I completely and utterly agree Rich. I have watches with it in steel, 18k gold and gold plate and with automatic, manual and quartz movements. How versatile is that?!

Here's a post I wrote in "defence" of it a while back, that ended up being something of a eulogy!:

One man's poison... :)

I really like this case. The original Carrera case is beautifully simple, the results of decades of evolution, but maybe not ideal for an automatic movement - note the changes required to the case between the Lemania re-edition and the ETA automatic when TH relaunched the Carrera. I think in part there was also a desire to break from that evolutionary tradition for the first automatics, so we got an all new case for the Chronomatic.

For me, the case has become something of a classic in its own right - it was relatively long-lived from the '69 Chronomatics to the Carrera twins of the early 80s and outlasted the mid-70s Carrera case with the covered lugs. Unlike the latter, it's not so much a thing of its time - although that gives the chunky covered lug version a 70s retro appeal of its own!

It housed Calibres 11, 12 and 15 and 2 ESA quartz movements. It looked good with a strap or a GF bracelet. It worked well in steel, gold, PVD and (for those who like that sort of thing) even in chrome!

The defence for the Carrera Chronomatic case rests its case :)

This is one of the things that is so fascinating about collecting watches, there really is something to appeal to everyone.