Blancpain

Team,

A Leman Flyback was offered to me but I think that is wrong or worst, a franken (Pay attention on the chrono seconds hand - Is this Blancpain?)

The watch works fine, flyback works etc. but I didn't opened the case to check the movement.

I believe that the hands had been replaced and the dial patina is weird for a non-vintage watch.

The dealer is a friend and, before I return the watch, I would like an expert diagnostics.

Here is a quick and dirt picture of the dial.

The case number is 1XX. Is this an old Leman?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Nilo

on this watch. Here you can see such a watch in its 'natural' environment (pic by Daniel ('expwmbat')):

How hard is to source the correct hands?

After your diagnose, the price of this piece will be VERY nice.

Cheers,

Nilo

Note: I don't know if you remember, but (on the Blancpain official forum) you help me with a bracelet screw (circa 2008).

should not have a problem sourcing the part. This message has been edited by Magnus Bosse on 2012-02-06 09:54:51

Magnus,

There are no ADs or Service Centers here where I live.

According to Blancpain site, there is only a service center in Argentina (2500Km from here).

This makes the ownership of a Blancpain a much more complex task.

It's sad. I checked the movement and it's perfect and running as it should but ...

Thanks,

Nilo

Clearly the chrono hand is wrong.  And kudos to the Eagle Eye of Magnus who identified it as Chopard.  My take on this is that if the hand is wrong, there could be other issues as well.  I would not keep the watch.

This explains why the watch was being offered "close to a song".

Already returned (in fact, I didn't paid anything).

Is a shame that "watchmakers" performs this kind of defacing of a nice watch.

I feel sorry about that and, where I live, Blancpain has no presence and this, to me, implies that one cannot own one.

About the "eagle" eyes of Magnus, I spend hours on the Web trying to locate this chrono hand without success.

Thanks to all,

Nilo

Chopard immediately came to mind as I always notice hands that are peculiar around the eye, such as GO, Chopard and (some) Breguet hands.

Never paid too much attention to the fact that some, or most, of the manufacturers uses the second hand as some sort of signature.

Cheers,

Nilo

I feel ashamed as I definitely could not have identified the origin of that hand and I owned that model Chopard for a few months!  Takes fantastic memory to keep that shape in mind.

Magnus, besides of knowing a lot about Blancpain (I do remember his worlds of advise on the late? official Blancpain forum).

Funny thing is that, for reasons that only my little gray cells know, I was sure that this second hand reminds me of Montblanc (disclaimer - I know nothing about this brand).

Cheers,

Nilo

"fantastic memory" is not my primary strength, truth to be told. in fact its a weakness...