dear members,

as this is my first thread in this forum i quickly want to introduce myself. my name is andee and i´m a watch collector, mostly of rolex and heuer, for many years, also opened up a business with vintagewatches two years ago but that shouldn´t be the point right now as i want to intruduce a private watch.

as i was allowed to have seen and owned lots of beautiful vintage watches over the years it doesen´t happen very often anymore, that i´m totally stunned and overwhelmed by a piece.
anyways exactly this happened when i received the latest addition to my private collection. an UNIVERSAL GENEVE COMPAX EXOTIC DIAL! ladie´s and gentlemen WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DIAL ??? i honestly asked myself who needs a newman rolex? i knew about this special piece of a good friend of mine for some months and had the great luck that he was willing to release it to me.

so here is an image of this compax with one of the two very rare exotic dial versions, the more unknown sisters of the two nina´s, attended by my 6239 small daytona as her valjoux72 sidekick

when talking to some collectorsfriends who also own one of these pieces i found out that there is not really much knowledge about the exotic compax´s. it also doesn´t happen often that one comes up for sale, so i wanted to use this thread maybe as a place where some informations of the community could be collected. images as well as infos about parts, versions and so on.. for example i have seen different handset-colours.. mine are all black, but i have also seen the sweeping-hand in red, and also all silver hands.

it would be great if everyone who has one of these watches in his collection or has some informations about them, could post them into this thread.. i guess there is still a lot to find out about the two compax versions with exotic dial.

thanks in advance and i hope to see plenty of postings here )
yours, andee

 

Beautiful!



http://rolexpassionreport.com/18093/rolex-passion-meeting-2015/

 

Unfortunately can't contribute to this thread yet, but DIBS! Stunning examples.

 

stunning!

 

Wow, those are two exceptional examples, LouS! Well done.

 

I almost don't like talking or thinking about watches like these, considering their recent absurd spike in value. It sickens me. They have left a bad taste in my mouth, even though I have the greatest respect for them. It's complex.

 

Perhaps these watches were not popular at that time and were slow- or no-mover?

You bought it because they are vintage and a part of your UG collection but had you bought it new?

Quite honestly, I do not. If a UG at this time the moonphase and no other.

and to the price development of some watches......but if everyone could have everything, it would not even funny anymore....

 

lou thank you!! you're pieces are great. i allready knew your exotic compax for sure love it!!
so you got a good point there.. and i would maybe agree with adri, that they were not big sellers when beeing on the market. but i have to mention that i have also seen examples with problematic parts on the laquer of the bakelitbezel, exactly like you can find it on 6263 daytonas for example.. also patina on hands and dials, but the case are mostly in a very good shape... btw. are your hands still glowing very slightly in the dark or are they totally dead?

@ConElPueblo WOW!!! unbelievable

 

I hope no one thinks the watch I posted is mine - have a look at the linked post, where a bunch of unreal watches are shown

@rarebirds.de : Yours look amazing! I didn't register the great design when I saw the model for the first time (the link I posted), now I wouldn't mind owning one either.

 

@ConElPueblo ok, i heard of that special piece shown on that meeting. very nice.
..same experience for me. i have never realized that model really over the years, but when i saw it for the first time some months ago seriously fell in love with it.. matte spaces (under the subdials) on a sunburst-finished dial are really suomething special.. don´t know that effect/design from any other watch..

 

Assuming a blue watch with red accents and a soleil dial is less wearable than a black-white combination, I suppose these watches have remained even more undervalued than its panda - reverse panda brothers.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons to answer @LouS question: I can wear a panda in a lots of ocassions... A blueish compax does not match a lot a formal attire for, i.e. a bank employee. May this be reason for those being in great condition in most of ocassions? Perhaps.

On the other hand, discussing on these watches, IMHO, is always great as watches are great, with no regard of its price or the marketing around.

 

Hello andee,

knowing that you are trading watches too, I like your enthusiasm describing your new watch. It´s really important to like what you doing, and combining work with passion like you do is just great!
The case, bezel, hands and sub hands on the late UG Compaxes are really beautiful. Condition... wow!!
Only the dial is not my taste. Titoni made some similar "cockpit dials" for the Raceking (Valjoux 72), which for me are even better looking than the UG ones. But that´s just my personal taste.
My first pick would be the moonphase...
Really a rare bird for rarebird, wear it with joy and in good health!

 

@valjoux72 thank you very much for your kind feedback! yes, it must be love with this piece. have to check that titoni dials as well.. never have seen one. thanks to mention them!!

@Fer Seamaster you could be right with that.. good point! ..and yes, talking about nice watches without having the prices in mind can´t be wrong. otherwise there wouldn´t exist any rolex daytona, patek or early heuer autavia threads.. i also love some watches which i can´t afford myself just happy to see them and talk about them ..on the other hand some very cheap vintage watches can deliver the same fun as very expensive ones.. it´s not always about the money if you love the materia itself!

 

It's not that I avoid talking about expensive watches. It's that I avoid further enflaming a watch that has more than tripled in value within a year and a half, in line with what can only be described as a fanatical and very new "cult" following of UG.

When people are tossing out $15,000 for an exotic, $20,000 for a Nina, and $40,000 for a Tricompax, I kind of don't want to even want to discuss them. Not until, if this ever, blows over.

 

That also assumes that threads in this forum have a notable bearing on the UG market...

It's a brave new world out there. Prices might contract a little, but the days of finding any of the ones you mentioned above for $3-4K are long gone. And with that in mind, I personally have no problem discussing/drooling over great examples owned by lucky people. It's the closest that I'll likely come to one and it's great to see them in the hands of owners that cherish them and want to share.

 

40K for a TriCompax??

Really? Which one? I thought they were in the 10-14K range.

Perhaps I am thinking on liquidating my mortgage...

 

Sorry - made a mistake there. It was more like $31,500, + commission.

http://www.phillipswatches.com/universal-geneve-stainless-steel-tri-compax/

As to a response:

I understand that it's largely a selfish thing, not wanting to discuss them. And I am not deluding myself into thinking this forum makes a substantial difference (though it is the only major forum with a Universal Geneve superthread).

I just feel cheated. I feel deep pockets and "enlightened" blog post followers have cheated me out of things that I love.