Don't get me wrong, I like many of the more recent variations of BP's...especially the LPBP with its beautiful blue dial. However, there is a special place on my "wish list" for the 5002 Transitional. The dial is perfectly balanced and to me epitomizes the BP tradition.
Jim, my plans were exactly the same, transitional or the first version, I didn't care too much. One day I wanted to go for it. But then the LPP BP crossed my path, and I was lost. ;-)
I've just noticed something I've never before noticed. On some models the distance between the end of the hour marker and the number at the end of the marker seems short, relative to others. It's particularly noticeable on 5002s where the "1" and "11" appear to almost touch the hour markers, whereas there's a bigger gap between the end of the hour markers and the "7" and "5" for example. You'd think I would have picked up on this before with the many hours I've spent staring at these faces, but apparently not!