No products in the cart.
Return To Shop
Date Your Universal Geneve Watch
Let's Date Your Watch
Often knowing the date of a vintage watch is important to understand its history and provenance, or perhaps you want to know if a watch is a birth year watch, or maybe you’re just curious? In any case, let’s date your Universal Geneve watch using the EmmyWatch Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup.
To date your Universal Geneve watch you will need to find the serial number. The serial number of Universal Geneve watches is generally found on the outside of the caseback above the watch reference number. Occasionally the serial number will be found between the lugs as is the case for many Polerouters. If you cannot find your serial number on the outside of the caseback, please check between the lugs for a number.
Universal Geneve watches can generally be dated to a specific year. Universal Geneve serial numbers start at 500,000 and will run into the 3,000,000s and beyond. The EmmyWatch Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup will interpret your serial number and give you a manufacture year.
So how do you find your Universal Geneve watch serial number? Proceed to the next section to learn how to find the serial number.
How to Find The Serial Number
When using our Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup, you will need the Universal Geneve serial number from your watch. The Universal Geneve serial number on your watch is found on the outside of the caseback or between the lugs. Often the serial number will appear above (or sometimes below) the reference number. For most watches the serial number will be listed above the reference number and will be the larger of the two numbers listed. See the picture of an example Universal Geneve Uni-Compax serial number below (1633753). Be sure not to confuse the serial number (1633753) with the reference number (22420-1), in this case.
Write down your Universal Geneve serial number.
Serial Number
The top number is the serial number (bottom is watch reference). For this example, the serial number is 1633753.
Once you have found your Universal Geneve serial number use our Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup to accurately date your Universal Geneve watch manufacture date.
Interpret The Results
Our Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup will provide you with a manufacture year. Our lookup tool tries its best to give you a specific year but sometimes that is not possible. Currently we are only able to accurately date Universal Geneve watches up to the year 1967. Data after this year has not been made public by Universal Geneve yet (that we are aware of), but once it is available we will add it here. If you have any further information please contact us.
For the example Universal Geneve Uni-Compax shown above with serial number 1633753, here is what our Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup gives:
Woohoo!! So the Universal Geneve Uni-Compax example watch was manufactured in 1953. For this example our lookup tool was able to give a specific year. As mentioned earlier, if you watch happens to have been manufactured in 1967 or later, our lookup can only date your watch to 1967 at this time.
Guessing a Year By The Logo
Our Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup will provide you with a manufacture year, but sometimes your watch may have had its serial number worn off or perhaps it is out of the range of years made available to us by Universal Geneve. All is not lost however, if this is the case you can look at the various Universal Geneve logos on your watch dial, caseback, crown, etc to determine approximately when it would have been manufactured.
First, here are the various logos that Universal Geneve used early on in their company’s history, from approximately 1894 to 1937. The year below the logo is the year in which Universal Geneve started using the logo.
Second, here are the various logos that Universal Geneve used later on in their company’s history, from approximately 1937 to 1988. Most Universal Geneve Polerouters will have the 1953 to 1960 logos. The year below the logo is the year in which Universal Geneve started using the logo.
Have feedback?
Our goal is to continually improve the EmmyWatch Universal Geneve Serial Number Lookup and we would love your feedback!
Do you have any ideas, suggestions, or corrections to send us with our data?
Please leave a comment below or contact us and let us know!
About author
Related posts
Let’s Date Your Tudor Watch Have you ever wondered what year your Tudor watch was manufactured? Often knowing the date of a watch is important... Continue reading
Let’s Date Your Seiko Watch Have you ever wondered what year your Seiko watch was manufactured? Often knowing the date of a watch is important... Continue reading
Introducing the EmmyWatch Watch Database! Have you ever wanted to find out more details about your watch and its movement? Have you struggled to find... Continue reading
After more research I have concluded that the bottom number 20309xx gives a mfg date of 1959 which is consistent with the logo which is inside on the back of the case which is the 1953 logo and also in 1955 was the Creation of the Microtor (patent No. 329805), a new type of self-winding movement with oscillating weight integrated into the movement (Caliber 215). And that is the type of movement on my watch.
Additionally on the inside back it has the logo from 1953 and if you use the bottom number 20309xx you get a mfg date of 1959 which seems right. I failed to comment on my first comment that the 1988 logo is on the face of the watch. ??
I have a Universal Geneve White Shadow Date, the logo is the thick U, which according to this article is 1960, the thin U is 1965, however the serial number stars at 3, meaning it’s past 1967, probably early 70s. So this is a little confusing.
Hi Rex, I believe Universal Geneve used both style of logos into the 70s depending on the watch model. The logo years are just references to show when a logo started appearing in production. HTH.
I have found a number of Universal Tri Compax with cases that date as early as 1942, mostly stainless steel. Any thoughts? Were cases from the Compax that were in stock used to case the tri compax? Thanks, Mark
I now have a black face Universal Geneve watch that was given to me back in1968. It has a black face with “Universal Geneve” at the top of the watch face and the word “Automatic” at the bottom of the face. It is a manual wind watch. I has the date, and no day. The numbers 1, 2, 4,5, 7,6,10, and 11 are small silver dots. The number 12 has a silver double bar and the six has a single silver bar. The back of the watch has no numbers or letters.It is plain silver. The watch itself is silver. I would like to know if you are familiar with this model of watch. I have been told that it is very valuable.
Hi Pete, please send me a message in the contact form and I’ll reply so you can send me a picture. I will be able to give you more information with a picture. Thank you! Emily
I have a Universal Geneve automatic 18k man’s wrist watch with a serial number 10369xx that indicates it was mfg 1943 but the logo is the 1988 logo ???