Anyone spot this?
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Orig-NOS-Uni...670347?hash=item212e3cffcb:g:NZYAAOSwb9dZvajcPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Yes, but too late!

 

I bought it. Not got a Railrouter though, so in to the spares draw it goes for when (if) I do manage to find one.

 

I didn't spot it on ebay doing my frequent trawls, curious how it slipped through the net, it showed up when I did a recent Google search.
When it arrives could you post (or PM) the ser. no. from the caseback? I'm trying to compile info. on the several iterations of the Railrouter.
Btw does anyone know if the cal. 1205 movement only used in the Railrouter?

 

Serial no. is 2900842, which I guess is quite late. A plus is that it came with crystal which, assuming I never find a movement to go with the case (fingers crossed I do), could see service on a Polerouter. Crown has the later, simplified, non shield, 'U'. I'd be interested in seeing what you've been able to find out

 

Thanks for the info and pics rustynuts.
I'm still curios about the cal.1205 movement.
Bill Sohne (a member of this forum) said on another forum
".... The movement is a tricked out 1205-SP and it should be 19j with a fine swan neck regulator and it will have a hacking feature....The 1205 was made in a few grades, non hacking 17j, hacking 17j and hacking 19j ( 1205-SP ( Seconds stopping)). The hacking feature was a "add on" to the base caliber with two sliding cam plates that you can see in the scan. These plates obscure the signage on the movement, in the case of movement in the scans it says " Universal Geneve 19 nineteen Jewels “ , “1205” , you will also see additional verbiage that is partially covered by the indirect seconds wheel.. That Says “ Adjusted to 5 positions and Temperature”.
His comments were in response to a Q. about the hack function which certainly looks like an addition.
But I've never found any reference to the cal.1205 being used in other UG watches.

 

Forgot to add the link to the Railrouter thread I started some time ago. my apologies if you have already found it.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/ug-railrouter.44726/

 

Your serial no. can't help much in dating your case except that it's post 1967.
But I've noticed that the UG logo (which only seems to be on the RR. 1205 dial variety) suggests early 60's.
So I'm left totally confused.

 

It seems to me that the cal. 1205 was only used in the railway watches. Base movement looks to be a cal. 1200 reworked to incorporate the hacking function and central seconds. The UG logo on the dial doesn't seem unusual for the serial as I've seen the same on Universals with serial numbers over 3,000,000

Inside of case back

 

I think you touch on an important issue, Serial nos. vs logos.
I assume the Serial no. indicates the date when the watch was assembled but is no indication of the age of the parts.
So a dial dating from the early 60's might still be used 10 years later even if the logo had been updated in the intervening period.
What, if anything, is on the inside of the case-back?

 

@Moahunter @Carlton-Browne heads up on two from same seller, price increased.

https://m.ebay.com.au/itm/Orig-NOS-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Oooh, decisions, decisions. I'm not averse to hoovering up spares for future use (I actually think it would be a good idea to have a spares drawer thread) but I'm pretty despondent about finding a loose cal. 1205; these are not as easy as the Italian railroad stuff...

 

Can we speculate that these cases never held a movement and were available for those owners of RRs with a SS case who wanted an upgrade?
Or perhaps just NOS cases acquired because UG disposed of unwanted items.
Its interesting that they have dials but not hands, the dials of course identify them as RR.
rustynuts kindly sent me a photo of the inside of his case-back which is signed with an earlier version of the UG logo than the fat U on the dial.
If, and it's very unlikely, you could find a Cal 1205 and put it one of these cases would you be creating a Franken? And it makes a nonsense of using Serial Nos. for dating. Not that we can anyway post 1967.

 

Would the prospect of a cosmetic upgrade feature on what one might assume is an "issued" watch?

I imagine if you were able to find the correct parts, a franken it would be. In both examples where I've picked up loose (NOS) cases I have simply done a case swap to improve the cosmetics (and retained the original to complete the package) and I imagine that's where most of us are at. Of course others are less scrupulous. Case references are actually on the caseback so it's not the only area for potential obfuscation.

 

A question perhaps for the wider UG forum.
Do we know when the Serial and Case reference nos. were added? Did the factory have blank case-backs in different sizes which were then inscribed.with the relevant nos. after the watch was assembled?

 

I've seen already UG cases without serial in other models, anything is possible with UG !