Cartier Tank 440876: what to check on a used piece

Cartier Tank 440876 is the reference in this note. Read the dial as a printed part, not as a logo. Indices should share one height and one alignment. A marker that leans, or a print edge that feathers, is damage or a later dial. The minute track should meet itself at 12 without a step. Hands should match each other in finish. A seconds hand in a different color from the other two can be a design, so check it against the reference you wrote down rather than against taste. Lume plots, when they exist, should sit inside their markers. A plot that has crumbled is age. A plot that is a different color from its neighbors may be a later repair. Turn the crown one full turn out and back. It should thread smoothly. Grit in the crown tube is a service issue you can feel. None of this is a grade and none of it is a promise about a movement workshop. It is a list you can repeat on the next watch of the same reference.

How it differs

Cartier Tank 440876 is a dress case. The checks are the date window if it has one, the thinness of the lugs, and the strap or bracelet that was fitted later. A leather strap is a wearable part, not the watch. Look at the lug gap and the keeper. People change straps, hands, and crystals on dress watches. The case engraving is still the reference.

What to check on a used piece

What to check on a used Cartier Tank 440876 starts with the engraving. The reference to read is 440876. Then check end-link play, clasp fold, and whether the hands pass each other. There is no price in this note.

Common mods

Common changes are a new strap, a replaced crown, and a crystal. The date disk, when there is one, should match the dial in color and in height. A disk that sits high or low is a note for a watchmaker, and it is still the same reference.

What people change

On the Cartier Tank 440876, people change the bracelet, the case, or the movement.