Hi Mark,

i'm very impressed by your answer, that's great stuff thanks a lot taking time answering me.

As I said I tried to read as much as possible before submitting you this watch but as always it's in the details you find the difference.

I'll ask for the serial number but at the very end I 'm afraid the price the seller (professional) is asking for it is a big show stopper. They're asking 3250€ and I must say it is very far from the various estimations I had through Chronocentric. More generally, watch dealers in France & Benelux are very expensive compared to other professionals in UK, US and Germany.

I think I'll wait for a nice opportunity here on Chronotrader and trust our community.

Cheers

Julien

: Hi Julien.

: Nice early charcoal dial, the only real black marks I can see on it
: are... well, the lack of black marks on the hands. They should
: have a black stripe below the lume to the base of the hands, as
: on this 1153:

:
:

: The stripe is only painted on though and can be fragile - the hands
: on the watch have been handled for reluming and the stripes may
: have been lost then, but they do look the right shape and
: length. Handset and dial are early, tachy scale is of the later
: type - not impossible, but if you have the first three digits of
: the serial number, that will help.

: At the start of the year, I found manual second gen Carreras to be
: underperforming a little price-wise - a number went for below
: 1000 €, which I would consider to be below the natural range
: for these. Giving a wide range, I'd usually see these between
: 1250 € and 1750 € for good to very good examples; only the
: best watches will really make more than that in general sales,
: but you may find dealers asking more.

: They're a good entry point into vintage Carreras though, parts
: availability and servicing knowledge for the Valjoux 773x family
: is fine and they're a handsome watch. Much the same look as the
: 1153 automatics but for less cost.

: I'm fond of my 73453:

:
:

: though it's between straps at the moment!