It looks to me like the exact same specimen as is pictured in the Sala book... The dark marks on the hands lume in the same place, small marks on the dial like under the 6, next to the 1, lume marks at the top of the 7, etc...
I won’t go that far. They did not listed as NOS. It’s a 60 year old military watch and my bar is really low when it comes to military watches in terms of perfection. I love it the way it is because I think it looks amazing and it was listed in the Sala book with same issued number.
Why is it a fraud ??? Well spotted @CafeRacer . It certainly is the one in Sala's book with a few more years on it. Still looks great and price is pretty reasonable considering. This one is interesting but very silly money ! https://www.subito.it/abbigliamento...elli-roma-m-m-cp-2-a-m-i-rimini-279327309.htm
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:
Or, possibly, a proper UG cairelli (I idnt know of any civi models and the bezel, mov’t are correct) with an altered Zenith cp2 civi caseback?
Thank you for your response. Yes, that thought crossed my mind as a possibility also. There are no markings (that I’ve found) on the inside of these casebacks from either UG or Zenith, and I can’t see any readily apparent structural/shape differences between the two brands’ casebacks for this watch.