Actually, I ended up buying this one...

At first it just looked like a possible bargain, a small auction house in Carmel, Indiana. Third page of the catalog with three pages of really low end modern watches. A $2000k estimate. I was just intending to put in a low bid and leave it at that.

But the more I looked at the watch, the more I liked it. Beautiful condition bezel. Case looked pretty untouched. What looks like an authentic and original case back sticker. Incredible matching dial and hand lume, that was a the clincher for me. In the end I got sucked in and went for a very high bid, based on prices that the regular 2446C trade for these days. I do agree with Richard that the 2446C GMTs are somehow more common than the regular 2446Cs, but they are way, way more beautiful. I have always loved the 2446C and still do. I bought a regular 2446C once and just didn't love it, and ended up trading it for a Nivada Chronoking (bad trade I know, but those days no one cared about the 2446C regular model).

The watch does have some weird features though, I admit. The perfectly matched lume dial and hands are clearly first execution, and the near NOS looking case, pushers and bezel are definitely late models (case SN 19xxxx).

I see two possibilities:

A) As Jeff Stein and Paul Gavin are at pains to point out in their definitive guide to the 2446C GMT models (http://thoughts.onthedash.com/thoughts/2446c-and-2446c-gmt/), Heuer were not super disciplined in their use of parts, so sometimes out of sequence dials or cases got used and mixed together, so it is possible that the watch came out the factory looking like this.

B) The owner bought a standard first execution model, messed up the case and bezel, and then sent it to Heuer who replaced the case. This is certainly possible except that I strongly believe that it was unusual for Heuer to provide service parts with case back stickers on them. I've never seen that. I'd be interested in Han's view on that.

I don't believe this is a knowingly put together watch or that the case back sticker is there to obscure a repolished 1st exec case back. The sticker wear just looks too authentic. And why would someone who has the deep Heuer knowledge and access to parts go to so much trouble to put together an amazing Heuer and then bury it deep in an auction in Carmel? We are talking Carmel IN here, not Carmel CA!! (no offence intended John C, just the whole Carmel Mission vintage car thing seemed relevant...).

Anyway, as they say, we all believe what we want to believe. In the end it is irrelevant, I can't wait to get the watch and wear it and enjoy it. That's what matters to me...