I have put in an interlibrary loan request through my university's library. Sometimes they can find very obscure items. If we get lucky I will post the result!

 

I, too, have often wondered about this ad. I have never seen a broad arrow Polarouter, and I have never seen a white broad arrow Polerouter or Polarouter. I wonder if these were actually ever produced?

 

Thanks very much but we have now found a copy of the advert via University of Chicago library - see my post dated 17 June.

Although the advert has Polarouter in the title, the watches actually have Polerouter on the dial. These references are all Polerouter references and the descriptions, with just the odd exception discussed above, match the watches that have surfaced and those shown in the gallery at the Polerouter reference website belonging to @CafeRacer.

That gallery includes examples of all three Broad Arrow references S20217/8, S20214/13 and S20214/14.

The only reference in the advert that has yet to surface is the S20214/12 with the 'dubonnet' ring.

 

Oh, thanks for pointing that out--somehow I lost some of this string! Unless you have a higher-resolution copy of this ad, I do not see how you can read Polerouter on the dials, rather than Polarouter. I will keep my interlibrary loan request active and see what comes of it. Great work!

 

I asked the librarian who took the copy for me. She looked at the original advert for me. Of those dials that were legible, she could read Polerouter. The majority were not legible, even when looking at the original with a magnifying glass apparently.

 

Addition to some text in the ad...

"Nitelite" appears to share its name with a brand of lume from around the time, and you can still find some old kits for sale on the bay (though they're radium, so good luck finding a watchmaker that will touch it, let alone asking what the rules are for sending radium in the post ).

Im wondering if "Dubonnet" or "Deep Blue" are also brands of lume from back in the day... I cannot find anything on them as yet.
That could explain the description and visual disparities - perhaps its a compound that reacted to turn blue under UV instead of white/yellow/green???

 

If anyone is after the super rare S20214-12 reference with 'Dubonnet' marker ring then now is your chance.

Condition not great but it will be a while before we see another and not expensive.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IMMACULA...-REF-S20214-12-CAL-138-SS-BUMPER/114178429428Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

What is the dubonnet marker ring?

 

If you look at the Polarouter advert on the second page of this thread, the watch in the top left hand corner is the 20214/12 and is described as having a 'Dubonnet' marker ring (the 'marker ring' being the ring around the dial with the hour markers).

Dubonnet is a French aperitif with a deep red/purple colour.

 

An advertisement from the 1950s:


It's still around today:

 

The Queen enjoys a Gin and Dubonnet apparently.

 

I have obtained a higher resolution scan of the interesting 11-model Polarouter ad from 1956. Many thanks to Vitezi for finding the reference (Chilton's Jewelers Circular/Keystone, Vol. 126, No. 6-12, Mar-Sept 1956, p. 272). This one is sharp enough to show the halftone dots of the actual printed advertisement. Therefore it shows the maximum information that can be gleaned from this ad without being able to see the original artwork used to make the ad, which probably no longer exists. From these images I can say that at least one of the watches says Polarouter, not Polerouter. Also, from the way several of the watch hands appear, I think it is possible that these are drawings of some kind rather than photographs. Here is the new scan:

And here are enlarged details, starting at top left (20214/12). This one clearly says Polerouter:

Row 1, Watch 1 (20217-4). Inconclusive, probably Polerouter:


Row 1, Watch 2 (20217-10). Polerouter:


Row 1, Watch 3 (20217-8). Polerouter:


Row 1, Watch 4 (20217-5). Polerouter:


Row 1, Watch 5 (20217-9). Polerouter:


Row 2, Watch 1 (20214-2). Inconclusive, probably Polerouter:


Row 2, Watch 2 (20214-13). Inconclusive:


Row 2, Watch 3 (20214-14). Definitely Polarouter. I don't think white broad arrows were ever made, or broad arrow Polarouters:


Row 2, Watch 4 (20214-4). Polerouter:


Row 2, Watch 5 (20214-11). Inconclusive:


The hands of Row 2, Watch 1 (20214-2); and Row 2, Watch 5 (20214-11) do not look right and make me wonder if these are drawings rather than photographs. I suppose they were still marketing the old name, Polarouter, in 1956 even though they had already shifted to Polerouter to help sell out the old stock. The fact that at least one dial in this ad says Polarouter, while all the others say Polerouter, I suppose argues against my theory that these images are drawings. It seems more likely that UG sent over a bunch of watches with mixed dials to the photographer's studio. The big question is whether any white broad arrows were ever produced, or if any Polarouter broad arrows of any color were produced. I have only seen black broad arrow Polerouters.

 

Thanks very much for this.

I agree that it does appear that the 20214-14 dial says Polarouter. This would be surprising as to my knowledge we've only ever seen sub-references 1 to 6 in the Polarouter references, 20217 and 20214. This suggests to me that either these are illustrations or perhaps the resolution is still not high enough to discern the difference and we are trying to read too much into it.

I thought the variety in the crown shapes was interesting. No two crowns seem to look exactly the same, which suggests that these are illustrations. I also agree with your observation about the hands in some of the pictures.

As stated in the advert, the 20214-14 has a golden, rather than a white, dial and these definitely exist. I attach the picture of the 20214-14 from the reference gallery, which I have tucked away in a drawer somewhere. Unfortunately, it is in a sorry state with very little of the original lume and a very scruffy dial. It has an interesting inscription from St Mary's University in San Antonio to the basketball coach, who was the first coach to introduce black athletes to the University.

 

It may be better if the moderators deleted your enquiry and this response.

The watch in question is for sale on this forum
https://omegaforums.net/threads/vintage-universal-geneve-polerouter-black-dial-20217-4.112314/

 

Agree with Mazoue and thanks for your advise and sharing.

Moderators, kindly help to remove my enquiry here. Is not appropriate as the seller is selling this piece here in this forum.

Again, thanks all for your kind assistance.

 

Also, for queries like this (if not about an item for sale on this forum), you can start a new discussion thread.

 

Thanks again. I've removed my earlier enquiry. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

Interesting. Are there any traces of luminous material on the chapter ring?

 

The only remaining actual lume was the dark green mouldy lume in the minute hand that you can see.

Although we do see Broad Arrows without lume in the ring, my view is that these all started life with fully lumed rings and either the lume has fallen out, the lume was intentionally removed or the ring was replaced.

My plan is to get the S20214-14 relumed. I wouldn't ordinarily make any attempt at restoration of any watch but I felt that the reluming of the ring and hands was completely reversible, unlike the reluming of a dial say.

There are later microtor Broad Arrows with golden dials too. See the 20363-5.