Hello Universal Geneve enthusiasts,

I'm new to UG and recently purchased several vintage Polerouters as well as a lady's White Shadow and two uncased working movements that included the dials and crowns.

I received one of the watches this this week. It's a cal 138 Polerouter with a 177xxxx serial number. Seller indicated that the dial, movement and case are all original to the watch. The photos showed an unpolished case and a tropical brown dial. The watch is pretty much as described and appears to have never been polished. The case back has some scratches across the back that are old and contribute to the overall patina. Unfortunately there are fresh scratches and deformations on the edges of the raised part of the case. This abuse is much worse than the photos showed. It looks like someone used a pair of gasoline pliers to attempt to open the case.

I don't want to polish the case, but I don't like these jagged edges on the back. Because the back is not properly fitted I plan to have at the watch serviced. Would it be possible to use some type of masking tape to protect the rest of the case so that these edges could be addressed? Any other suggestions to address this? I would very much appreciate hearing how others have taken care of similar situations. No matter what I will definitely leave the execution to the watchmaker.

Attached are the seller's photos to give an idea.

Thank you and best regards,

Jim

 

Eh, that case back looks plenty bad in the seller's photos, and I don't understand why you would rush to buy "several" examples. There's really nothing that can be done with scratches that bad beyond deep polishing.

Frankly, I would sell it (assuming that the seller won't accept a return), and find a better example.

 

I don't see how you can seriously say that those photos show an unpolished case, the lugs are clearly soft in the seller's photos, and the back looks extremely rough. Also, the back has previously been polished, as indicated by the soft edge on the caseback and the partial loss of the logo. I think you may have been looking at those photos through rose-colored lenses. Obviously the dial is also badly damaged.