Hmmm, "NOS" A3817 offered for sale? Does case look polished to you?

http://chronocentric.com/forums/chronotrader/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=45238

 

He probably hit the shiny parts with some Mother's Mag, but those two marks on the (brushed) left side of the case suggest he DIDN'T polish with a power tool, or those would have been brushed out.

 

The horizontal edges (lines) seem a bit uneven?

 

Great looking watch, just don't call it NOS.

 

Redone case, and not well.

Nice dial.

Crazy asking price.

 

I'm sure the forum abounds in similar pictures, but just as a point of reference in the thread ... I think this is an example (other watch of course) of what a(n) (darn-close-to since I-wasn't-there-since-the-day-it-was-sold) unpolished case might look like.

-Ez

 

I did a little bit of research on Zenith A3817

I focused on the case edge finish on Zenith A3817, should it be ruler straight or not...

Modern Zenith with similar tonneau shaped case indeed has ruler straight edges (done by high precision modern tools),
but in the late 60s and early 70s, these edges done manually by human hands with simpler tools (not as precise as current modern tools)

I then exchanged email sending pictures of curvy wavy edges finish on above Zenith A3817 with a famous and well respected watchmaker in Europe which is expert in Heuer, Zenith and other vintage brands.

If he said/write something about vintage Heuer and Zenith, I (and I believe many other collectors) will consider his opinion as true as it gets.

To share this knowledge with our community to help others on hunt of a Zenith A3817 and similar case (A384/A385/A3818), below is the summarized modified (to make it shorter) quote from the expert watchmaker:

Hope this small research helps with confusion about case edge finish on Zenith A3817 (A384/A385/A3818), should it be ruler straight or not...

 

Hi Lou

Indeed, it seems like that....although it's originally not straight, market wants ruler straight

What is your opinion, keep it original curvy and wavy

Or get expert service to make it straight?

 

Got it

Thanks for the information!

 

Love that movie...Called 'trouble with the curve'

 

Indeed John,
I think for me, I will keep the curves untouched, just like how it got out of the factory in 1971

 

My case in ori shape

 

Very nice, as can be seen, not ruler straight, but originally born that way