I was on the hunt for a Polerouter for quite some time now and the market situation left me a bit discouraged to be honest.
Many pieces with repainted dials, overpolished cases or just Frankenwatches with various legit parts cobbled together that were never meant to be in one watch. The sheer unbelieveably vast number of references (1000+) makes it absolute nightmare fuel asessing a potential watch before buying it. Ultra expert level IMHO, Vintage Rolex or Omega is a super easy subject compared to Polerouters as far as I can tell.
But recently I stumbled across an "honest watch" as I would describe it. Super filthy and dirty with scratched crystal and missing/incorrect endlinks on the bracelet but priced accordingly. On the upside, it seems to be all-original except the endlink and it is running, but there is an issue with the crown tube I guess. I will have it serviced someday soon and mount it on a nice leather strap until I can find fitting endlinks.
One generic endlink and another one missing...
Original HC (Henry & Cie.) bracelet
Unpolished case as far as I can tell
U-signed crystal - hard to capture under all these scratches
Flawless all original dial under the scratched crystal
Overall a diamond-in-the-rough project watch
Sharp bevels and original crown
Engravings in the back still visible
So what am I going to do with it? I'll have the movement serviced, crown tube and gaskets replaced and crystal polished but otherwise I will leave it as it is, I am quite certain it will turn out beautifully.
If someone has fitting endlinks for this case/bracelet combination and is willing to sell them to me I would be delighted. I would also be grateful for some links or contacts to source these endlinks from.
Best Regards, Clemens