Universal Geneve Likely Offered a CHOICE of Bezels on Exotic Ninas 885107 & 885108…

Ok UG friends, so which dial/bezel combinations is / are “correct”??? The generally accepted wisdom for these exceedingly rare “Exotic Nina” references from Universal Genève has been that the BLUE dial reference ( 885108 ) came from the factory paired with the TEAL bezel, while the SILVER dial reference ( 885107 ) came paired with the NAVY bezel. That assumption was echoed, and beautifully photographed, in the wonderful “UG Ten” book by @heuervintage of instagram (not sure of his handle here…), which features his amazing collection of ten of Universal’s most prized chronographs. These specific pairings certainly looked more natural to my eyes, and I assumed that any Exotic Nina example with the “wrong” color bezel for its particular dial must have had its bezel switched at some point during its lifetime, perhaps to replace a damaged bezel or simply to assemble a “Franken” Exotic Nina from available, but mis-matched parts.
In recent months, however, my good friend @dandywatchman / @MattF and I have become increasingly convinced that this premise is likely incorrect. In the course of researching his silver-dialed 885107 that came with a TEAL bezel, we came across images on the web and Instagram of at least 8-10 examples of silver dials with TEAL bezels, and blue dials with NAVY bezels. If you’ve ever tried to find a replacement for one of these bezels, you know they are nearly impossible to find in any condition, given how few of these two references were ever produced in total (@heuervintage estimates maybe a few hundred of each, at most). Some collectors have hunted for an original bezel for years, without success. There simply was no meaningful supply of “replacement” bezels - of either teal or navy - produced by UG as far as we can determine (and there still isn’t!). Further, some of the “reversed” examples we came across are literally in mint, if not NOS, condition, including at least one example that still has its original caseback sticker on it. It seems clear that that particular watch, and the others, were “born” this way. Why? How?
Our working theory, in which we have strong and growing conviction, is that the original buyers of these remarkable watches might have been offered a CHOICE (!!) of bezel color - teal or navy - to go with whichever dial color they preferred. Universal Geneve retail agents at the time of purchase would simply (and carefully!) mount the desired bezel color (teal or navy) onto the desired dial color (blue or silver) of the selected watch before handing it over to a very happy customer. With so few of these references offered for sale worldwide at the time (very late 1960s/early 1970s), the process would have been eminently manageable. Think of a store having one or two examples of each rare reference in a display case, and one or two of each color bezel sitting nearby as “alternate” available options.
Ultimately, there’s no way for us to “prove” this theory. There are painfully few images in catalogs or ads for the era of these two specific references - no surprise given how insanely few were ever produced. Naturally, we’d welcome any insight, agreement (or even thoughtful disagreement…) from the community of knowledgeable Universal Genève (and other) collectors out there. What do you think? And which combination (blue/teal, or blue/navy, or silver/navy, or silver/teal) do YOU prefer?!? (PS - yes, I/we have too much time on my/our hands. )
credits: @MarktheTime, @ericwind, @phillipswatches, @worldoftimede

Very nice theory, but imho it's just speculation. As you said these watches are rare, imho there was no possibilities to choose different colors for such these rare items. More probably, during the years some watches were assembled with spare parts, moreover now that these watches have a big value.

Can’t agree with you my friend. “Spare parts” from what…?? There are no other UG references that used the same teal and navy bezels. To my knowledge they were created solely and specifically for these two references, which were produced in very limited numbers as I think you would agree. The few hundred of each that were produced could potentially (we believe) have allowed a choice of either bezel color at the time of purchase. Hard to explain otherwise just how many “reversed” examples are out there otherwise. There was and is no likely supply of excess/spare/replacement bezels floating around later with which to switch things around, even as prices have climbed so much in recent years. Hard to prove, of course, but there seems little practical explanation otherwise. 👎

The discussion seems to have (not surprisingly…) triggered some interesting back-and-forth, particularly on Instagram, where I am also @MarktheTime. One thing that keeps popping up is whether we can find any examples of either 885108 or 885107 in color catalogs from that era. I have not been able to find any such catalog, or vintage advertisement, or magazine article, or pretty much anything else specifically featuring the blue Dial, or the silver Dial Exotic Nina. I’m curious if anyone else out there might have something in their possession they could share? If helpful, I have seen the one page copied below from an old catalog, including the “7211“ notation at the bottom that seems to correspond to some 7211 UG hang tags I’ve seen on new examples of the blue dial variation… But the catalog page only seems to include the white and black dial Ninas, and evil Ninas. By any chance, might anyone have the “Missing” pages that could (perhaps) show either or both of the Exotic variations? Calling @LouS , @Bill Sohne or anyone else..? Thanks in advance.

I feel like if this were true we would see claptons or ninas with blue or teal bezels then too no? Especially with the psychedelic vibes of the late 60s.

Would be awesome if you could find an ad or a 1st hand buyers experience.. he went to the ug shop on shrooms and left with a teal /blue race car watch😎

I'm in the sceptics camp here too I'm afraid. By the early 70s I understand that UG were stricken and just trying to push watches out in order to maintain cashflows and stay afloat. I find it easy to imagine that these watches were made in small-run batches using whatever colour bezels were to hand that week. Personally, I find this a far more compelling reason for the variance you note rather than specific customer preference at point of sale. I see your speculation and raise you....more speculation 😉.

Spare parts for 885107/8 have been floating around for years. Apparently, UG themselves were selling "second generation" blue bezels for these two references as late as 2018. I have seen dials and handsets keenly priced on C24 over the years. Sadly sky-rocketing values have encouraged shenanigans, as they always do, making it even harder to get to the bottom of what was 'factory-correct' for these two sublime models.

Do the serial numbers show any patterns at all?

Having spent 4 years researching the Polerouter for our book, we've come across a lot of reference material that I'd certainly not seen before, including the retail catalogues illustrating these two references. They first feature in the 1974/75 catalogue and the same images are used in the 1975/76 and 1976/77 catalogues.

I'll leave you to continue the interesting debate and to reach your own conclusions.

Wowza! First time I’ve ever seen these references in ANY catalog or advertisement for Universal. Now if only we could find it in color…! Thanks so much for sharing. FANTASTIC!! 👍

Just came across this thread again (since I am researching these models myself) and its pretty evident from the advert copy above (even though its in black in white) that the 885108 (blue dial) featured a light insert (possibly teal, as trends would indicate), while the 885107 (silver dial) features the darker insert (which is likely blue, corresponding with with the dark blue shade of the its chrono subdials).

This doesn't indicate that these insert combos were exclusive to these specific models, just that this one advertisement indicates that the conventional colour schemes we know of was also used in the catalogues.

For the record, I am in the camp that thinks both these dials existed in with both combination of inserts and that, regardless of consumer choice, that's how UG decided to bundle and offer them.

There are no "spare parts" for Nina, but the darker blue bezels can be found on other compax models.