Hi guys,

What do you make of this H.P.C.?

Case Ref. 224100 is correct, and No. 1157895 is also right. It was first sold through Antiquorum last year.

My largest concern arises from the H.P.C. and UNI-COMPAX printing. First, I have never seen H.P.C. below UNI-COMPAX, and COMPAX tends to be larger than UNI. Second, H.P.C. appears lighter.

My second concern is the minute track's typography, e.g. the open 6. I have not seen anything like it.

Grateful for your input!

 

For comparison, here are two other H.P.C. examples. One was sold as NOS from the early 60s through Bachmann & Scher, the salmon dial by Matthew Bain.

 

The dial is unrefinished. It's hard to comment about the location of the "H.P.C" because there's a dearth of these examples out there, but all of the fonts are correct and up to UG specs. Movement shot? Caseback? Your evaluation of this or any watch should not begin and end with only the dial.

The last example appears to be an old re-dial, possibly through the manufacture themselves. Plus, UG was not making these types of watches in the 60's and the serial number was conveniently left out in the listing. The salmon dial one sold by Matthew Bain is a beauty

 

Thank you very much for weighing in. I should clarify that while I have seen the fonts used, I cannot recall seeing the open 6 on the minute track or subdial on a similar Uni. Should this be cause for concern?

I have no information about the movement yet, other than Antiquorum's description that states:

"Cal. 285, rhodium-plated, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, Breguet balance spring, index regulator"

The current owner claims that time-keeping is within 2 secs/d, which tends to support the H.P.C. designation.

I will be picking up the watch in person. Hopefully, its current owner will open it up then. Must say I am in love with it.

Isn't it!

 

I'll post pictures when I can, but the open 6's were used quite often