Jeff,
As someone who has been looking for a good late execution 2446C for quite a few yesrs I think you are spot on. They really do not come up very often and I have passed on Several Mark Ones in the hope of finding an elusive Mark Two but have yet to do so. I am no expert but suspect you are probably right in that Mark Two with it's cues to the later automatic models may have been a short lived stop gap.

I know both executions have their advocates but after owning the later red accented 7763C the Mark Two 2446c is a watch I would love to try out for a while.

Interesting to see what others think.

Tony