The Swatch Group Malaysia Sdn Bhd : Before & After (Part 2)

There were 2 matters about the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean XL, a watch that I liked lots in my collection, that were kind of bugging me, which was as per the following :

1) The bezel doesn't align perfectly to 12 o'clock. I'm quite fussy about this bezel alignment and all my other diver watches were perfectly aligned to (or if they weren't, I'll send them back to be re-aligned like my Steinhart Ocean that travelled all the way back to Germany for the job). Omega SC informed me that if I get the bezel aligned to 12 o'clock, it may not be aligned to the second markers. They told me that such a tolerance was acceptable by Planet Ocean's standards; and if they re-align the bezel, they may scratch the new insert.

2) The date changes at 3 am instead of 12 am. The customer services informed me that Omega watches tend to have the date changes between 9 pm to 3 am, which sounded incredulous to me. I know about not doing quick-change-dates between 9 pm to 2 am, and I also know that mis-aligned date changes could be easily re-aligned back by experienced watchsmith but it involves taking out the movement and re-aligning the hands for the changeover at 12 o'clock.

My regular watchsmith told me that he could iron out issues 1 and 2 for me easily for just a token sum, but the Omega red dot mark would be affected. Given that the watch was under official Omega warranty, should I just accept the SC's explanations, or insist on the official rectification. Other than these 2 oddities, the watch has been an absolute darling.

I consulted some WIS' opinions and thereafter decided to drop by Omega SC during lunch hours. Their explanation was still the same- that they can't adjust the bezel to exactly 12 o'clock, and that the date change was normal as long as it's between 9 pm - 3 am. Mine was right on the dot at 3 am.

I in turn explained that I have had other SCs re-aligned my bezel previously, and all were successful. Heck, I even had an el-cheapo SKX009J1 which had a bezel off by 0.5 seconds, and the watchsmith got it back right on the dot. If the warranty was over, I'd have my regular wordsmith work on the watch.

Given that the watch was still under warranty, the technicians informed that they would do their best to re-align the bezel; and look into servicing/fine-tuning the movement for the date change although they did stressed that it may take some time. I have no issues with the time factor.

Crossing my fingers that I get back the watch in the condition that I envision it should be. Will update on the progress.

NB : I checked the online status and the watch has been diagnosed by the technicians. A full maintenance service on the movement would be carried out, and parts like the seal were in the pending delivery stage. Estimated completion is in a month's time. Looks like a proper servicing job this time around.