The Breitling Watch Blog

Omega joins the numerous brands out there including Breitling with their own iPhone App! While not the most useful thing (most Watch Brand iPhone Apps aren’t) it does help bolster brand loyalty. And since most watch people are also especially vain and require the best and trendiest everything, they probably also have iPhones. Perfect! Yes, I just made fun of myself.

Download the Omega iPhone App here:
http://www.omegawatches.com/iphone

Check out the new Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra XXL Small Seconds.. this is a massive 49.2mm Aqua Terra, in a limited edition of 88 pieces in white and 88 pieces in rose gold. Dials are old-school enamel with beautiful blued hands and an applied small seconds subdial in sterling silver. The watch is fitted with an Omega Caliber 2211, and is COSC certified Chronometer.

Video review I just posted on Youtube of the Omega Seamaster GMT Auto. This is the black version. Great watch, and very affordable as well. Decent 41.5mm case, and great wrist feel. The only thing is the bezel has that half and half look which I don’t really dig too much. Enjoy!

This article is about my search for a suitable aftermarket Omega deployant, and my negative shopping experience with wholesaleoutlet990, the ebay seller that I purchased it from, and my conclusions that I have drawn from the experience.

The Shopping Experience

With the multitude of aftermarket deployant buckles out there, sometimes you want one that will work with your existing straps, whether is a real strap or not a real strap because you might not want to change the buckle every time. Thing is, deployant buckles are expensive, costing like $200+ from any of the major Swiss brands!

So, in my journey to find a suitable Omega deployant for my other Omega straps, I sought to find one on ebay since it seems to have the most variety. At first, the search began with looking for the terms “omega buckle”, which turned out huge amounts of buckles that “fit omega” watches, many of which are just regular buckles. I narrowed my search down to “omega deployant buckle”, and this helped tremendously. In searching for a direct replacement, I could not find any that looked almost identical to the Omega Deployant that I currently own, so I started reading descriptions and deciphering photographs to try and determine which ones might be functionally identical but aesthetically different. I finally found one where the picture might suggest that it works the same way but didnt’ show enough that it could be determined either way. This was our friend wholesaleoutlet990.

After reading the auction description for what seemed to be an esteemed seller of aftermarket watch parts such as rolex bezels and aftermarket buckle replacements, I came upon a few very prominent lines in their advertising:

“Q: Will This Item Fit My Watch Without Any Modifications?
A: Yes, All Items We Sell Are Made To Fit Your Watch Perfectly, We Guarantee It.”

As far as I understand it, so long as I ordered the right size, they guarantee that it will fit my watch perfectly without modifications. I proceeded to order my 18mm buckle for my 20-18mm Omega strap, confident that such a company would be helpful and courteous, and afterall, its a $12.40 buckle, what could go wrong?

Receiving the Buckle and Disappointment

I opened up the package, happy to install the new buckle on the brand new Omega Crocodile strap that I wanted to mount on it only to find out that the buckle does not work on the Omega Deployant Strap that i purchased. This was disappointing. I promptly emailed wholesaleoutlet990 and ask them what they would do.. they said they would refund me when I shipped it back. Since tracked shipping back to them would cost as much as I paid for the item since Canadian Shipping sucks, and I did not want to ship it back without tracking in case they claimed not to receive it, I asked that they reimburse my shipping expense back since it was their fault.

They refused. They claimed it was my mistake and that you could tell from the photos that it would not work the way they claimed it would, as a fitting my watch perfectly without modification. Obviously their gurantee means nothing. Now, a $12.40 buckle is very small change, but I don’t want anyone else to get duped by their policy, and its always nice to know what kind of people you are buying from.

They continued to deny that it was in any way their fault, even with their misleading titles. And the best part, his final email to me indicating that he wasn’t going to take a return and cover shipping was “for $12.95 worth you will be hero”. Whatever that means??

Now if it was my mistake, and not a misrepresented item, I would have ate the cost.. but these guys are misrepresenting items and deceiving people.

What I’ve learned from this is that eBay doesn’t protect anything for you, and lots of dealers on there regardless of feedback amount and rating are not good to deal with, no matter how much they say they care about customer service. Buyer beware, and I hope this helps other potential omega deployant clasp buyers from getting duped.

Don’t really want to get into an extensive review of this Omega Seamaster GMT, as there are plenty out there. Just wanted to make a few notes regarding the watch, as I have reviewed the other Seamasters in the past, both in videos and in writing.

The Omega Seamaster GMT is a very nice watch, which uses the same 41.5mm case design as all the other Seamaster 300m Divers. The GMT hand is unique compared with most other GMT watches in that when you adjust the hour the main hour hand moves, not the GMT hand. This makes the watch much easier to adjust for Local Time than other GMT watches. You simply keep your GMT hand on Home Time permanently, and adjust the main hour hand in the 1-hour increments to adjust for local time.

The watch has a day/night two-tone bezel which many peopel don’t like, including myself. It can be relatively easily changed to a standard black or silver bezel if you wish however.

Basic Specs:
Diameter: 41.5mm
Movement: Omega 1128 (Base ETA2892)
Water Resistance: 300m
Crystal: Sapphire