Hi all,

I finally got this out of the lockbox to take a few pics, wondering if anyone has any idea on this one?

I inherited this from my grandfather in 1973 when I was a kid, unlike a couple of others that I beat the crap out of, I almost never wore this one, it is in the identical state today as it was then. I know nothing about its provenance. My grandfather spent a lot of time on business in Hong Kong in the 50's-60's which I guess would explain the numerals, presumably from U-G's HK era??? It does say "Swiss" on the dial.

A few specs:
- manual wind, movement works (turned it once only, just to confirm)
- presumably real gold case, 18kt?
- solid gold mail bracelet, 18kt? No extra "links", no idea if this can be adjusted, I would say no
- case diameter 32mm
- lug to lug 36mm
- lug width 16mm
- case thickness very thin, 7mm incl domed plastic crystal, 6mm case-only
- overall length end to end incl bracelet but not the clasp, 5-7/8" or approx 149 mm, fits my 6-3/4" wrist with a bit of slack on the longer of the 2 available positions on the snap-type clasp

When I was a kid our local jeweller opened it up for cleaning but it hasn't been opened since probably 1975. Can't think of anything more. This may be a candidate for sale as my wife has no interest, my daughter uses her iphone clock, and I have a few other of his watches that have more personal meaning to me as I never saw him wear this.

Thanks for your interest

 

A 3-hander with a calibre 42. The stainless steel back indicates that it's plated or filled (certainly not solid 18ct). I can't read the text on the bracelet near the spring bars so can't comment on whether that's solid - in any case I don't believe it's original to the watch as the stainless versions tend to have a signed clasp. Similarly the crown should be signed so that's been replaced at some point. It's a nice watch but not terribly collectible but I'd hang onto it as I can see these Chinese dials being (moderately) more desirable in the future. If you're lucky you might pick up a loose crown on Ebay.

 

Thanks for the info. It's actually a 2-hander, no second hand. Interesting about the bracelet, I will try to get a pic of the small stamp and post it back here.

 

Good point - you'd think I might have spotted that since I own one.

 

Blown up the bracelet appears to be marked 750, or 18K gold.

 

Thanks for that! It's quite heavy and has that lead-like flex so pretty sure it's high-ct

 

Have had this one and the stainless steel version with the white chinese dial. The case is 20 micron 14k gold plated, should be written in between the lugs. The crown and bracelet are not original.

 

I think it is the UG Ref. 542 101 with 20-micron gold plated case & SS back.

 

Thanks for this. Does the watch have any value, approx? In terms of weight in 18ct gold the bracelet is probably more valuable!

 

The bracelet is certainly more valuable if its actually pure gold. Thing is, most expensive pure gold bracelet have "swiss made" and the branding somewhere on the bracelet, and i don't see any on that one. You might want to do the gold test (never done it myself, but there are youtube videos) if you're looking to sell it under "pure gold".

 

Thanks, I suspect my grandfather had this custom made somewhere, I will get a closeup of the maker's mark (if that's what it is) to see if that yields any clues.