Tri Compaxes Missing 'SWISS' Signature

[banders]

Hi everyone,

I've heard several people inside and outside this forum mention that an original UG tri-compax dial will always be signed 'SWISS' at 6:00. For instance:

https://www.windvintage.com/universal-genve-tri-compax-reference-22539-non-luminous-unpolished

- Is this true?
- Is this usually true but there are exceptions?
- Does this apply only to dials created in a certain window of time?
- If they're original, did UG have different dial makers--some that signed the dials 'SWISS' and some that didn't?

I notice dials without the SWISS signature often have the following attributes
- no ring around the dates
- black 31
- no accent in GENÈVE
- flat-bottomed Vs

Haven't taken a look at Sala's book yet to look for examples/counter-examples (ordered one but it has yet to arrive)

Here are some dials that seem to not have the SWISS signature at 6:00 (it is possible they do all have SWISS signatures that are hidden by their bezels):

The right side of the moonphase aperture is funky on this one ^
https://omegaforums.net/threads/universal-geneve-tri-compax-18k-yellow-gold-ref-12268.78987/

https://omegaforums.net/threads/oversized-rose-gold-universal-geneve-tri-compax-serviced.83918/

https://cartellino.be/en/vintage-watches/universal-geneve/1086-tri-compax-pink-gold-287-caliber


https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6185739

Here's one where the 'SWISS' is basically invisible until the bezel is removed:


https://www.iconeek.com/universaltricompax12253/

 

[bgrisso]

Welcome to the sub forum Banders.

You would need to see all of those examples (where swiss is not visible) without the bezel to verify if swiss is there or not. One of them was mine (the 12296) and I think it had swiss but was just covered by the bezel, but I'm not 100% sure.

In any event you will run yourself in circles trying to come up with rules that UG ALWAYS follows. If there is a particular dial you are considering that is not signed swiss, I would focus on that dial and not on generalized rules, unless you just like academic research, which is cool too, and always appreciated when shared here on the forum.

All the dials in this thread so far are original.

In general I would expect to see swiss, but I would not assume it's an absolute rule, which would require extensive research to establish. I would be surprised if the attributes you are seeing on potentially non swiss dials are consistent, it could be instead you are seeing attributes for swiss dials that are hidden by the bezel (offhand it appears all the examples you posted are oversized gold cases?). In any event it's still a pretty small sample size.

Anyhow carry on, and please keep us posted, it's a cool research project.

 

[banders]

Made a little progress here:

I found a dial that appears to match that of the 12552 from Christie's perfectly. It clearly has a 'SWISS' signature. I know where the Christie's watch ended up, so I will work on verifying that particular watch has a 'SWISS' signature as well.

https://www.watchnet.co.jp/en/item/view/2018

In addition, I found a photo markthetime posted a while back that shows the 12268 also has a 'SWISS' signature.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/uni...-french-cased-who-can-help.72680/#post-917418

I'll keep looking for exceptions to the rule.