Can medallion fade without polishing?

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Hello forum,

Today I found a Constellation that made me surprise. The case looked sharp but there were only 6 stars. If I had seen only the back case, I'd have thought it was overly polished. The seller described "The stainless steel case is in very good original unpolished condition with a gold case emblem (faded stars)." Was it possible? and how?

Thank you.

 
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That is pretty severe mechanical polishing on the back, not just the medallion, but the edge on the case-back. You can see some tool marks, so someone probably tried to polish them out.
 
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I wonder if that’s a replacement caseback. Seems strange the rest of the mid case and bezel are so crisp. Perhaps the original caseback was lost at some point, subsequently replaced by this one to make it correct again
 
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Possibly an old inscription erased by a prior owner, like Pete Davidson’s tattoos
 
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I wonder if that’s a replacement caseback. Seems strange the rest of the mid case and bezel are so crisp. Perhaps the original caseback was lost at some point, subsequently replaced by this one to make it correct again
My thoughts exactly.
 
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21,358
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48,524
I wonder if that’s a replacement caseback. Seems strange the rest of the mid case and bezel are so crisp. Perhaps the original caseback was lost at some point, subsequently replaced by this one to make it correct again
Business in the front, hangover in the back.