Wow looks prefect, impressive work

: Hi all,

: I wrote this post to gratefully thank Abel (and other kind
: collectors, see at the end) for the wonderful job he did on this
: goldplated Carrera and to demonstrate that also goldplated
: watches can be perfectly restored (some people told me the
: opposite).

: In January 2013 I found it on Ebay in an ended auction, probably no
: one wanted it as happened to the ugly duck.
: I know very well that the barrel case Carreras are probably the
: less collectible references of the Heuer brand, and the
: goldplated one even less than the SS ones, but its astonishing
: dial simply caught me and moreover I like those ’70 cases with
: covered lugs…

: I contacted the owner and received some images: the dial and the
: main hands were simply perfect (the previous owner told me that
: dial and hands had been replaced with NOS ones, I don’t know
: if it’s true but are really mint, probably the hour markers
: have been relumed because they still glove in the dark), the
: movement was serviced and seemed very clean, the glass was
: scratch-free, pushers and crown were good plated, the only
: problem was the case condition (some dings and a bad oxidation
: of the case near the pushers and the crown, probably this issue
: discouraged the potential owners to buy it…).
: Here the images as I found it:

:

:

:

:

: So before buying it (and risk to have a non-usable watch) I sent
: two emails, the first to the Belgian Master (he had scheduled
: for me a full service on another watch so I was waiting to do a
: shipping towards Belgium) and the second one to Mark Moss (that
: I remember he had a spare case like mine).

: Abel told me that wasn’t a problem to restore it, relapping the
: case (and removing the dings with the laser) and replating it
: was a normal job for him.
: On the other side Mark Moss had been very very kindle because he
: offered me its case at a very cheap price and he also offered
: himself to help me finding a mint one, but at the end I gave up
: the idea to buy another case in similar conditions and decided
: to restore mine.

: Happy of Abel’s answer, I contacted again the owner and, after
: having negotiated a bit on the price, at the end I bought it
: (basically sold at a price just a bit higher than the sole
: movement) and some weeks after I removed the movement and sent
: the naked case (with glass, inner ring and back) to Abel
: together with the other watch.
: Here below some images of the watch just arrived and dressed with a
: handmade strap made by Giuliano:

:

:

: After some time I received it back and the result really surprised
: me: the case had been fully relapped, the big ding at 4
: o’clock around the glass disappeared and the 20 micron
: goldplating re-applied (saving the serial numbers and the “18K
: GOLD ELECTROPLATED EPSA” writing too). I think that when the
: Carrera exit from Heuer’s factory around 1974 was exactly like
: now :-) (images of property of Abel):

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: While I was looking at these images to upload them I was thinking
: that it’s a fortune to have people like Abel that can come
: back to life old watches otherwise destined to the drawer…

: And this is the watch now, dressed with a black 18mm simil-Corfam
: Abel’s strap (that fits perfectly the black sub-counters) and
: a NOS goldplated sun buckle:

:

:

:

: Since the watch returned from Abel I just wore twice, let’s say
: that goldplated watches aren’t everyday watches (usually I
: wear sporty at job and prefer bigger Heuer’s cases or modern
: TH for everyday job), but I’m happy to have restored it
: because IMHO it’s an uncommon watch - even if not sought after
: - and a real beauty…all at the lowest price you can spend for
: a genuine ’70 Cal.12 Heuer…

: I don’t think I will buy soon other goldplated watches (my
: “wishing list” has other references) but, in case of a
: bargain will occur, I know that I can trust on the Belgian
: Master for a perfect restoring ;-)
: Thanks Abel, and sorry again if I literally bored you with all my
: requests and questions…

: Before thanking you all to have read this story I want also thank
: other people who helped me in this trip:

: - The previous owner (Ciao), that accepted to give me the watch
: with a big discount after I told him I wanted to restore it;
: - Juerg from Artomatique for having offered me his NOS goldplated
: sun buckle at a really honest price (not many goldplated sun
: buckles out there);
: - Mark Moss for his precious help and his kind friendship (we never
: met and was the 1st time I wrote him, but he treated me like an
: old collector friend, in the full spirit of this forum);
: - My friend Giuliano for his beautiful brown strap (it’s always a
: pleasure).

: I hope not to have bored you.

: Ciao.

: Gianluca