Rolex vs Omega : Watch Servicing

Readers would know that 2 of my favourite brands that I have repeatedly added these brands' new watches into my collection and thereafter flipped (at losses, if I may add; in case IRB was interested to know), were Rolex and Omega. 

I loved these 2 brands because they were the de-facto choices of the previous and current generations of James Bond- putting the occasional Seiko of past aside. Jokes aside, both these brands produce quality and substantial luxurious watches; although Rolex does seemed to still have the upper hand compared to Omega. Within the 2 brands, I have mainly played with the Divers and Chronos genre.

In terms of Divers, I had a couple of Submariner pieces vs Planet Ocean pieces.

In terms of Chronos, I had a couple of Daytona pieces vs Speedmaster pieces.

Pricing-wise, Rolex does cost more compared to the equivalent piece in Omega. And given its desirability, Rolex's secondary market tend to hold its pre-owned prices better too.

But importantly for any watches would be its official servicing, which was pretty much an eventual event some time, some day. Having serviced a couple of Datejust, Submariner, Speedy, and Planet Ocean with their respective SCs located at Menara Dion and Wisma Goldhill respectively, I would said that like-for-like, the cost of servicing for Rolex was a bit cheaper compared to Omega.

So far, it would seemed as though that all the positive points had been in favour of Rolex only.

Well, where Omega would then stood out would be in its customer information system or CIS. Whereas Rolex had the personal touch vide a personal call to inform you on the watch's readiness, Omega had an international CIS platform whereby you could just log into its website and find out all the details in relation to your watch servicing progress. This meant that you could practically check on the matter any time, and any where, as and when you liked.

Take for example, my Speedy Panda that had an existing Omega warranty that was valid till June 2018. I took it to Omega on 19/4/2018 to check on its Power Reserve status.

As per the above, I could track on the servicing status and could gauge that Omega was performing a full overhaul servicing on the watch that was worth RM2,800. All the parts that were ordered from Swiss for the necessary servicing could be easily seen, and I do appreciate the transparent and daily-updated CIS on the part of Omega. Two thumbs up from me to Omega on its CIS system.

And for both Rolex and Omega, after any overhaul was completed, the brands would extend a 2-year warranty on the watch from the date of collection. Now, that was peace of mind to invest on these good brands!