Hello All,

Today I have the absolute pleasure of sharing with you something I find quite amazing, and am quite privileged to be able to witness - two identical UGs only exactly 70 serial numbers apart from ~1955 sitting next to each other 65 years later.



The watches in question are reference 20005 2 - a cool automatic model featuring the beautiful calibre 138, an early iteration of what will later be the 138SS. The real killer feature of these watches is the two tone dial with bauhaus themed sunken markers.. really a one of a kind design I have rarely seen on any watch, even outside of UG. From my knowledge the dials were made by Beyeler. Interesting to note that one of the dial has turned a darker, more 'tropical' tone whilst the other remains immaculate.


Casebacks side by side. (Last 2 digits are hidden for privacy, hope you may understand but exactly 70 serials apart).


Again Side my side.


Inner Caseback (identical for both)


Cal 138 in all its glory.

I hope you all can enjoy this comparison. I believe it to be an incredible 'coincidence' (though personally more of a free will thinker) of having reunited two brothers and thought it might be worthy of a post. Wishing you all a pleasant quarantine Sunday.

A.

 

This is why I UG.

 

Love those dials!

 

awesome! which one do you prefer ?

 

I don't think you were asking me, but I'll volunteer my opinion anyway.

I prefer the contrast of the darker one. Lovely.

 

WOW

 

Would there have been 70 watches produced between those two, or were UG's serial numbers not necessarily all "filled in" within a given range?

 

Beautiful, love the small dotted markers on the sub-seconds dial

 

Love both equally!

That's a fundamental question I am trying to answer.... it would make sense they allocated serial batches to reference ie the ref 20005 2 will go from 1650200 to 1650300 as this would be a solid way to keep correct track of serial numbering without making mistakes... I dont think, except for earlier models, a brand would produce less than 100 of a given model because the development/production costs would probably be outweighed... however this is all just speculative and the truth is we might never know ....

 

As you may already know, another 20005 2 popped up on eBay in Jan 2019 with serial 1650220 - it was a redial but there is no reason to think that the case reference and serial numbers could not be relied upon. That fits with your batch theory, which I think is very plausible and supported by what we see in Polerouters.

However serial numbers for the 20005 1 can be found below the range for the 20005 2 (e.g. 1650051) and above (e.g. 1650900). Perhaps they made a second batch because the model proved popular?

 

Just wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

 

Beautiful!

And dibs for the unaged one!

 

Crazy how they both held up so beautifully! Fantastic pairing and it’s amazing to see them together. Well done @mr.a

 

Very nice!

Are they for sale? I couldn't find those on your Chrono24 page.

 

Beautiful ..... I believe I passed on one of these round the holidays.

 

Thank you!

I had to let go of one but the other I will keep in my collection.

 

Cool, I do prefer the warmer one

 

Both very cool