I started a conversation in the UG eBay thread and then realized I needed input from a broader audience. I’ve chatted with @bgrisso who is leaning towards original but isn't sure, and @Diabolik who is confident this is a redial. I know this one is missing “Swiss” at the bottom and the ink seems a bit thick, but also thought the fonts looked ok and the style was similar to another I had found online. What do others think? Any signs that suggest original or redial? Thanks!
I vote redial, though an older one. The "I" in "VI" bleeding over onto the sub-dial? Seems an unlikely issue on an original dial...
I noticed this too but remembered a couple conversations where this was possibly considered ok for some UG examples - here and here.
I have never been 100% on this dial, but I can't point to any reason why. Is this second dial a larger case size? Note the very different interaction with the roman V and the subdial?
I found the online example on a couple threads, including this one where the owner mentions it is a 35mm case. This makes it similar in size to the example we are discussing here.
On one of those threads, @LouS said this: "Overlapping not ok for UG in my opinion. OK on other brands...Breitling for example....but not UG." That's good enough for me.
In that same thread, @Florent later shared a few more examples from the archives to which @LouS said: "the one with the Savoy knot is particularly convincing"
I think, though I could be wrong, that you are misunderstanding. The examples that Florent was showing were in reference to sub-dials overlapping with outer registers. Perhaps that was what Lou was referring to originally as well (rendering my endorsement of his reference irrelevant as well). Do you know of any evidence that individual characters bled over into sub-dials on original dials?
A couple Compurs where the 8 and 10 have some spillover on the sub-registers. One of these belonged to @Florent and is now in my collection.
Hmm. I agree it's less obvious, but that might be due to the deteriorated condition of this example. To my eye, I see some bleed into the outer most groove of the sub-seconds register. I'll look around to see if I find any other examples.
I'm open minded, though it would be disappointing to find that UG quality control allowed such obvious flaws.