Found this interesting example recently. Can anyone provide any more info on it? 1969 18k.
Couple of questions...missing T on dial.
Hands look huge and black and...odd.
I like it as it has a good size. 38mm? But the hands are to me ugly. Could they be swapped or do I destroy the integrity of the watch?

 

Replacement crowns. Those hands were matched with that dial. Something looks off about the case style and the high location of Swiss Made.

 

Thanks. Very helpful.

 

Been looking at this ref for a while now, I believe this to be a redial. The Swiss marking looks different from those I've seen.

The hands are... Special. Another interesting feature is the tendency for the lume to be rather green as opposed to the nicer looking custardy tritium lume we are used to.

 

thank you again. Yes something was not quite right - it wasnt singing to me.

 

This example is not appealing to me. The hands are wrong, the dial is moldy and damaged, and appears to have been tampered with, and the lugs are soft. I doubt you will be happy with it in the long run.

 

I agree. A refinished dial and those hands don't look right. But the size is good.I'd just look for the original hands. Many LeCoultre parts out there, particularly on Ebay.

 

What about this one? Just got it on a trade with no real knowledge about memovox, but it was cheap enough to take a flyer. Seems to be the same, hands and all. But different scratches on the internal bezel, so its not the exact same, but what are the chances its not original?

 

So hard to say; there are so many configurations of the Memovox. What I do know -
I have seen these hands on European market Memovoxes before. They usually come with watches with the very wide hour indices. The ourter edge of the hour marker usually lines up perfectly with the edge of the inner disc. The minute hand - usually the enamel starts outside of the minute track. I guess what I am saying is that these hands may be factory original, but whether they are original to this watch is an entirely different story.
As far as the dial is concerned - I I have seen the applied roman numeral hour markers at 6/9/12 before, but usually more in the American market models; I am no expert and am not saying that they don't exist for the European market watches...just that I haven't really seen those before.

I think if you got the caseback pics, movement pics and the case/movement numbers we can probably weigh in a little more.

But most importantly, as @Dan S says - the watch just isn't attractive. Same goes for the bottom. There are so many beautiful configurations of this watch - I would just stay away from these - but that's me. And apparently @Dan S ...and @ConElPueblo ...

W

 

Fair enough. It isnt the prettiest. I can get the caseback off. It says to use a specific wrench. Ill get it to my watchmaker next week and can post more pics the.
Appreciate the response
J

 

That's very interesting, @Keldaar. It shares the same odd characteristics as Norfolk's including those which were slightly controversial. IMO, there is little chance that two separate watches were restored in the same manner, so I am more inclined to say it is correct now... I think the missing "T" didn't do the first watch any favors I bet it was visible had the watch been in hand.

 

A picture for reference...



I have seen those hands on JLCs before but some thing off here, maybe retouched a bit too much? Case seems off to me as well. Certainly seems like replacement crowns, not delicate enough. And the “Swiss made on my dial is so low you can’t see it unless you uncase the dial.

I think @dougiedude might have a JLC with hands like this, let’s see if we can’t get him to chime in...

 

A Google search on "roman numerals memovox" shows two or three similar watches, right down to clunky crowns and odd swiss made.

 

Well then, there you have it! Wouldn’t be my first choice in the memovox line but to each his own.

 

FWIW, here’s my Memo with the same rectangle hands except in SS:



Serial # is 1,972,6xx.

The ‘T - SWISS MADE - T’ is so far near the dial’s edge that it’s only visible at this angle.