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Rare UG Medico-Compax 3-register with 30 pulsation dial

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Hello all,

Happy holidays.

I'm really just looking a discussion about Medico-Compax watches. I'm new to UG and vintage watches, my background is more in the 90s-modern era stuff.

Anyway I've recently acquired this. As far as I can tell, original dial in VGC, obviously in person you do notice some blemishes and so on but I believe it's a 1945/6 production so to be expected. It's cased in solid 18k, sort of a rose hue though this could just be the alloy and age, hard to tell if it's intentional. But it hasn't seen much polishing imo. Original hands and gold numerals so likely to be a non-radium model.

So, I'd appreciate any expert thoughts about this configuration. If any collectors out there would like any information from it I'm happy to share as I've found it difficult to piece stuff together.

image_2025-12-23_103359083.webp
 
bgrisso
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Hi, welcome to the forums and happy holidays to you.
I'm not very familiar with this particular model, but that dial looks questionable. Most dials say "Gradue Pour 15 Pulsations" your says "Calcule Sur 30 Pulsations" so it's not just the number that's different, it's the entire phrase. Have you found any other dials that use this language (regardless of 15 vs 30) ? Does it say swiss at the bottom? There are a lot of round 3's which is always a red flag. And the printing is very heavy, especially in some places. Hands are also odd. Please show inner and outer caseback photos?
Edited:
 
Dan S
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Here is my medico. It's in Spanish, but I agree with Ben about the thickness of the printing on the OP watch and the absence of flat 3s, and the kerning seems uneven. I also think the hands are wrong.
ug_medico2.webp
 
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bgrisso bgrisso
Hi, welcome to the forums and happy holidays to you.
I'm not very familiar with this particular model, but that dial looks questionable. Most dials say "Gradue Pour 15 Pulsations" your says "Calcule Sur 30 Pulsations" so it's not just the number that's different, it's the entire phrase. Have you found any other dials that use this language (regardless of 15 vs 30) ? Does it say swiss at the bottom? There are a lot of round 3's which is always a red flag. And the printing is very heavy, especially in some places. Hands are also odd. Please show inner and outer caseback photos?

Thanks for your reply! Here are some better up close dial pics and the caseback photos (there is a 4th stamp on the inner caseback just badly photographed).

Literature suggests the 30 pulse number is fine just rare. I believe I've found references to the wording also (Calculé).

The dial does have visible concentrics in the registers. I take on board your points about the paint thickness variation, I have noticed it. My assumption was that it was within variation for the era but I am not an expert lol.

The dial itself has an aged silvered appearance. On top of this there appears to be a thin layer of clear lacquer which shows minor age related blemishing / oxidization (very very difficult to photograph, you need natural light). The crystal tends to blur the outer fonts somewhat making it look worse too. I would say the dial appears 'metallic' and lacquered as opposed to painted, hopefully these better images make sense.

In terms of 'SWISS', I've noticed 3 register variants of the Medico sometimes do not have it. Instead, the numerals continue in its place - but the area is quite oxidized.

I really appreciate the attention you guys have shown. I have been struggling to find a similar dial layout for a little while so naturally I'm trying to err on the side of caution.

ug5.webp ug6.webp ug8.webp ug9.webp ug10.webp ug11.webp
 
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Dan S Dan S
Here is my medico. It's in Spanish, but I agree with Ben about the thickness of the printing on the OP watch and the absence of flat 3s, and the kerning seems uneven. I also think the hands are wrong.
ug_medico2.webp

I've taken a zoomed out one for better reference, those ones above are all macro shots.

ug12.webp
 
bgrisso
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My first question would be is 12445 a Medico reference? Have you found any other ref 12445 Medico examples? @Mark020
 
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bgrisso bgrisso
My first question would be is 12445 a Medico reference? Have you found any other ref 12445 Medico examples? @Mark020
Yep from what I can tell 12445 is a Medico ref. There are a few on Google with similar dial configs but not with 3 dial 30pulse config.
 
Mark020
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bgrisso bgrisso
My first question would be is 12445 a Medico reference? Have you found any other ref 12445 Medico examples? @Mark020
I’m not sure there is a hard rule on medico refererences. The hands of this example are not UG imho. The dial itself is - for me - not the most convincing one
 
Larry S
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A senior member of this forum coached me away from these as a newbie. I’ve not touched them since. I’m not convinced. Hands and dial spacing are not UG. These got used hard and were often bespoke custom jobs. That said it’s a good looking watch and if you paid a commensurate, fair price, just enjoy it.
 
vujen
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Sorry to say this very clearly, but IMHO this dial was surely reprinted.
 
