Prototype Dial 22410 Universal Genève Compax

When all you do is hunt watches all day like a shit Indiana Jones, it’s pretty easy to become jaded about even the greatest watches. You can find me a Jasper Day-Date and all I’ll want to do is compare it to the last one we featured. I love what I do, but I say all this to point out that it takes a lot to truly surprise any of us these days. Well, here is that rare bird. This is prototype dial ref. 22410 Compax, which must be one of the most striking dials ever in a 60s chronograph. It’s more exotic than anything Newman, and feels modern enough to be a throwback micro-brand design made yesterday. But it wasn’t, it’s a UG.

Now the world of prototype dials is a fraught one. Much like what we see in Rolex prototype dial productions, no one is really sure whether these dials were produced as test runs which eventually found their way onto the market and later assembled into watches, or were made and cased in period. This is all to say that there’s really no way to know how one should look. You’ll find prototype Daytona dials in various cases, all claiming to be original. Similarly, we’ve seen prototype dial UGs exactly the same as this appear in a variety of cases, including the 38mm Spillmann we see here as well as with square pushers.

We’ve seen fewer than five of these dials ever appear on the market. Lore has it that a Mr. Ben Clymer owns one. A friend of Hairspring, Menta, sold one years ago. Another friend, Antoine de Macedo, has posted one signed by Hermès. And there were a few that traded hands before the days of watch media covering such things. We do know these dials to be original and prototypes, but that’s about it. It’s not like we can write to ask UG. It is a market deprived of scholarship, because none exists. However, the values are eye-watering (think more than 30K, less than 60K in USD.) and all that value is in the dial. And it is an undeniably handsome face. Open 6, small font, radial registers divided in thirds. It’s a special thing, no matter how you case it. Let me put it this way: there’s a cocktail called the Income Tax that’s gin, sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, and orange bitters. No one knows who invented it or where its name comes from. It’s hard to find, a little obscure. But it’s delicious. I’m glad both that drink and this dial exist. The world is more interesting for both.

The dial itself is in great condition, which is hand, because that’s what you’d be paying for. There are extremely light signs of patina in the registers but very little on the open grey. Its Spillmann case is very sharp, crown unsigned, and running a calibre 285. It comes from a well-regarded EU retailer.