Pulsar executive case markings

[egomon]

I bought my first P4 executive and there are some strange markings on the watch case. Does someone know what the markings are?
[img][img]http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/6831/p5050122.jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
[/img]
[img][img]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4096/p5050124.jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
[/img]

[abem]

In the second photo,

- the star symbol means that the case was U.S. made by the Star Watch Case manufacturing company, which was located first in Elgin, Illinois and later moved to Michigan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Watch_Case_Company
http://www.northernpartners.com/star_watch_case.htm

Star made many of the best cases for Hamilton, Longines, Omega etc. They had quite a proud history and made many fine products. It's sad to see their demise at the end of the 1970s, like many other watch companies.

- The L80 means that the case is covered with an 80 micron thick gold layer - called "gold filled". This is a very good thing. Normal plating ("electroplating" is just a few microns and can't be refinished. Many cases use 20 micron gold fill, which will allow you to buff out hairline scratches, but not any sizeable dings or marks. By law, "gold fillled" means that at least 5% of the weight of the case must be in the precious metal rather than the base metal. Pulsar and Hamilton went all out and used an 80 micron thick gold filled layer. The advantage is that an 80 micron thick gold filled case can often be refinished to look "like new" even when it has thick scratches and dents - something that's not possible with lesser cases. This is where Pulsar and Hamilton quality really shines.

-abe.

[egomon]

Thank you very much.

Egon

[bruce wegmann]

You forgot the "O" marking inside the case in the top pic. That designated the case material. "O" indicates base metal, or a goldfilled case. "X" indicates a solid 14K gold case, and the solid 18K cases were marked with the notorious dos equis (XX). Somewhere I have pics of those markings; if I can find them I'll forward them to someone who can post them (I still don't seem to be able to make that work). These marks are uniform for all Pulsar models.

[egomon]

Hi Bruce and its so nice to hear from you for a long time :)

I have one more P4 it's classic and inside there is this marking:
[img][img]http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2568/p5050129y.jpg[/img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
[/img]

Any idea what this is?

Regards

Egon

[bruce wegmann]

I don't believe I've seen this marking on anything other than a stainless case, and only on P3 and P4 models.