So I bought this (I know check - first, but it was a bargain, or so I thought and anyway I have confidence in being backed up by eBay, and my credit card company). It is a 1971 Tudor 7032 "Homeplate", based on a serial number starting 759XXX. The movement and inner case back photos are from the seller, the rest are my own. I will be taking it to my watchmaker on Tuesday to open up and confirm the movement photo, and I'd welcome any thoughts, and especially any confirmation (or otherwise!!) that it is genuine! The good: - Movement looks genuine, when I compare it to others I have seen on the internet - The case and numbering look genuine - Dial appears genuine - It has a roulette date wheel - It came with an independent jewellers valuation certificate from January of this year - It was serviced by the same jeweller this year The not so good: - The crown is a replacement - seller said as much, it was replaced at service this year - The hour and minute hands are service hands, replaced previously, seller said they were done at previous service som years ago, but are genuine Tudor replacements - The right hand sub-dial hand has lost its paint - The bezel is an aftermarket one - the number 4 in 140 and 400 are pointed and not flat plus the dots around the 200s are wrong - The crystal is wrong - the cyclops is the wrong orientation - I’m assume again a service change - The inner case back has no date, but has previous service marks and dates - but some of the case backs I’ve seen don’t have dates As always, thank you in advance
I don’t like that dial. At the least it’s been relumed. I’m not sure they originally came with roulette wheel.
Some parts look different on the movement than the ones I’ve seen ie the 2 screws with 3 lines I always thought the 3 lines denoted reverse thread plus if he knew what watch he had and Value why sell for 7k
Having had experience with a redialled 7169 I would always err on the side of caution with these. Movements as well as dials are regularly faked or made up of parts. Correct watches can go for close to 3x the cost of this one.
Hi All So I did some more research after posting it here, and yup, its a franken if not a complete fake. For posterity, here's; what I found: - As @bags1971 says, a few years back a chap called David Wong knocked out realistic looking kits (even with different serial numbers between lugs) with cases, pushers etc, for the 7031/2 and also for the original Big Blocks. - The dials he provided were also good - for example, the the sundials were stepped, the date window on badly faked dials cuts into the track, which it doesn't here. - What was particularly insidious was that some of the parts, crown, pushers, crystals, were on occasion genuine. Also the movements were actual Valjoux 7734 sometimes with correct bridges... I don't know if the seller knew the above or not, I'm prepared to given them the benefit of the doubt. They originally had it up and reduced it by about £2K a time over a couple of months. Either way, its going back Thanks to you all for your observations and help. I guess having dealt with the good people here, I must have forgotten that there are sharks and monsters out there! Stay safe!
The original dials of that era degraded badly. Any dial that looks almost perfect probably is too good to be true.