I realized my question in the other post may need to be worded better.
Dear present and past owners of the Big Pilot reference IW500201, are any of you aware of pieces where serial number is not stamped on the case back? The dealer (not authorized) is informing me that early models did not have the serial numbers stamped, is this a true statement based on your knowledge?
Thank you very much in advance.
As far as I remember all 5002 got the serial number engraved on the back. If a case was polished then the engraving is less visible.
I would not buy a 5002 unless I see the inside of the case back showing the serial number matching the numbers stated in the papers.
Greetings
My 5002-01 has the serial number on the back but it’s not easy to read. When you angle the watch than you should see it!
ON my 5002 the red box indicates the place where the serial number is engraved. It is blurred here deliberately, but even without the blurring in photoshop, it is hard to see.
You can see in this shot that mine is the slow beat 5002. There are five beats in this one second exposure.
@ Stinger78.
Here is close up of the 5 beaa per second. All you do is set your camera to a 1 second exposure time, shutter speed, snap a few pic and hope to capture the seconds and right on the seconds markers. You can count the number of beats in the one second exposure. The differing gaps between the beats is merely the play in the seconds hands. It's a long hand and it does not move perfecting spaced on each beat.
Thanks for the tip Bill, have to try it within the next days.
Thank you all for the comments and re-confirming the fact that serial number should be present on the case back.
Those pictures are very cool.