it working or else you can have £240+watch value against a new one.

It's an interesting watch but doesn't float my boat personally.

Ace logon btw 😎

these guys will quote you much much less I reckon try them

http://russelltalerman.co.uk/default.aspx

Fixed one of mine for around 40.

>nothing to say it wouldn't stop again outside the warranty and

Mebbe the service centre could at least tell you what the state of the rest of the watch is (ie whether it's worth repairing), but depends how much you want to spend just on getting 'em to have a look…

>edit – yeah I see they've got it already, so mebbe they could tell you without any additional cost..

Hmmm.

Not much help from you lot then 🙁

Repair it. Make it sentimental.

Hhhmm , Keep it for now, get it fixed when you can, buy a new watch anyway.

nuke – They saw you coming. You can get a battery done in any Tag approved reseller (my last one cost me 10 quid) and a service, whilst expensive is only really NEEDED when it starts to go wrong. I had mine done last year after having the watch 12 years because it wasn't keeping time right.

nuke – They saw you coming.

Yeah, probably. 🙁

I just took it back to were I bought it from and they sent it off to Tag Heuer UK. Just didn't know any better but won't be making that mistake again.

fix it, as long as you have some brown slip on loafers to match

derek_starship – Member

Hmmm.

Not much help from you lot then

What did you expect?

You had perfectly reasonable replies….. 🙄

you can get a watch for a tenner these days. Get rid.

What would you buy/how much would you spend on a new one?

Vs

Price of fixing. (My Dad has a similar/same watch and never got it fixed but it has stayed in the draw since '75.

That is a low rent Omega.

Ebay it, and get a nice watch.

Try these guys http://www.rytetimewatchrepairs.co.uk/

Ugh, minging. What is it with this forum and stupid watches. Hello, Casio do watches which work.

Wear a working, reliable and cheap Casio/Timex/etc on one wrist and your Omega Behemoth on the other wrist. When you get mugged you can hand over the pointless-cos-it-doesn't-work-and-would-need-lots-of-money-spaffing-on-it-to-maybe-get-it-to-do-the-job-of-the-cheap-watch watch and they might run off, leaving you with your phone/wallet/balls, content with the shiny gold watch they've just acquired.

Until they get the watch home. Suckers.

pmsl

Whatever you do don't throw it in the bin.

I'm sure someone on TZ-UK would like it. Although I think your £600 is a little optimistic.

As it happens I'm in a similar situation. I have a Yema Chronosport that I bought back around '71-72. Didn't cost much, started to play up some years later, bought a TAG Series 1000 and left the Yema in a drawer. Bloke I worked with is a watch nut, and has loads of watches, including some like your Omega. Sent the Yema to a specialist he uses who's quoted £245 to get my watch up and running. It's twelve hours work, and he reckons it's worth around £5-600, and I've found one for sale on'tinterweb for around that. It's a lovely watch, all stainless, so I'm going for it. It was the first quality watch I bought for myself, and they are rare, the company was bought by Seiko in the eighties. Sadly, if it had had a different movement it could have been worth £2000!. It's mechanical, so replacing batteries not an issue…

sell it as a non worker on ebay

What he said…

Gotta be worth at least £300 to someone as a non worker… Likelihood is it's worth more, as it will attract those who are able to fix it themselves to buy, so they can fix it and sell on for a profit…

Or put it in your top drawer (as a non worker), leave it there whilst you go out and buy a new watch of some description… Then wait 20 years or so, then pull it out and pop it on eBay then… Being a watch, it's bound to be worth more money in time than it is now!

I have a 70's Seamaster. It's ugly, but characterful. It costs to maintain, but I like it. If you like it, get it fixed. Omegas rarely lose value over time, and a Connie is far more upmarket than mine. And you can give it to your kids later on.

Nuke, you could try this guy. New battery and waterproof testing for about £25. Turned around in a few days. Way cheaper and quicker than the jewelers I bought the watch from.

Derek_starship, I'd give him a shout as well. I don't think it's worth spending £240 to repair that if it has no sentimental value. The decider for me would be that the repair is only covered for 6 months (if something else goes, it's not covered at all) where as any new watch will have at least a year.

Time to go shopping.

Wear a working, reliable and cheap Casio/Timex/etc on one wrist and your Omega Behemoth on the other wrist. When you get mugged you can hand over the pointless-cos-it-doesn't-work-and-would-need-lots-of-money-spaffing-on-it-to-maybe-get-it-to-do-the-job-of-the-cheap-watch watch and they might run off, leaving you with your phone/wallet/balls, content with the shiny gold watch they've just acquired.

Until they get the watch home. Suckers.

Then you might be able to claim on your house insurance cos it was stolen. 😉

Ugh, minging. What is it with this forum and stupid watches. Hello, Casio do watches which work.

Bit like bikes eh. Cause Apollo make bikes that 'work' too.

Or even food. I mean, 1 chicken breast is the same as the next innit… 😐

Onzadog – Member
Nuke, you could try this guy.

I had less than great service from there.

hmm. if you want a watch for telling the time, then i doubt you'll do any better than a g-shock with waveceptor and solar power, and when it does eventually die you can replace it for less than a 'nice' watch costs to service.
if you want a watch which tells the time near enough and is jewlery, buy something else. fine if that's your thing and you want to spend money on it i suppose.

put it in the draw and with your money buy my 6497-1 swiss movement, titanium case watch for £200+postage (it looks like a Panerai Luminor Marina)… 🙂

Stevenieve – very funny. And you've reminded me – I bought True Romance a few months ago on dvd for £4. I'm gonna watch it this weekend. One of my top 10 for sure.

The watch is getting fixed. It's a classic with an interesting movement.
I know it's not a beauty but I think minging and f'ugly are a bit strong.

Thanks for your heartfelt comments and advice 😕

DS

ps – I've got lots of Casios too.

nice. Old Omega's are cool – on my wrist at the moment:

It's older than I am…

(EDIT: and yes, new crown and replacement OEM glass to be fitted shortly)