Some wrist shots of my Tri-Compax with small round pushers Ref. 22297/2. Just added a Patek blue strap that changes the look completely and matches the moon phase disc and the blue telemetric track. Some on this forum have speculated that this original dial and correct dauphine hands were not utilized in Ref. 22297, because it is not represented in Ben Newport-Foster's informative article on Timepiece Chronicle. This even though the exact dial and case are represented in Sala's book. I actually sent photos of my watch to Ben for his opinion. Ben explained that "dating dials on a Trip-Compax is incredibly hard to do as there was such variety, especially during the 1950's. He goes on to explain that "there were multiple variants of dials within the same reference number that were all genuine. He added that "it was far more common "back in the day" for Swiss watch companies to make use of watch parts laying around rather than the incredibly strict process there is now."
Thanks for sharing your Tri. I don't recall the discussion about this particular watch, and I have not researched it myself, but in my experience it was the 40s where dial and case combinations were mix and match. By the 50s it was getting standardized. I doubt that people here on the forum would be basing their opinions on the Time Piece article you mention, instead they would be basing them on all other known 22297-2 examples they have seen. If indeed (and I don't know if this is true without research) this dial has never been seen before on a 22297-2 case, and only seen on a 222100-2 case, that is not absolute proof such a combination could not be made at the factory, but it does represent a force of percentage and statistics. On the other hand, who knows, maybe someone could request a custom combo. On the other hand, maybe someone just did the swap in the years since it left the factory. Either way, enjoy your Tri, it looks great !
Please see Antiquorum auction from 1994 with same dial and hand configuration in a Ref. 22297 case. Also pictured is a watch for sale from a Belgian dealer, again with the same dial and hand configuration in a 22297 case.
I think UG made due with parts up until late 60s/ early 70s but that is just mho. Definitely it was more present 40s but customizations & variations seemed to be part of their M.O. as a company and something their distributors would accommodate for with certain refs. I'm not sure when that culture started to truly change but my guess is 67 when Bulova took over.
Again, I have not researched these, I'm not presenting an opinion. The first watch above from Antiquorum (we don't know what type of 22297 case this is?), I can't tell if it's a textured dial or not, it looks to have gold markers, and the second example of the textured dial is in a 22297-3 (rather than a 22297-2 like yours), and I can't tell if it appears to have lume on the ends of the markers? Does yours have lume on the ends of the markers, it's very hard to tell from the pics? Side note, interesting that both of those dials lack any kind of T marking on the dial, and yours does have Swiss T ? Is it correct to assume that 22297-1 and -2 and -3 cases are exactly identical ? And so the -X designations must have to do with dial/case combinations? Or is there any other reason for the -1/-2/-3 markings on the cases? If any dial combination is possible, why not make them all 22297 and not have the -X at the end? Just thinking out loud here.... That watch above you posted belonged to @10H10 maybe he can shed some light on his research and observations for these dial combinations in 22297 cases. I really love the 22297 cases, even though midsized, I think they are fantastic. I would love to get a 22297 Tri at some point. The closest that I have at the moment is a 22279-1 from the 50s....