The Monodatic Appreciation Society

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A friendly reminder that just because a thread has been dormant for a while doesn’t mean there aren’t some fantastic opportunities to shake it up! Happy to be able to share this fresh to market 1956/57 Universal Geneve Monodatic in 18k rose gold with a beautiful silvered dial, lovely arrow hour markers, insanely sharp lugs, and puffy radium lume plots (unusual on this reference, in my experience). The caseback apparently had never been opened in its nearly 70 year life. The gold threads apparently had almost “cold-welded” themselves shut from what I understand. It literally took two (experienced) watchmakers almost a week of effort - putting a real scare into me - to get it opened for service, ultimately assisted by some penetrating oil, a little patience, and a generous amount of elbow grease, firmly applied!
Thrilled to have it in the collection, although won’t get to enjoy it much until it comes back from the full service it’s currently undergoing after so many decades of sitting around untouched!
Viva UG!

 
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A friendly reminder that just because a thread has been dormant for a while doesn’t mean there aren’t some fantastic opportunities to shake it up! Happy to be able to share this fresh to market 1956/57 Universal Geneve Monodatic in 18k rose gold with a beautiful silvered dial, lovely arrow hour markers, insanely sharp lugs, and puffy radium lume plots (unusual on this reference, in my experience). The caseback apparently had never been opened in its nearly 70 year life. The gold threads apparently had almost “cold-welded” themselves shut from what I understand. It literally took two (experienced) watchmakers almost a week of effort - putting a real scare into me - to get it opened for service, ultimately assisted by some penetrating oil, a little patience, and a generous amount of elbow grease, firmly applied!
Thrilled to have it in the collection, although won’t get to enjoy it much until it comes back from the full service it’s currently undergoing after so many decades of sitting around untouched!
Viva UG!

Such a handsome watch. enjoy!
 
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what do you think?
I just noticed that a watch with a very rare dial has popped up for sale. What caught my attention is that this exact type of dial, extremely rare, was sold on eBay not too long ago. I can’t say for sure it’s the same one, but given how uncommon these dials are and the timing of both listings, it seems like more than just a coincidence. The dial fits the case perfectly, so there's absolutely nothing wrong here, just sharing this to keep things transparent and so everyone has the full picture.
https://rarebirds.de/product/universal-geneve-monodatic-auto/
 
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I somehow am under the impression that the crown on this case style in the 146XXX-range should be unbranded. I once started to build a Monodatic-database (it's neither big nor impressive), but what's funny is that in it, I have a "Monodate Automatic" in the 146XXX-serial range with this exact dial - only in white and without the complete "Universal Genève" print but with the word "Universal" only, engraved in a small bronze-rectangle. And yes, it says "Monodate Automatic", not Monodatic.
 
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I don't see an awful lot wrong with that although I do appreciate your point about transparency. If I was selling that I would have to include the original dial in the package. The tricky other bits that they've managed to pull off is silver-coloured hands, as most 138/139 automatics have gold hands, and the signed crown (I don't honestly know if this should actually be signed or not).
 
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I just noticed that a watch with a very rare dial has popped up for sale. What caught my attention is that this exact type of dial, extremely rare, was sold on eBay not too long ago. I can’t say for sure it’s the same one, but given how uncommon these dials are and the timing of both listings, it seems like more than just a coincidence. The dial fits the case perfectly, so there's absolutely nothing wrong here, just sharing this to keep things transparent and so everyone has the full picture.
https://rarebirds.de/product/universal-geneve-monodatic-auto/
It might have a new dial, but that's a beautiful package!