A UG Compax with strange hands

I am interested on a UG Compax and got a fair price for it. However, before pulling the trigger, I would like to have everybody's opinion here.
It is an 18k ref 12494 Compax, with a serial number that dates it back to circa 1954 (1,63x,xxx).
I think the hands are not original because the minutes one looks too long and I had never seen such on a Compax. In my opinion, they should be whether larger and triangle (like LouS' Compax), or leaf-shaped.

The dial has been cleaned, but not repainted. The last picture is before clean.

What do you think?

Thanks all,


(the photo below was shot before the dial was cleaned)

Any opinion from fellow vintage chronos collectors ?
I know there is some invaluable expertise out there and would regret not having asked before buying!

Well, I'm not an expert like some but I'm aspiring to be. Here's a few ref's in Sala's UG book that resemble that watch. Both have the same hands (or it appears to me they do).. and its the only two compax ref's I could find with those hands. The crown in your watch looks replaced and the case might be different from the ones shown in the below pics.

Ref: 12494 .. Same hands, but subdials are a bit different, as well as hour markers.



Ref: 42417 .. Everything looks pretty darn close and correct here, compared to the watch you're looking at.


So in my humble opinion the watch looks pretty good to me. But _please_ don't take my word for it, I'm not an expert like some of the other guys here, so wait for them to chime in and either verify what I'm saying is true, or if I have missed something they'll let us know 😀

Hope this gets you a few steps closer though!

@x3no A huge thank for your research on Sala's book. I really did not think other models could exist with those hands.
... and btw, we are all learning here! (some more than others 😀)

I am still wondering why the minutes hands is so long, it even goes over the tachometer scale. Maybe someone here know if that happens on UGs.

Also, the case back of the watch I posted clearly states "12494" (see below). However,it looks 100% like the 42417 from Sala.
Is that something that happens, or may the case back have been changed?...

To start with "1" means 18k gold, to start with "4" i am not sure (can probably find out in sala and in this forum as well, It is either 14k or gold plated) maybe 14k. I have seen similar looking watch but with different materials using different ref. no.

Thanks all for your enlightenments.
I am still having doubts about those hands:
- @x3no just demonstrated that those hands can be found on some legit UG Compax ...
- ...However, in this model, both hands seem too long: I had never seen a minute hand that is long enough to cover the tachometer scale.
As you can see in @Noodia 's fantastic review (see editing below), all minute hands end right at the minutes scale, not beyond.

What do you think?

Best,




@Noodia 's review (in French) can be seen here: http://montresmecaniques.forumactif...iversal-geneve-de-la-serie-compax-1ere-partie

No one thinks those hands are a bit long?
It is also possible that I am wrong and asking myself too many questions.

I am dubious about those hands as well. The minute hand would detract from the legibility of the tachymetre scale. Even considering Universal's history of inconsistency, I am almost 100% sure that they would not have made a mistake like that. It does match the markers nicely, but that along with the cleaned dial and the giant replacement crown makes it not worthy of consideration for me personally. I would wait for a better one to come along

Well said.

Thank you so much. I appreciate having honest opinions from fellow OF members.

I'll follow your advice and move on.