Hello All-

It seems that at least once or twice a week someone will present a compax, tri compax, etc dial and ask for an originality determination. Oftentimes this results in quite a bit of discussion and on occasion a lack of consensus.
I believe that was the case last week with a compax dial. When looking at that dial it occurred to me that while I have looked at more than my fair share of UG chronograph dials I have never found an original vintage (40's to 50's) chronograph dial with a circular outline (ring-not railroad track) printed inside the perimeter of the sub registers and oftentimes use that as a criteria for myself.

I'd like to hear agrees/disagrees ---If someone could upload a sample of a known original dial with printed outlines present it would certainly improve my education?

Best-Mike

 

hey Mike, there are definitely examples of an outer subdial outline. I wouldn’t say they are common, but also plenty of examples. Both Compur and Compax. Also there are plenty of tri Compax with the date subdial outlined and triple date moonphase with the month subdial outlined, although I guess that’s a bit different.

I haven’t checked but I suspect sala should produce a decent number of examples ?

busy next few days, but will try to upload some example pics when time permits.

 

Hi Mike,
What you are describing is a common feature of many UG dials from very late 30’s and very early 40’s.
Here just a few examples from my collection to illustrate the matter. I have no doubt about their originality (except some minor flaws like lume…).
Best,
Martin

Ref. 22408 and 7340 ( I also have another 22408 and a 7339 with similar dials, subdials look the same):


Ref. 22213 and 22207:


Ref. 5955:


Compaxes ref. 22272 and 22266:


And combination of railroad track and simple ring outline on a Contax (photo from my watchmaker where the watch is now):

 

agreed, common enough to this time period, I could post a bunch of examples also, but not sure it’s necessary

 

Bgrisso/Martinc-

Thank you both for the photos as well as the time you took to reply to my inquiry -- very much appreciated
From previous posts I've read, I am sure the two of you are experts on the subject and now I have a better and expanded
understanding of original dial formats.

I did mean my question to be specific to compax models in the 40's and 50's--and for the record
I did check through an abbreviated copy of Sala that I have and reviewed about 150 compaxs for sale
on chroono24 (finding only one circled/redialed Cartier) before I posted my question.

I am now thinking that I haven't seen any because the two of you bought all the rare ones

 

I don't know about 50s. Late 30s early 40s seems most likely, but that would require compiling data, which I have not done. But here's a few examples. Also have several other compax examples, but can't find them quickly..

 

I was familiar with outlines on 1930's and lots of compurs and didn't want to include them