Service: Omega Speedmaster 175.0032 / calibre 1140

IMG_8477This is one of Eric’s watches, who sent it in from Belgium.

The ideal watch if you are invited to a posh evening do, and you want to time how long it takes from opening the buffet until the first fight breaks out.

It’s been quite a while since the last service, so let’s see…IMG_8478

The whole watch is in great condition.IMG_8479

Side view of the case.IMG_8480

Not too tragic, but a service won’t hurt. The main reason for the service isn’t the movement performance, but that the chronograph second hand jumps when the chronograph is engaged.IMG_8483

With the movement taken out, I separate the chronograph from the base movement, and ETA2892A2.IMG_8485

The movement is gilded. There is some dirt and corrosion on the auto winder gears.IMG_8487

I start off by taking apart the ETA movement.IMG_8490

Almost there.IMG_8491

The mainspring doesn’t look too bad.IMG_8493

The fourth wheel with the pinion that drives the chronograph.IMG_8494

I clean movement and chronograph layer separately.IMG_8495

Now it’s time to take apart the chronograph.IMG_8497

I have to proceed with caution here, as there are no parts whatsoever available for the chronograph. Omega only swaps the whole unit for an overhauled one.IMG_8500

Slowly does it…IMG_8514

I also take out and clean the pushers.IMG_8539

All the chronograph parts cleaned and ready.IMG_8714

Reassembly starts with the base movement.IMG_8715

With a new mainspring of course.IMG_8716

Once that’s in the barrel, I put the balance jewels back in.IMG_8717

Now I reassemble the gear train.IMG_8720

And then put together the bottom plate.IMG_8721

The movement is ready for the chronograph.IMG_8755

I have the detailed Omega assembly instructions. I do substitute Moebius D5 with HP 750, the more modern equivalent, which runs a lot less and stays where it should be.IMG_8756

This is a fairly long process, oiling and checking each component as I go along.IMG_8757

Nice finishes throughout.IMG_8759 IMG_8760 IMG_8761

You can see the wheels of the hour and minute recorder, and the sub-second arbor at around 10 o’clock in the photo.IMG_8762

Finally, the chronograph is back together and adjusted.IMG_8763

Now I can put the base movement on top.

IMG_8764

And put the dial and hands on.IMG_8767

 

The auto winder goes on once the whole unit is cased.IMG_8770

The whole watch is in super condition.

IMG_8774

And this is what I expect…. Even with the fairly complex set of gears for the hour, minute and sub-second hand going through the chronograph layer, we have a very decent amplitude indeed.

 

26 thoughts on “Service: Omega Speedmaster 175.0032 / calibre 1140

  1. Have a question. When engaging the chronograph the minute hand jumps almost a minute ahead. What would be the cause?

  2. Hi Christian, what an informative post – thank you. I’m hoping you can help me; I have the same watch but in stainless steel and the lower pusher button has fallen off (and is now lost). Would you be able to point me in the right direction of where to find a replacement? I have been googling it a lot and can only seem to find replacement buttons for the moon watch which seem to be too thick in the stem for this one. Any help much appreciated!
    Thanks in advance,

    Simon

    • Hi Simon,

      You should be able to find a pusher on eBay. Also be aware that Omega pushers don’t fit – you have to adjust the height of the pusher yourself by taking material off.

      • Thanks for replying so promptly, Christian. I’ve tried looking but can’t seem to find the right one – might you know the part number I should be looking for? Sorry for bugging you!

        As an aside, how much would you charge to do this for me? And to potentially service the watch also?

        Thanks – and I love your site!

        Simon

  3. Hi Christian,
    Would you care to provide some detaills on ‘refitting’ the hands (how ‘you’ do it and the tools), mainly the sweep second hand. I assume it’s not the same as putting on a SS hand as in a standard automatic movement (non-chrono)? I’ve read that while in the appropreate movment holder, you press and hold the ‘start’ (top) chrono button while fitting the hand. (?)
    Also, did you use a NEW SS hand or ‘re-use’ the hand that was on the watch when received. If you ‘re-used’ the same hand, did you do any ‘re-tightening’ of the tube prior to re-fit?
    thanks

    • Holding the start button won’t do you any favours. You just start, stop, and reset the chronograph so that the hands are in 0 position, and then you can fit them carefully. Apply little pressure, reset them again, correct slightly, and so on until you got it right. Don’t press the hands down too hard.
      You don’t have to fit new hands. We do a lot of vintage watches, and new hands aren’t available, anyway. It’s not always necessary to re-tighten the hands tubes, but if it is, we use the Bergeon 3010 hand collet tightening tool.

  4. I have the exact same watch! Right down to the color palette. My local watchmaker adjusted it last week and it was ±0 for a couple of days but now is -2 seconds/day. Any thoughts on why it would go from ±0 to -2 in a short time? Not complaining! Just wondering.

      • True and true! And two seconds is well within spec, I think. In this case, I think the watch was running down, because this morning it had lost two-and-a-half minutes overnight. So, clearly, I need to adopt a more active lifestyle or give it a few winds every day. The question is, how many winds? Because I don’t see myself becoming a lot more active….

        🙂

  5. Nice work on this one. Alot of watchmakers are afraid of touching these movements because of the DD Module thats attached to the ETA 28xx. The only thing that i dont like about the movt, is that when the minute counter changes it slowly moves one minute by minute not like a 7750 which snaps as soon as the chrono second hand gets to 60, but on the plus side once the module is serviced its a rock sold chronograph movement and i would have to say that its more reliable then the 7750 chronograph wise. You would be surprised how many watchmakers in the US will not work on these or will work on it and only overhaul the ETA movement and just dip the entire DD chrono Module into one dip cleaner and say it was overhauled. Im glad that you arent one of those guys. Ive overhauled about 10 or so of these this year and they take some time but i love how well DD makes the chrono module, everythings goes together perfectly and works like a well oiljjfs

  6. Hi Christian

    A little off topic, you mentioned that this particular movement does not have any parts available so therefore is tricky to repair if something needs replacing. Are there any other chronograph movements that also fall into this category. Im looking at getting a vintage chrono, but dont want to get one that ultimately is very difficult to repair due to parts availability.

    • Actually, I found a source of 1040 chrono parts, so not an issue any more. Parts for the 321 are almost impossible to get, so if you want to get one of those, it has to be complete and in good condition.

  7. Superb blog, I look forward to using your services some day. And I wish your apprentice well, learn much he will.

  8. Wouldn’t worry quite so much in the future Christian, a large selection of parts for the Dubois Dupraz 2020 module are still available through Cousins UK. Not that they’re particularly cheap of course… 😉

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