1970 Ulysse Nardin ellipse…thoughts?

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Screams ‘fake’ to me - is the seller by any chance out of Artesia?
 
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Screams ‘fake’ to me - is the seller by any chance out of Artesia?
Hello! No it’s out of Japan. Could you please give me some insight please on what worries you about it? I also posted more photos including the movement
 
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I have seen one or two others very much like it in Japanese auctions - one with a silver dial, the other had a blue dial. Both came with this hammered finish.

The one you showed looks to be in pretty good condition, aesthetically.

There's no reason to class this as a fake. It's not a particularly collectible watch, though - UN at the time used third-party movements from the likes of Felsa or A.Schild, decent quality but certainly not high-end (though they did their best to "spice up" the looks of the movements they used). No comparison to their glory years making pocket watches and marine chronometers in the 1920s or '30s.

If you like the look of it, it's a matter of the price - if that is okay for you, go for it. It's certainly a special look! Universal Geneve also made this type of "Ellipse", but not with this type of dial. And these mesh bracelets (which you can also find on UG watches) are comfortable to wear, plus you can adjust them to whichever length you need (there's a maximum, obviously, but unless you have gorilla wrists these make for a good fit).

The only things that would put me off are: you can't exchange the bracelet for a leather one, and spare parts for the movement may be hard to come by. If you can identify the base movement, part of that worry vanishes, of course.
 
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Weirdly cool … If you like it, own it. Love the dial work.
 
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I have seen one or two others very much like it in Japanese auctions - one with a silver dial, the other had a blue dial. Both came with this hammered finish.

The one you showed looks to be in pretty good condition, aesthetically.

There's no reason to class this as a fake. It's not a particularly collectible watch, though - UN at the time used third-party movements from the likes of Felsa or A.Schild, decent quality but certainly not high-end (though they did their best to "spice up" the looks of the movements they used). No comparison to their glory years making pocket watches and marine chronometers in the 1920s or '30s.

If you like the look of it, it's a matter of the price - if that is okay for you, go for it. It's certainly a special look! Universal Geneve also made this type of "Ellipse", but not with this type of dial. And these mesh bracelets (which you can also find on UG watches) are comfortable to wear, plus you can adjust them to whichever length you need (there's a maximum, obviously, but unless you have gorilla wrists these make for a good fit).

The only things that would put me off are: you can't exchange the bracelet for a leather one, and spare parts for the movement may be hard to come by. If you can identify the base movement, part of that worry vanishes, of course.
I appreciate the detailed response. I do really like its look, and it has its original inner and outer box. The price is $1000, but it’s quite a different look to any watch I own
 
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It's a wonderful looking dress watch imo. Lovely hammered dial. Today's fashion is geared towards tool watches (Rolex, chronographs), but I'm more a dress watch person.
 
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If you don't mind me asking, how much is price?
 
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$1000 is certainly not cheap, but seems to be around the normal asking price for these - IIRC, the blue-dialed one was around $800, and that one had some slight but noticeable damage to the dial (which kind of ruins it for me).

Might be hard to make the money back when you sell it again, it would very much depend on finding the right buyer. But if you try and find something similarly extravagant, hmm... Also difficult ;-)

I'd be more "conflicted" than "tempted", but that's just my wallet speaking.
 
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I am not familiar with these, but perhaps just make sure the bracelet fits well? Doesn’t seem easy to resize. There is a cool vibe to it I think and the condition looks nice!
 
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The bracelets on these are great, you can size them freely - should be good to go for 19 cm wrist circumference, at least. I have a similar one from Universal Geneve, and this type was fairly wide-spread in Japan... TBH I often wonder why they don't make these any more, I think Baltic recently had something similar? Anyway, you use the clasp to adjust the size of the bracelet, and you can do this "on the fly" with the watch on your wrist. I find that a great way to size a bracelet, no holes, no micro-adjustment, no "just-a-little-bit-too-small-or-too-big" ...
 
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The bracelets on these are great, you can size them freely - should be good to go for 19 cm wrist circumference, at least. I have a similar one from Universal Geneve, and this type was fairly wide-spread in Japan... TBH I often wonder why they don't make these any more, I think Baltic recently had something similar? Anyway, you use the clasp to adjust the size of the bracelet, and you can do this "on the fly" with the watch on your wrist. I find that a great way to size a bracelet, no holes, no micro-adjustment, no "just-a-little-bit-too-small-or-too-big" ...
True! I have a an all gold vintage Longines with the same style bracelet and they fit amazingly. Wish they make bracelets like that on modern watches