In house vs. ETA

[HAL330]

Curious, what percentage of Omega watches now come with their in-house movement? and what percent are ETA Based?

Thanks for the info, and sorry if this has been asked before, I couldn't find a good answer.

[AEC]

This would be a difficult thing for even an insider to state with accuracy, but my sense is production/sales of in-house (caliber 8XXX series) has probably overtaken ETA-based already, and I wouldn't be surprised to see ETA-based production drop to very small numbers over the next few years.

[MTBer]

Aside from quartz women's models, The only watches I see that still have ETA movements are a few Constellations with the 2500.

[Point2Point]

The Seamaster 300m Diver still uses the 2500D movement. It will be replaced soon by the new model that debuted at Baselworld 2018 powered by the in-house 8800 movement.

[mobster600]

im not an expert on Omega movements but from what ive known Omega has always made in-house movements. I would compare them to Rolex in their ONLY using in-house movements. Im 99.999% sure Omega makes all their own movements and parts...etc. They are not like the other Richemont or LVMH companies where they use alot of modfied ETA's. You cannot go wrong with Omega

[MTBer]

Originally Posted by mobster600

im not an expert on Omega movements but from what ive known Omega has always made in-house movements. I would compare them to Rolex in their ONLY using in-house movements. Im 99.999% sure Omega makes all their own movements and parts...etc. They are not like the other Richemont or LVMH companies where they use alot of modfied ETA's. You cannot go wrong with Omega

Omega sourced movements from ETA for decades. The 2500 caliber in all of its iterations as well as the 1120 that preceded it are modified ETA 2892-A2 movements. Pre-8500 era chronographs sporting the ubiquitous “12-9-6” subdial layout are Valjoux movements. And the movement in the Speedmaster Professional is originally Lemania.

[HAL330]

Originally Posted by MTBer

Omega sourced movements from ETA for decades. The 2500 caliber in all of its iterations as well as the 1120 that preceded it are modified ETA 2892-A2 movements. Pre-8500 era chronographs sporting the ubiquitous “12-9-6” subdial layout are Valjoux movements. And the movement in the Speedmaster Professional is originally Lemania.

so are there any purely in-house OMEGA only movements? or are they all based on some other ETA, etc?

[MTBer]

Originally Posted by HAL330

so are there any purely in-house OMEGA only movements? or are they all based on some other ETA, etc?

These days, the majority of Omega’s movements are derivations/successions of their in-house 8500 caliber that’s been around for about a decade now. They still have quartz models for women and a few 2500-based constellations plus the 300m diver mentioned above, but those are now the exception rather than the norm.

Edit- I believe all of Omega’s 8500 and beyond movements are actually still manufactured by ETA, but exclusively for Omega. And because ETA is owned by the same parent company as Omega, some will say that any movement manufactured by ETA is technically “in-house” to Omega (or Tissot, Hamilton, Mido, Longines, etc). It’s really a subjective argument in semantics.

[TudorTuesday]

All depends on what "in-house" means to you, as it's not a well-defined term.

But going by the general "in house" definition we tend to imply (designed by the manufacturer, with the intention of not being a 100% copy of an existing or prior movement) then MANY Omega watches are NOT in house. Let's just look at current Speedmasters, for example.

Every speedmaster professional and handwind has an 186x movement now - evolved from a lemania movement. Not in-house by the definition above.

Every speedmaster racing that is NOT the 44mm has a movement based on a modified ETA/valjoux 7750 (but with silicon hairspring, and coaxial escapement). Not in house.

Arguably only the 44mm coaxial speedmasters have a "novel" movement - but even those are purported to be manufactured by ETA (in itself probably a good thing!). Is this in-house? They are built to spec, by a sister company, with extreme quality...

Bottom line, Many of us use "in-house" as a term (myself included) but we all might mean different things. And really, we would probably do well to worry less about where the movement was built, and by whom, and more about how the movement performs. By that standard, the movements listed above are all excellent, and worthy of our passion and excitement.

(Oversimplification coming!)

If they were car motors, one would be a near-stock classic, one a hot-rodded classic, and the other a modern high-performance motor.

...but they all have VERY similar horsepower and torque characteristics. So you pick the one that speaks to you.

[Jack T]

Nevertheless, they put a very reliable and accurate movement in to my PO 2500D, a darn good watch !!!