Your opinions on this dial printing, please

ahartfie · Dec 1, 2021

Gentlefolk of the forum,

I recently acquired this 168.017 from a fellow forum member after posting I was looking for a good example. Everything looked kosher to me in the pictures he sent, and I did zoom in. The differently shaped O's, the slightly larger C, all this I've seen before.

Here it is on my wrist.

I pulled out the macro lens for my phone to take a few shots.

I zoomed in and what I saw surprised me. Is this how original printing looks at high magnification? Screen captures of zooming in:

I am not sure what my next actions (if any) will be, but I would like to know what I have. Thanks for your time.

Dan321 · Dec 1, 2021

Are you thinking the text has been repainted at some point? or could it be the original ink that has dried back?
Have you gone back to the member with your concerns?

SkunkPrince · Dec 1, 2021

It's perfectly fine. You zoom in that much, what else did you expect to see? Let us also remember the crystal is not optically clear, and it doesn't need to be. You're seeing a lot of distortion from a crystal that was never meant to have the tolerance you seem to be expecting.

MtV · Dec 1, 2021

I‘m not doubting this one at all…

sleepyastronaut · Dec 1, 2021

ahartfie
I zoomed in and what I saw surprised me. Is this how original printing looks at high magnification?

[...]

I am not sure what my next actions (if any) will be, but I would like to know what I have. Thanks for your time.

Was your photo taken with HDR enabled?
Was your photo taken in Macro mode?
What was your shooting distance?
How many times digital zoom?
How well did you polish that crystal?

Boojumhunter · Dec 1, 2021

Looks legit. And beautiful.

Can you imagine what it would take to fake this? How many hours of practice, how much expertise? Why would anyone do it for a watch at this price range?

Peemacgee · Dec 2, 2021

Boojumhunter
Looks legit. And beautiful.

Can you imagine what it would take to fake this? How many hours of practice, how much expertise? Why would anyone do it for a watch at this price range?

unfortunately, there are many, many, fake Constellations out there and the fake/repainted dials are getting better all the time.

However, I don’t think this is one of them.

JimInOz · Dec 2, 2021

I'd be quite happy with that dial in my collection.

🥰

ahartfie · Dec 2, 2021

Thank you all for your replies. It was all optical zoom.

The seller assured it me was all original, and I did wonder how someone would trace over those lines. I’m not an expert in pad printing and I don’t know how it ages.

I got burned on my first example 10 years ago and am glad this isn’t the case on my second. My hubris meter has been knocked down a few notches for sure.

And here’s a photo of my first one, the one I replaced, so you can see why I was antsy.

Dan S · Dec 2, 2021

There are a lot of artifacts introduced into digital images, not only by optics, but also compression, etc. The dial looks good to me.

connieseamaster · Dec 2, 2021

ahartfie
Thank you all for your replies. It was all optical zoom.

The seller assured it me was all original, and I did wonder how someone would trace over those lines. I’m not an expert in pad printing and I don’t know how it ages.

I got burned on my first example 10 years ago and am glad this isn’t the case on my second. My hubris meter has been knocked down a few notches for sure.

And here’s a photo of my first one, the one I replaced, so you can see why I was antsy.

Comparing macros of your first and second watches, it's pretty obvious which one is the correct dial. Serifs, even thickness, regular spacing - it's all there

Your opinions on this dial printing, please

ahartfie

Dan321

SkunkPrince

MtV

sleepyastronaut

Boojumhunter

Peemacgee

JimInOz

ahartfie

Dan S

connieseamaster

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