With the “Eric Clapton”, we do not have multiple dials, as we see with the “Nina Rindt“. The Universal Geneve 881101/01 came with only a single dial design. As with the Nina, I am focused here solely on the Universal Geneve 881101/01 “Eric Clapton”, as opposed to the “Evil Clapton” (881101/02, which can be identified by its black dial and white registers).

The dial is primarily white, with any print in black, including dial text (UNIVERSAL GENEVE, TRI-COMPAX, SWISS T), and hour/minute/second and 1/5 second marks.

The details of the three registers for running seconds, minutes and hours are the same as with the Nina Rindt, with all black with white numerals and marks. The running seconds at 9 o’clock has numerals (no marks) at 20, 40 and 60, and marks each of the other 5 second times. The 30-minute register at 3 o’clock has numerals (no marks) at 10, 20 and 30, with marks only at each remaining minute, with shorter marks for most minutes, a slightly longer mark at 5, and the longest marks at 3, 6 and 9 minutes. The 12-hour register at 6 o’clock has numerals (no marks) at 3, 6, 9 and 12, with marks on all other hours.

There are two obvious difference between the Clapton and the Nina:
1. register at 12 o’clock, which includes a moonphase with surrounding date, and
2. to the left and right of the moonphase register are rectangular apertures that show discs with abbreviations for the day of the week (left window) and month (right window). The month aperture (between 1 and 2 o’clock marks) is slightly smaller in size than the day aperture (appearing between 10 and 11 o’clock marks).

The abbreviations appear in both black (~75% of pieces) and red text, with black text up through 2.471m (and one outlier at 2.555m), and red thereafter. Discs are in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Of those seen, English is by far the most common (approximately 75% of pieces), with the black pieces more common then the red (approximately 75% of English discs). Though a small sample set, we see English on nearly all later serials (2.555+).

There are luminous plots on the dial, which are at the outside end of most hour marks (1 – 11) as circles. At 12 o’clock there are two circular lume plots, side by side above and centered horizontally over the moonphase register.

While we do see a few examples of dials that not have lume (most serials unknown, unfortunately), the dials are still marked SWISS T, which should indicate that the dial contains tritium. I believe at least one of these dials were most likely cleaned (one of the examples seems reasonably likely to have been cleaned, others are more difficult to tell from images). However, I have seen just a few of these out of nearly 80 pieces found, with no pattern to what other attributes are on watches with no lume: they have both tachymetre and pulsations bezels, blue and red chrono seconds hand, red v black aperture text, etc.

There is no Universal Geneve logo on the dial, either applied or printed.

The Universal Geneve Clapton used one set of main (hour and minute) hands and then multiple types of chronograph seconds hand, specific to certain Clapton serial numbers.

Unlike Universal Geneve Nina main hands, all Claptons have silver hour and minute hands, with luminous material (see bottom of this FAQ for comment on non-lume hands).

Both combinations of hands have the same length for each type of hand. The hour hand extends nearly to the inside end of the hour mark, with a slight gap. The minute hand will extend to between the end second/minute marks.

The chronograph second hand tip extends all the way to the 1/5 second marks (regardless of type). The tail should extend into the registers for the standard style tails (tail should end about midway down the 12 numeral on the hour register when chrono hand is at 0), and for the pointed tail should end at the bottom of the 12 numeral.

Early hands: seen up to 2.43 serials
This early set of main hands is silver, with lume, for both the hour and minute, and a blued chrono seconds hand, without lume.

Later hands: seen from 2.43 serials and later
Later hour and minute hands are silver with lume, but are paired with a red chrono seconds hand, without lume.
I have seen a few of pieces with a pointed end on the red chronograph hand, which leads me to believe these may be original to the watch. Unfortunately I have little information on some of the serials, but the ones in the database do not cluster around a particular period.

While we do see a few examples with hands that not have lume and a matching dial with no lume, these dials are still marked SWISS T, which should indicate that the dial contains tritium lume. It is not a piece I would personally collect, as my working assumption is that those watches have cleaned dials with incorrect hands. Perhaps more information will surface in the future and we can more definitively say one way or the other.

The Universal Geneve 881101/01 “Clapton” used one set register hands throughout production.

All four hands are thin and white, with no luminous material, and have flat ends. The end of each hand will extend all the way to the outer edge of the numerals/marks of the register. The center posts are more exposed on the hour and date/moon phase registers.

Hands may be of slightly different thicknesses. While I have not broken out the registry in detail, the second and minute register hands are sometimes found thinner than the hour and date register hands.

I have seen one example with red register hands for the date and hour registers, but these are not consistent with all other examples. In addition, that specific watch features an incorrect moon phase disc. That watch I set aside as having incorrect hands and moon phase.