Universal Genève Compur Chronograph 1940s
Ref. 22458 · Calibre Universal Genève 285Condition — Unpolished steel case with original dial showing even cream patina
Provenance — Bought at auction online, like most of what I keep.
The two-tone lume plots on this dial have gone a soft amber against the silvered ground, and I find that contrast, warm dots against cool metal, is what pulls the eye before anything else. What I'm looking at is a two-register Compur chronograph dial with Arabic 12 and 6, blued steel hands, and a tachymeter scale running the full circumference; the finish has softened and dulled slightly with age rather than staying bright and flat. The steel case is unpolished, with case-back engraving still crisp and a stepped, snap-back construction typical of the period. Flip it over and the caliber 285 is laid out cleanly, gilt bridges, visible column wheel and screw balance, with no signs of amateur intervention that I can see. It suits a buyer who wants a manually wound chronograph they can study through the back as much as wear on the wrist, not one chasing a dial that looks factory-fresh.
Buying from a stranger, in short. Every fault I know of is in the listing, and if you find one I missed, the return stands. Take the watch to a watchmaker of your choosing before you pay — I have never once objected. Fourteen days to send it back, for any reason at all.
Privatverkauf. Everything described above — case, dial, hands, lume, rate and service history — is agreed condition for this watch and I stand behind all of it. Beyond that, the watch is sold excluding liability for material defects, as is normal between private individuals for a vintage mechanical object of this age. That exclusion does not cover anything I have misdescribed or failed to disclose, and never covers injury or intent.
Fourteen days to return it for any reason — my own promise, not a statutory withdrawal right. Terms · How I describe condition
