Hello OF,

I came upon this Constellation pie pan ref 14393 9 SC from a friend's watchmaker. Unfortunately, I do not know much about connies and I'm in need of your expertise. To me, it all looks original which is good. The bad, I think its a bit too polished (even though we can still see the stars in the back). The other problem is that the seller cant really take good pictures of the watch (I have asked 3 times and he has sent them all exactly the same quality, light, angles, etc)

He is asking $1160 for it.
Thanks for your help, time, and guidance.

E.

Here the poorly photos:

 

Forgot to add. He will send me pics of the movement and caseback tomorrow

 

You should ask him if the watch has been redialed in the past?

 

I did. The answer was no.

E.

 

The 14393 with pie pan dial normally comes with a cross hair.
The minute marks are close to the edges of the pie pan like in photo attached.



You should get clear and in focus photos of the dial before making any decision.
Regards.

 

I also thought that, but after doing some more research online I found some other pictures of ref 14393 9 SC with no cross hair. This one for example on the bay shows no cross hair and it's damaged which will indicate that the dial has not been messed with????? Would it be a possible variation of the dial? I'm not sure really. That is the main reason I posted it here to get some guidance.

Thanks for the input anyway.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272577458588Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

 

Some new pics sent to me showing 561 movement and the case back 14393 9

 

Not sure about the dial, but I would say the case back has had quite some polishing done. That, is an indication of someone trying to mask the history and honesty of the watch

 

That or that it's coming from a culture where shiny things got more value than preserving the originality of it.

 

Clear close up pics of the dial needed

 

Ok got some new pics. To be honest this is the best it's going to be

 

I don't trust the dial. Looks refinished to me. Still better photos are needed, but it does not look right to me. The luminous on the dial seems to be missing, and the dial has no patina at all. Also, the white surfaces at the edges of the pie pan serration look slightly rough to me. Actually, to me the case does not look polished, but overall I just think there are nicer Connies out there with no question marks.

 

I can see them and to assume that a dial must have patina is to reject thousands of watches well cared for over the years... or one that sat in a bank vault for decades.

 

To be honest, what got me really doubting is what @hoipolloi already mentioned. The minute marks are not close to the edges of the pie pan like you see in other examples.

 

To be honest, that concerned me as well but I thought I'd seen a couple of others over the years....

 

Just a thought but watches in bank vaults develop patina too...

 

Depends on the vault, of course, but some do.

 

I am little confused, but I will not say at 100% that the watch is a redial. It looks genuine but lacking the crosshair as mentioned. Look at the minute markers on my watch (same ref 14393-9 SC, but gold capped) to the right. I can see that the font seems fatter and that the markers does so as well.
If I judge it by the "fatter" font and markers I think it has been redialed; and It´s a damn good one. I would not hesitate to buy the watch at a fair price and It´s a beautiful watch with a very fine dial.

Consider that the picture to the left and it's resolution is poor and therefore the font and markers looks fatter and somewhat blurred.

 

I'm also sceptic about this one

The font looks off a bit but it's very difficult to find a definate proof. If it is redialed its a very good one!

I tried to zoom in concentrating on the font. Are there serifs?




Impossible to tell from this picture.

As pointed out before you will need a better picture to come to a conclusion

Too many question marks here so either you get better pictures or pass!

Good luck!