I've wanted to post this for a while; now I finally got around to doing it. I got some extreme close-ups of my Constellation lugs for another thread. While I was in there with the microscope camera, I took some pictures of the dial too.

I learned a couple of things with this watch and with the closeups. The first one is that, if the watch looks good under extreme magnification, it will look even better at arms length. This Constellation kind of already taught me that. The dial has some spotting on it, which was well disclosed when listed for sale. I figured it would be a good starter Connie so I bought it. It has certainly been that. I can stare at it for hours. The spots are barely noticeable at arms length. The light plays with the hands and markers so well, I just love to turn it this way and that and catch the glints. You can see some not-insignificant scratching on the hands. I didn't even know they were there without the microscope. Again, none of the scratching is visible at arms length. The hands look great to the unaided eye. Close ups show all the flaws and can be a little unforgiving. Unless you are going for a true collector's piece, don't worry about a flaw here or there. You probably won't notice it on the wrist.

I wanted to post some of the extreme close ups here. Us newcomers can learn a lot from having good documentation. Desmond's blog is a treasure trove. It will teach you how to look at a watch to find if it is real and original. Look through it and then spend a day looking at ebay. You'll soon learn what is a redial.

I'm not sure if I saw all of this in his blog. If it's there, I guess I haven't gotten to that part yet and forgive me.



Sometimes the answer about originality is not immediately evident to a newcomer. Sometimes it just feels like something might be off. May I suggest that many times it comes down to the printing. Keep in mind that the printing must have the serif on the letters. That is the flare at the ends and vertices of the letters. Take for example the letter "I", seen here in "OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED." See how it is not just a straight line; see how there are flares at the top and bottom? Those are the serif on the font. The serif is a requirement on an original dial. There is serif on the letters in "Constellation" as well. I'm sure this is well known. Desmond certainly states this.

There is something else that I believe to be peculiar to original dials. The "ED" in "CERTIFIED" is not the same height as the rest of the word. When I first noticed this on ebay, I thought "I've caught you, faker!" However, when you look close, all the real ones are like this. The top of the "ED" aligns with the "IFI" (and probably more but that can be seen well in this picture). The bottom of the "E" does not align though; it is a little shorter. The bottom of the "D" is a little shorter still. You'll also notice the "R". The stroke that differentiates a R from a P is kind of stubby. It's not as long as the vertical stroke.

The second thing these close ups taught me has to do with the hour markers. There is serif on the hour markers as well. Not the minute marks, but on the hour marks. I believe that to be peculiar to original dials. The picture below shows the 6 o'clock marker. There is just a bit of serif on the marker.



Anyway, these are some things I noticed while looking up close at my 168.010 Connie with movement serial 24M. I hope this helps some others newcomers like myself. If I misstated something, please let me know. Perhaps these characteristics are only relevant to a few references or years.

I keep coming back to OF because there is so much knowledge here. OF really is a great place for us enthusiasts.

 

nice post. really cool to see it so close up. one thing I've found is that you've got to handle some watches to really get it too. the more you get get your hands on the better.