Pretty sure I made a big mistake on a ill thought out purchase - minimally the hour pips. Caseback ref - 22258 The newb stumbles off a cliff into the UG world as I plummet towards the ground below please help me understand my impending doom:
I don’t have my Sala to hand and I’ve never seen lume plots like that before, but having said that there are huge variations in legit UG dials and yours doesn’t show any of the obvious signs of a redial. The bad news is that if the dial is right, the hands are wrong: even UG wouldn’t have put non-lumed hands on a lumed dial. Do the day and month wheels match? It looks like the day is English and the month French.
You are correct on the day of week month discrepancy I did not notice this because it was set to January when I first saw it which was in person. I should have moved through the months in person or looked up the seller's website. I don't have a copy of the Sala book so any further input from the OF crew on the hands and pips is appreciated before I go back to the seller to see if they'll accept it back as a return or exchange. I should never buy in person while traveling abroad
dont have Sala in front of me but offhand, dial looks OK to me, hour plots are a funny color but maybe just the pic? I'm used to seeing a darker aged lume, not such a sunny yellow. Agree lume dial and non lumed hands seems suspect. Given the day/month issue, perhaps someone's been monkeying around with this watch a bit? Looks like an older case, you should post a pic with case ref # and serial to see whats going on there as well. Moon phase disc a bit worse for the wear, but overall it's not a bad looking piece to me. I think it entirely depends on how much you paid. If it was a good price I would keep it. But if you paid full retail for something that's supposed to be 100% orig, I probably wouldn't be happy
Here’s a shot from Sala. I think the dial’s legit, but someone’s certainly been swapping the other parts around.
- : Hands SB lume hands. Date wheel was messed with. Lume plots were redone. The moon dial is a mess. + : Dial is original. Early case I'm guessing from the protrusion of the correctors. Chrono hand is correct. As long as you paid a price that reflects these issues you are ok. It's not a mistake.
Thank you guys very much. It was a dealer I am hoping they will take it back. ~3,700 euro was the price. I hope one day I will find a copy of the Sala book!
I can't say I'm entirely convinced about the shape of that hour leaf hand. But you start looking at leaf hands too long and you can go cross eyed. You are still in a pretty cheap price range for a SS tri. Whats the case size? 35mm? You might want to go back and try to negotiate a partial refund based on issues, rather than a full return. Unless you just don't like it. With just one photo it's really hard for me to tell what this watch actually looks like under normal viewing conditions. If it's been fully serviced and all functions correct, you might be doing OK if you can live with the issues. The bigger question for me is just what does this dial look like at first glance? Is it attractive, or kinda ratty looking / greenish yellow? Photo looks really mottled, like someone has been scrubbing on the dial to get rid of grime or something.
3700 is about a thousand too much for these issues. Yes the hour hand is not a UG hand. See if you can return it.
Yeap dealer seemed very straight forward they might not have known will update what happens when they are open on Tuesday. Thanks for all of the OF eyeballs and insight - this community never ceases to amaze me.
Dealer took it as a return. Separately I happily found a copy of the Sala book. Now the search starts again.