If the community opinion wasn’t enough... I did bring this piece to a Cartier boutique. They also confirmed it was an authentic piece. Without a doubt it was in rough shape. Badly peeling dial, overwound movement with a broken mainspring, etc. all the things you would expect why buying something like this for a few bucks.
Since it was in such bad shape, I opted to have them restore the watch - something I’ve never done with a vintage watch for obvious reasons, but I thought there wasn’t much to lose in this case.
What an amazing transformation. I was floored. They replaced the dial with a enamel dial and added blued steel hands. The movement was overhauled and it feels like a brand new piece.
Here it is:
View attachment 911288
Oh, and now the dial says “Paris”
Click to expand...