Hi! Turning to the experts on this one. I’ve been offered a tri compax that I’m told is from the original owner. Does it look original to you? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Did you compare it to other watches of the reference?
What are your thoughts?

 

I am no expert, but I think it looks great! Cant find any flags at first glance. Mind me asking the price point?

 

Yes I have compared and I believe it to be original but wanted to double check with the fine experts here as I almost bought redial not too long ago if it wasn’t for this forum.

 

Dial indeed looks correct.
However, discs for day and month could be reprinted.
They are not correctly aligned in their windows. If I were you, I would like to see other days and months.

 

I agree with Oku, the dial does look correct, as to the hands; lume looks legit in it's degradation; but I am not sure about the font of the day-date windows; it looks "chunkier" than others I have seen and could be reprinted. Here is an example of thinner font on another 22297; I am no expert in this area, just going off observations.

 

this could be nit picking, and simple difference in quality of photo, however. Something to think about

 

Good points everyone, thank you for the helpful responses

 

I am FAR from an expert, but look at the markers at 1, 5, 7, and 11. I think they should be clipped where they touch the subdials. Also, the lume on the hands doesn't look like it matches the dots, so I'd say the hands have been replaced/relumed.

 

I've owned a couple of that reference and it certainly looks legit....the only area I would investigate further is the printed ring around the date subdial.

 

@Burr ... These Sell at a market premium and are fantastic to wear and own. All is not well with that date wheel as indicated. Avoid.

 

I disagree. Look at other examples of that reference. Important: Must be 22297 - 3!

I don't see worrying differences.

Do you mean the subdial at 12? Looks the same here
https://www.worldoftime.de/de/universal.geneve/tri-compax-24851.html


and here
https://www.timepiecechronicle.com/features/reference-guide-universal-geneve-tri-compax-1960-to-1969

Last one most probably has relumed hands.
In these pics you can also see how day and month should be correctly aligned in the windows.

 

Really appreciate the comments!

I also noticed the misaligned day window, but I’m thinking a service could help that if it’s a real issue. I also noticed the print looks darker on the day/month wheel, but I think I’ve seen other pics like the one above that are similar. The rest of the watch looks really good to me so I’m leaning towards getting it...

 

No, a service will never be able to align that correctly if the print is not correct.
The text on the discs is not centric but looks like this:

If the text is not aligned in the window, it's most probably a redial (or wrong disc) on which the text points to the center of the disc.
There is no way to adjust the wheels such that all days or months are aligned correctly if the text is not printed like above.

If I remember well, the offset is different between calibers like 287 or 481 so that discs are not interchangeable between calibers. But I am not completely sure concerning this.

 

I was thinking maybe the wheel was slightly misaligned causing the text to look slightly crooked but you’re thinking the text is printed crooked? FWIW, the seller seems genuine and honest to me, no red flags there.

 

Just look at the examples posted. You can see that the printing on the wheels in question is thicker and cruder and as noted misaligned. I would not be a buyer....

 

get a few more shots showing other days on both day/month discs to check printing and alignment.

 

I like it, and would buy it!

 

Ah yes, I see that now, and the caseback coincides with /3. In switching back and forth between this and a reference, I probably scrolled a bit too far and was comparing apples to a completely different orange. My education continues ...