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Larry S Larry S
A senior member of this forum coached me away from these as a newbie. I’ve not touched them since. I’m not convinced. Hands and dial spacing are not UG. These got used hard and were often bespoke custom jobs. That said it’s a good looking watch and if you paid a commensurate, fair price, just enjoy it.
Haha I can see why!

So in the spirit of honestly, seeing as these comments aren't exactly favourable, what do you think a fair commensurate price would be? It's not the end of the world either way but I'd like to gauge where exactly I'd stand if this is assumed to be 'touched up'.
 
TexOmega
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Not touched up, repainted with a heavy hand.

Nice but not quite. Value? Is the buyer going to be knowledgeable or a newbie?
 
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TexOmega TexOmega
Not touched up, repainted with a heavy hand.

Nice but not quite. Value? Is the buyer going to be knowledgeable or a newbie?
I wouldn't be hiding it if they were a newbie. It is what it is. I'm a newbie to UG and it's not quite the entry I'd like to pass on to another.

A fair market price would suffice, I would assume to someone knowledgeable.
 
Dan S
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I think that it's very hard to put an accurate value on it. An experienced member might tell you how much they would pay for it, but we often see watches that are eschewed by collectors bring surprisingly high prices in open auctions. Some buyers just want something that looks good and don't care as much about collectibility.
 
Larry S
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P pattish
I wouldn't be hiding it if they were a newbie. It is what it is. I'm a newbie to UG and it's not quite the entry I'd like to pass on to another.

A fair market price would suffice, I would assume to someone knowledgeable.
12445 is indeed a Medico Compax Reference but. It's a two subdial watch like Uni Compax, not three. So the value of this watch would be the 18k melt value of the case plus the parts value: Sub hands, Chrono Hand and Compax movement. I'm guessing less than $3000. These cases were made very thin metal wise.

image.webp image.webp
Edited:
 
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Larry S Larry S
12445 is indeed a Medico Compax Reference but. It's a two subdial watch like Uni Compax, not three. So the value of this watch would be the 18k melt value of the case plus the parts value: Sub hands, Chrono Hand and Compax movement. I'm guessing less than $3000. These cases were made very thin metal wise.

image.webp image.webp
I really appreciate this. I've slept on it and I think, seeing as I've actually only just picked it up, the watch will be going back to the seller. The price paid was likely fair even given the challenges but still I'd rather own something 'respectable' to me and it won't be now!

Can't thank you all enough for being honest with me. What a minefield UG is! I thought neovintage Rolex was bad 😂
 
vujen
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if you can give it back, that would be the best solution possible, I agree with you
 
Larry S
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I really appreciate this. I've slept on it and I think, seeing as I've actually only just picked it up, the watch will be going back to the seller. The price paid was likely fair even given the challenges but still I'd rather own something 'respectable' to me and it won't be now!

Can't thank you all enough for being honest with me. What a minefield UG is! I thought neovintage Rolex was bad 😂
With the pending re birth of UG under Breitling, we are back to climbing prices for desirable watches and unscrupulous dealers rummaging through parts bins assembling and flogging questionable franken watches. If you want to swim in these waters, this sub forum is the best on the web for UG. There are years of discussions and pics to search through. Folks are happy to consult if “ please” and “thank you” ( gold star for you btw) are part of the dialog. A copy of Sala’s book is also a good idea. Hang out here to train your eye, ask questions and you will get the results you seek. That said, you will need to push your budget up unfortunately. Also, watch the private sales section. OF is the best place to buy a vintage watch on the web. Good luck with the return and regrets that the news was not better.

Ps: it’s not as bad as Rolex … UG is actually better documented and it’s generally easier to flag BS with a trained eye than with vintage crown watches IMO.
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bgrisso
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Larry S Larry S
12445 is indeed a Medico Compax Reference but. It's a two subdial watch like Uni Compax, not three. So the value of this watch would be the 18k melt value of the case plus the parts value: Sub hands, Chrono Hand and Compax movement. I'm guessing less than $3000. These cases were made very thin metal wise.

image.webp image.webp
The subdial hands aren’t even consistent, two thick and a thin hour register. I wouldn’t even pay melt for this watch, and I have no idea what melt value is, because the whole thing is just a headache to part out.
 
bgrisso
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I really appreciate this. I've slept on it and I think, seeing as I've actually only just picked it up, the watch will be going back to the seller. The price paid was likely fair even given the challenges but still I'd rather own something 'respectable' to me and it won't be now!

Can't thank you all enough for being honest with me. What a minefield UG is! I thought neovintage Rolex was bad 😂
Absolutely return it asap, didn’t realize that was an option. Good luck !
 
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