Starting my Heuer collection with a Carrera 1553s

charleswonjun
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Hey guys,

I’ve just received my first Heuer watch. It’s no NOS but I’m pretty excited about how honest the condition is. It’s a Carrera 1553s with a 25 serial number.

I do have a couple of questions for the forum. It’s to do with the crown.

1. Like what was advised on several posts in this forum, I’m winding the watch normally while I have the watch upside down. But it feels terribly stiff to wind. Does this imply I need to get the watch serviced before wearing it for extended periods of time? The watch keeps time and loses around 20-40 secs a day.

2. As you can see in the photo, the crown is a little crooked. I’ve had some new watches including my Oris Divers 65 that have a slightly crooked crown stem, but I wanted to check whether this characteristic is mechanically okay to have on a 50 year old watch.

Cheers,
Charlie
 
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imagwai
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Hi Charlie,

Looks like a nice watch in good condition, congrats. I suspect the crown isn't original. That may explain why it feels stiff or looks bent, but if you feel the stiffness is coming from the movement, might be best to get it serviced, especially if you're not sure of the service history. Crowns are replacement items at service anyway, so you could ask them to fit a new one of the correct type while they're at it.
 
charleswonjun
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imagwai imagwai
Hi Charlie,

Looks like a nice watch in good condition, congrats. I suspect the crown isn't original. That may explain why it feels stiff or looks bent, but if you feel the stiffness is coming from the movement, might be best to get it serviced, especially if you're not sure of the service history. Crowns are replacement items at service anyway, so you could ask them to fit a new one of the correct type while they're at it.

Thanks, @imagwai. I don’t know whether the crown is original to the watch, but it does have a correctly signed crown. Are crowns normally assumed to be not original for 70s Heuers?
 
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abrod520
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I think it's the proper crown but the stiff winding along with losing 20-40 sec/day suggests it's probably a good idea to get it serviced. Especially if the seller didn't have a service history available
 
imagwai
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OK, looking at the crown straight on, it could be correct I guess. Just looked a little thin to me from the side profile. But it is likely the winding stem is bent, and if it's stiff to wind, then something is clearly under strain somewhere and I would predict an issue requiring service sooner rather than later.
 
SteveP
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imagwai imagwai
OK, looking at the crown straight on, it could be correct I guess. Just looked a little thin to me from the side profile. But it is likely the winding stem is bent, and if it's stiff to wind, then something is clearly under strain somewhere and I would predict an issue requiring service sooner rather than later.
Agree with the above. I have a bent stem on my 1153 but as it's not causing any direct issues (other being tough to wind at a certain point) we agreed to leave as is. Great starting Heuer! 👍

Steve
 
imagwai
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charleswonjun charleswonjun
@SteveP @imagwai @abroad520 This may be a difficult question to answer without a video but what should winding feel like?
Yes, a bit tricky. But in my experience, vintage watches do not have the same buttery smooth winding as their modern equivalents. But equally, it should not be graunchy or too noisy. A warning sign would be whether it's getting harder and harder and wind over time. If it's fairly consistent and the watch is working, then I'd worry less.
 
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