: Hi all,

: I'm a bit of a Heuer newbie and trying to make sure my first
: vintage purchase is a well educated one.

Hello Anthony, and welcome to the forum. Only too happy to help when it's put like that, definitely the right approach.

: The seller planetwatch on ebay has had the following Carrera 73655
: CHT listed for over a year.

Over two and a half years, they had two of them, both with incorrect crowns, up before I bought mine in earlyish 2009. Looks like one of them might have moved now.

: I've seen him turn down offers that
: are what I believe is market value for one of these in good
: condition (around £1000 / $1500), despite the fact his is in
: pretty bad condition.

I think this is the biggest sticking point. I paid just over £500 in 2009, still cheap for the time but you could routinely get them for around £750. I reckon £1k for a good one now is a fair call. Still the cheapest way into a second gen Carrera, with the extra utility of 3 registers, though supply has dried up quite a bit.

: Could any of the experts on here drop some knowledge about the
: problems with this watch? All I can see myself is the clearly
: wrong crown. But as I said, newbie.

Yep, crown is obviously wrong. The dial looks like it might be dirty in the straight on shot but not in some of the others, so it might just be a trick of the light. Hands and pushers are correct. Tachy scale is marginally rotated to the right. The case is a bit tired.

: Considering the condition of the case and the ultra clean glass,
: that must have been replaced?

Probably just polished. The "glass" is actually plexiglass and polishes up simply and remarkably well.

: Is there something wrong with the 12 marker? It actually looks to
: me like it has markers from the 73453 shown from Mark Moss's
: collection here:

:

In fact, it has markers like my 1158, the left of the gold watches in that photo. Earlier 73655s had these markers with the stone at 12, later ones had double markers like mine, with the 12 o'clock marker undifferentiated. Check this photo below of a 73655 T (later S) with its rarer silver dial and you'll see the markers match the eBay watch.

: I really appreciate the help. I'm very keen to pick up a 73655 CHT
: but not sure this is the one for me.

I'd put the watch at around £750, maybe £850 on a generous day and I think that remains the stumbling block as the seller is holding out for more. 5 years ago, I could have turned up a dozen of these in a week but they're hiding more now. Conversely, I probably see more of the steel manuals now than I did back then, for whatever reason. Try a WTB post on Chronotrader, see if that can flush any out of the woodwork.

: -Anthony.