LouS, perhaps you'll take solace in the fact that many others may have passed this watch up when it was first offered for sale. As I outlined above, this may have been sold by Henri Stern himself, though it possesses a "UOW" marked balance bridge rather than the "HOX" markings I'd really like to see had the watch been officially destined for import to the US.

Regardless, I've given some thought to a seemingly bizarre problem with vintage watches; that is, why are outer scales so frequently deteriorated on vintage watch dials compared to the center of the dial? In some cases I've seen and even adjusted watches where the long minute hand was bent at its tip and literally dragged across the dial face leading to faint lines and damage. But for dials without the tell-tale linear scratches, what gives?

Well, if you look at the first picture in this thread you see that the whole crystal looks a little cloudy. It's subtle, for sure, but when you've look at thousands of these you start to notice the little things. When I first received the watch I popped off the bezel to look over the lovely dial and to polish out the scratches in the acrylic or hesalite crystal. Well, I got the scratches out, but I never was able to get the haziness out. Some kind of chemical reaction had taken place to alter the molecular properties of the crystal. As I thought about it more, I've got a theory that would explain the frequency with which we see ugly outer scales and explain the clouded crystal. (I should mention that I'm finishing medical school, so evaluate my "unifying diagnosis" accordingly).

I think that UV light exposure, which induces free radical degeneration and DNA damage eventually leading to skin cancer in humans, may be the culprit in vintage watches as well. If my Film Compax had say, sat in a display window for an extended amount of time, it would have received more than its fair share of UV damage, which resulted in the cloudy crystal. So how does that explain the dial? If you're wearing a vintage piece with acrylic crystal, take a look at it. Do you notice the curvature along the edges and the distortion or lens-like effect that you get if you tilt the watch just right? It's kind of like a magnifying glass, right? What if we took a low power magnifying glass to the outer scales of our watch dials and left it there for months or years. My bet is that the fine cellulose laquer that coats the dial paint would begin to degrade and eventually result in damage to the underlying paint. Since the curvature of the crystal is such that the magnifying effect is most pronounced at the edges of the dial, perhaps that explains why it's always the outer scales with the damage.

If we examined the windows on the building where this watch was originally sold, I'd be willing to make a small wager that the building faced South. Thus when the harsher sunlight shone in from the West, it resulted in preferential damage to the left-sided scales, as you can make out in my #womw picture above.

Anyone want to setup a little experiment to test my theory? Where's my Watson?

 

I know, I know. It's always good to see knowledge rewarded, you know, when it's my knowledge. My instincts were right on but my knowledge was lacking... I brought the proverbial knife to a gunfight. Will be better armed next time. Well, as Dennis might say, at least it didn't go to some schmuck.

 

Oh no, now you're really killing me. Please stop the torture. You remind me of a friend who spent his Stafford loans on Bordeaux futures.
You might have the makings of a radiologist, though... I like your theory of differential refraction.

 

The Henri Stern Watch Agency, Inc
(Universal Geneve Division)
587 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, New York.

That's from a 1947 ad.
Google streetview would be helpful, but you're right, LouS, what we really need is an old photo. Or an old New Yorker who can tell us how things have changed.

 

You mean one of those old codgers who start sentences with "I remember when......"?

I was told that UG in NY was right across the street from International Dial, who still retains many of their dyes because they did the dial work for UG.

 

Priceless. How many times in my young medical career have I already gotten a chuckle over radiology throw aways? My favorite: "Can't exclude ... on the basis of imaging."

MMMD, was that a friend who was buying Bordeaux futures, or you?

 

I've always viewed the radiologist as a Gandalf-like wizard/soothsayer figure surrounded by dwarves, hobbits and other small folk who, IF they follow the wizard's instructions and heed his portents, might accomplish great things.

 

Not me. I'm a drink-it-now guy who only gambles on watches and, well, gambling. The friend in question did go on to become a radiologist...

 

Bordeaux futures? You mean like saving the bottle for 3 or 4 days? That's about as long as a bottle of port lasts at my house.

 

Woodwkr2 you need to factor into your theory, the interaction of the UV rays, with the organic products produced by the breakdown of the oils.

 

If the watchmaker is doing his job properly, there shouldn't be any oils on the dial. These watches were never meant to be waterproof, so even if you made the assumption that there was vaporization of some volatile component of the oils (which I've never heard of), it would freely diffuse out of the case.

 

I have cleaned an oily residue off an enamel dialed watch, said oily residue deposited where the UV is strongest, might result in some interesting chemical reactions. Today's synthetic oils are very different than the whale oil used in the past.

 

Thanks Nicola. I have seen the Heuer Film Master, but not the Minerva.

I'm glad you saw the link I posted to this thread on O&P; my link must have been in violation of O&P rules because my post has been deleted. Mi scusi.
No such restrictions here.

http://orologi.forumfree.it/?t=67268332

 

Grazie a te e a voi tutti.

 

what did the one on ebay sell for? what is one worth? the UG film compax. im curious

thanks

 

That one sold for $3500, if I remember correctly. What is one worth? Which one? This one, or the other one?

 

any in general...im curious because a friend has one and i may be able to buy it