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Transitional Polarouter/Polerouter Theory

  1. Aedaxoo Jun 4, 2020

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    Yes it looks like the transitional models were more likely just replaced dials my question is if the dials of early polerouters have a single dot and this late dial pola has double dot's why do the "trans/service" dials be double dot's. Maybe because of the time period but that wouldn't explain why the printing of the polerouter is different. And if they were created after manufacturing the bumpers why did they use radium as this would have been changed to tritium. And if they used radium they should have put Ra swiss Ra on the dial. Very interesting to find out
     
  2. Aedaxoo Jun 4, 2020

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    To correct myself. There were one's made with single lume dot's so i think there is a high chance of them being service dials from Universal themselves. Maybe to get the name up to date when a customer came in for a service maybe to make it the same as other models in the showcase window because they didn't sell that quick and they wanted to avoid confusion may just because the second gen dials had some problems with printing or quality as said before on this thread but i don't rule out them experimenting with the new printings and alignment. Perhaps we shall never know. But definitely interesting and i love to see this little investigation go on
     
  3. CafeRacer Jun 4, 2020

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    I think if that were the case, we would see just as many 1st execution as 2nd execution with polE dials - which we dont.
    Im most inclined to think they were service replacements for now, but im open to change my opinion in light of new evidence.
    Just a case of eliminating as many of the theories as possible, and then see whats left to narrow it down.
     
  4. Aedaxoo Jun 4, 2020

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    Yes you are right there are more second gen ones with the pole dial. Maybe we need to look at both dials and see what quality issues were there if they were to have been swapped because of bad quality. Next gtg we should do that.
     
  5. Mazoue Jun 4, 2020

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    Your conclusion is completely logical but it does rely on the assumption that these things were produced in serial number order; a completely reasonable assumption but an assumption nonetheless.

    It does not seem impossible that new Polerouter dials were combined with a batch of unused Polarouter cases that happen to have earlier serial numbers than the last batch of 'standard' Polarouters.

    What I think we need to disprove that theory altogether is to find Polarouters with serials very very close to some 'transitional' examples (preferably with serials just above and just below).
     
  6. Mazoue Jun 4, 2020

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    I agree that if they were used as service replacements then we would see just as many 1st and 2nd Exec with these Polerouter dials but we don't.

    So are you suggesting that they were used as 2nd Exec service replacements only?
     
  7. Aedaxoo Jun 4, 2020

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    I didn't think of that. That could also be an explanation. Lets hope we are able to find this but again all are assumptions at this point hopefully we are able to find facts in the future.
     
  8. CafeRacer Jun 4, 2020

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    No. Aedaxoo was referring to them being "aesthetic" replacements, to update the name.
    If that was the case, I would assume we would see as many 1st as 2nd exec dials replaced with PolE instead of PolA.

    As i alluded to earlier in the thread, a lot of 2nd ex PolA dials seem to be in very bad condition compared to their 1st exec counterparts.
    If there was some inherent fault with them that led to excessive wear/corrosion etc, that could explain the high proportion of 2nd exec dials that have been replaced with PolE dials instead of PolA.
     
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  9. Aedaxoo Jun 6, 2020

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    i think as CafeRacer says it is highly likely that they were changed because of bad quality. Maybe they issued a callback and not everyone did that but most people who went to the ad for service even though there was nothing wrong with the polarouter dial. If this is the case we might be able to find some old people who worked for universal geneve. The reason why i would maybe suggest some were changed when they were not already sold is because like other models some watches weren't sold directly they might have stayed at the ad for several years and in an effort to sell their unsellable stock of polarouter second gen they might have changed the dial to a more up to date model in the hope of selling. but interesting what you guys think.
     
  10. CafeRacer Jun 6, 2020

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    In that case id probably expect them all to be the same kind of dial - the earliest PolE dial with single lume at 12...?
     
  11. Aedaxoo Jun 9, 2020

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    yes and the late pola dials have double lume plots so it is definetly interesting. perhaps they realised their mistake early before the first polerouters or realised it when the production was at the later polerouter with bumper layout.