I thought I might revive this old thread with a related question. I've done some research into the Cairelli chronograph (UG black dial, and its successor Zenith) and I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
When searching
Zenith branded Cairelli, I've found several caseback examples that only had 3 lines of text: "Cronometro", Tipo CP-2", "A. Cairelli-Roma" present. Meaning, the "AMI" and "M.M. serial number" were absent. I'm led to believe that these examples were civilian and were not issued to Italian military. I believe they were surplus pieces that Cairelli (or zenith or the military?) sold to the general public. I did not find ANY examples of UG without the AMI and MM serial (in other words, I suppose I didn't find any civilian UGs). Has anyone seen a civilian UG cairelli...does a civilian version even exist?
Conversely, the confirmed military watches I could find had 4 lines of text, being: "A.M.I.", "Cronometro", "Tipo CP-2", and "M.M. with Serial # (200XXX or 201XXX)". This is true for both UG and Zenith examples I could find.
In all of the military issued examples I could find (for Zenith and UG), the 'A' in AMI had a subtle "flat top" on the A. The fonts in all of the known military examples seemingly match each other perfectly as well.
As you'll notice, this pictured questionable caseback has 5 lines of text, being: "A.M.I.", "Cronometro", "Tipo CP-2", "A. Cairelli-Roma", and "M.M 200xxx". The questionable caseback has a pointed A (in AMI). Also, the shape of the '2' in the serial is unlike any other serial '2's I've found on UG or Zenith Cairelli casebacks. The zeros in the questionable caseback are also slightly more "boxy" and less oval than the other examples I can find. Also, there is no period after the second M in the questionable example.
Possible theories:
1) the caseback is indeed an actual military caseback, but was a replacement from a civilian caseback (considering the inclusion of "A. Cairelli-Roma"), and was engraved at some point after the main batches of UG, and/or done in a slightly different font than all of the other examples I could find.
Seems like a lot of "maybes" would need to be true in order to make this a legitimate military caseback?
-or-
2) the watch/caseback is purely a civilian watch, and someone (collector? dealer? watchmaker?) along the way has tried to convert this from a civilian watch into a military watch, but they missed a few font details.
I'm curious what you guys make of this caseback? Thanks in advance.
The questionable caseback with the odd engravings/5 lines of text:
Caseback from well-known auction:
