Customer Reviews

Omega Men's 1512.40.00 Constellation Quartz Watch

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this watch to sub for my Omega Constellation that had to go to the repair facility for a new band. I purchased the original watch in 1983, and I have worn it almost every day since then. These watches are almost indestuctible, reliably water resistant, and keep nearly perfect time. The only down side is the need to send them to the factory repair facility for maintenance, which can take up to 2 or 3 months round trip. Most jewelry stores won't work on them except to change the battery. Highly recommended.

I have an example of this bought 7 years ago. It is a very nice watch and looks great; BUT it has been very unreliable (unlike my 30+ year old Seamaster).

The problem seems to be that, whilst the timekeeper is quartz, the perpetual calendar is for some strange reason purely mechanical. Nevertheless it worked fine for 5 years; but then it started to drop occasional days. Omega (or Swatch who officially try to repair Omegas in the UK!) originally sent it back as fine, but the shop returned it to them since it had already slipped another day! They then 'fixed' it - but within a month the whole mechanism froze. They then 'fixed' it again - but the crown wheel soon fell off, then the strap broke... This took nearly a year(about 5-6 weeks per cycle) but after vast expenditure (not far from the cost of a new watch) it did work again - for two years! But now it drops odd days again! They now suggest that I spend another £190 on a 'service' (after only 2 years); but I feel I would rather live with a non-working calendar!

Of course I have suggested to Omega/Swatch that they might like to fix this properly at their expense but they are remarkably unhelpful - perhaps the cost of service is too large a profit source! (they suggest a £190 - $350 - service every 4 years anyway even if the watch lasts that long without faults).

The price for this watch is good, after I received the watch, the gift package is quite nice too, but, until I opened the small bag and took the watch out, I was rather disappointed, the whole watch just does not like new, compared with the one I bought from department store, and I found that there were two very long scratches on the band. I mailed it back yesterday and paid 10 bucks for the postage, hope I could get refund soon.