Thought you all might like this one: This one is all original (Polerouter redials are common) including the impossible to source trapezoidal inverted cyclops crystal. Inexpensive alternative to a similar vintage Constellation!
This looks like an exact twin of Dennis' black polerouter, don't know that he has the cyclops crystal though on his. Is this one of the microrotor versions?
Yes it is. Although it seems to run well, I'm going to send it off to my guy for a service just to be safe. There are some annoying pieces of lint under the crystal to be taken care of as well.
Yea that pisses me off something fierce, one of the watches had a large grey fibre... like over 1cm long sitting across the 9:00 markerand down into the 10 and 11... it was like the watchmaker let a big grey bushy eyebrow fall onto the dial before re-casing it. All you can look at is the crap on the dial every time you look at it
Yours is in terrific condition. I have been looking for one in good condition. I can only say that I am a fan of Genta's design even if i am not of Patek or AP, I still like the nautilus and RO. When you need to let it go, I do need a second microrotor.
I do have a massive crush on most of his designs... BTW what is the going rate for a polerouter like this one in this condition?
Here's my nearly identical version: What's not to about a black crosshair dial and twisty lugs? Throw in a logo crown, caseback engraving, and an interesting story (the Buren infringement suit) and you have everything a vintage collector wants. No internal date magnifyer like Jeff's though so his watch gets an extra cool point.
There are enough of them around with crappy dials that donor watches aren't hard to find. This particular caliber 215 was made for 2 or 3 years. Yes..... with an asterisk. UG lost a patent infringement lawsuit to Buren and ended up paying royalties for the nearly identical design.
Ahk ok, might be worth looking into one of these... Someone mentioned a while back that UG also made De Luxe gold versions of these, sort of like the Constellation De Luxes, is that true?
Don't know what they're going for now. I passed that one up a few years ago at $1500-ish. Similar rule on the ink color as with Constellations - the lettering should be the same color as the hands.
They come in dozens of different versions, including a rare early version with UG's version of broad arrow hands the history is interesting, over and above the history of the model itself (SAS and the trans-polar route to the US). Up until the Polerouters, UG was known for chronographs with and without complications. UG staked a lot on its new line of microrotors and built a whole new plant outside of Geneva devoted to them in the mid-1950s. Betting the farm on the microrotor, it let go of its chronograph production works which ultimately ended up in the hands of...wait for it...Zenith, bringing to Zenith the expertise that would later create El Primero. Between the microrotors and the earlier chronographs, the web screams out for a Universal Geneve forum - there isn't one, and this is by far the most interesting collected manufacture not discussed on the web today. The knowledge is fragmentary, and most of it is exchanged one-to-one by email among aficionados.
I have it still, but it does not get a lot of wrist time - the gold on gold is not how I roll most days. Want it back?
