As you may have already read, my second vintage watch was a Heuer Carrera 3647S (link to that one here). Despite getting married in it and loving the way it wore, I ended up selling it and found myself regretting the lack of a Carrera in my collection not long after. The Carrera was soon added to my nightly searches, but I ultimately went the better part of two years without those beautiful angular lugs on my wrist again. Thankfully, the eBay gods ended that streak eventually.
My favorite type of listing popped up on fleabay one day. You know the one: awful pictures, two sentence description, and a seller that wasn’t sure what they were selling. The seller was an estate agent in the UK who was selling the watch on behalf of the daughter of the original owner, and I quickly reached out to explain my affinity for vintage Heuer. It took a little while to reach an agreement, but after a bit of negotiation, she agreed to sell it to me and I couldn’t have been happier. The watch had been immaculately preserved and was in nearly perfect condition.
The Nitty Gritty
This example follows the rule that guides my entire collection: condition, condition, condition. The dial and hands are in absolutely terrific condition, with only the lume at 3 and 9 shrinking – something that’s extremely common on this dials. The red Tachy track is still vivid, and the case is a great example of what made the 1960’s Carreras some of the purest and most unique designs of their time. A winner all around. The 3647T, while not common by any means, is one of the easier vintage Carreras to find, though the number of well-preserved 3647’s is quite small. There are also two dial variations to keep an eye out for – one like my example above, and another that’s more angular (sometimes called a “pie pan” dial). The general consensus is that my version was the second iteration of the tachymeter Carreras and that the change was spurred by difficulty reading the actual tachy track on the more angular dial in the first execution. Vintage Heuer is synonymous with balance and legibility, so Jack and the gang moved quickly to fix the issue, ultimately printing the tachy track on a flat dial instead.
