As a sailing instructor, I am in the water almost daily as I guide people through their sailing experiences. I’ve owned an Omega Seamaster 300 diving watch for over 6 years, it never leaves my wrist. I was diving on a plane wreck with some clients for about 30 minutes, not a deep dive at all. In the evening I noticed my crystal had fogged up, thinking it was sunscreen or something, wiped it. To my shock, it was moisture on the inside. I checked the vent and sure enough, it was loose, then I pulled the crown and placed the watch in some rice.
I was still 3 weeks away from home where I could do something about it. Just before Christmas too.
I took it to my local jeweler and they sent it off to Seattle to an Omega repair shop. A week went by and I was informed that they were not authorized to work on that particular movement. So they sent it back.
I was in a pickle, because rust never sleeps. The watch was exposed to salt water and it’s been a month. I put it in rice, but that is not a fix, I saw discoloration in the date wheel. So I started searching for someone who was authorized to fix Omega watches and would not charge me through the nose and take 3 months..
Searching, I quickly found WatchRepair.net and looked at their service offerings and the testimonials, and ratings. Seemed impressive on the surface. So I submitted a request for a quote. In about 5 minutes, my phone rang and I was speaking with Jeff Herman, who was also a sailor, with a boat in the Bahamas. We hit it off instantly and Jeff encouraged me to get the watch to him asap. I was leaving for a 2-week trip to the Bahamas in a few days, so off it went hours later. He sent me a prepaid label, instructions and insurance to get it to their master watchmakers.
Within a day, they assessed the damage and gave an estimate. Which I felt was reasonable. Jeff offered to hand deliver the watch to me while I was down in the Bahamas. That speaks volumes to me.
I received my beloved watch after I returned home, it was well-packed and had a GPS tracker which provided me up to the minute stats of location, temperature, G-forces and light. That way I we would know if it took any abuse along the way.
The watch looked brand new, they did a complete overhaul and provided a guarantee for 12 months.
@new.adventures.sailing thanks Jeff and @Freedom2Sail for a great experience.
Fair winds and following seas