Hey All, given that I am new here-> thanks for accepting me. I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a watch that I just saw on the wrist of a friend. I completely fell in love with it and am thinking of buying it from him. He would be happy to sell it but neither me nor him know what price would be reasonable / this type of Compur currently fetches in the market.. Thanks to to @Dre's great overview here and the serial number we know that it's from 1945-46, has a steel case and probably has a calibre 285. Unfortunately, I never found more information on this or a similar Compur. The closest that comes to it is this one that has a tropical dial. Would really appreciate your input / guidance on where to find more info Thanks a lot in advance!!!
They’re are numbers printed on top of the applied markers ! Look at the number 2, it has 10 printed over the top.
This is clearly a reprinted dial. The first and most glaring thing I see is The overprinting of the minutes track on top of the hour indices. UG would never do that from the factory. Fonts used on the "Universal Geneve" look nothing like the very specific ones used by the factory from new. Another and perhaps more subtle "tell" for any reprinted dial is to look at the subdials. If they are not concentric with the small depressions that should surround them, then that is often a strong indication of a reworked dial. If the price is low enough, you may find his to be an interesting watch to start off your old watch collection. However, I believe as you learn more about UG in particular and old watches in general, you may find that this watch - at least with this dial- won't be as popular in your collection in the future. you ask where to learn more. I'd suggest you spend some time studying the existing posts and threads right here in this sub forum. There is much one can learn here and willing support with questions you may have Keep us posted on what you decide.
Thanks a lot everyone! Really really useful. It's actually a pity, as I was looking for a beautiful Compur for a while now.. I'd guess that I wouldn't be really happy with the watch in the long run, as I would just be looking at the issues described above. I'll definitely do my homework and will read through the UG threads here... another good thing to get though would be a Polerouter Microrotor.. perhaps even more than a Compur. Any thoughts ?
Also both subdial hands are wrong, chrono sweep looks wrong as well. There are MANY UG chronos to choose from, all quite different, I wouldn't so much focus on a particular model as just start looking around. Polerouters are nice too, it you want a time only....
@TheGerman I recently picked this one up, as an example of what an original Compur dial can look like:
Very good decision! No, you definitely wouldn't be happy with that watch. And as @bgrisso already pointed out: You shouldn't focus on a compur. There are also Uni-Compax and Compax. UG has many nice watches. All depends on what you are looking for. Size? Dial color? Case material? With date or without?