zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

I didn't want my post below to misinterpreted as though I were trying to imply that caliber 1120 has some inherent design flaws that make it subject to sudden stops. Rather, I have to agree with you, Steve, that given the incredibly high production numbers for the 1120-based Seamasters over the years, I think that the relatively few failure reports we have seen posted on this forum over the past year or so represent just a few defective pieces.

Also, only one of my "sudden stop" problems was with an 1120-based Seamaster. The other was with a DeVille Power Reserve model. Although this model was also ETA-based, it was a co-axial with a power reserve complication as well. My father also experienced a similar problem with a Breitling he owned, so sudden stop problems are hardly exclusive to Omega, let alone just caliber 1120.

Admittedly, when I had the same problem with two different and relatively new Omegas (only a few months old when the problems were noted), I wondered why Omega never determined the root cause of the problems. They simply did full servicings and shipped the watches back to me. When I asked my local watchmaker about this, he gave me the answer I hadn't thought of before. When a watch is sent back for a problem like this, it is much easier to fully clean and relubricate the movement than it is to painstakingly search for potential causes of the problem. So, the fact that Omega did give the watch a full $275 servicing under warranty does say something about their commitment to fixing warranty problems. Granted, it did take them two attempts to fix the Seamaster properly, but in the end they did fix it.

Also, all of the forum regulars have undoubtedly read some or all of my posts praising the quality of my Bond SMP 2531.80. This is an 1120-based watch, and at a little over 4 years old it runs as good as the day I got it. I'm still amazed that a watch this old continues to be this accurate without having been serviced yet. If I had no faith in caliber 1120, I wouldn't recommend the Bond and black 2254.50 Seamasters to so many people. I have always said that these watches are a superb value for the money, and my opinion has not changed on this over the years.

Sorry for rambling, but I wanted to clarify my position on caliber 1120 so that it would not be misinterpreted.

Cheers,
John