Please help me with this Cartier Tank Francaise watch question

[amandasf]

My grandfather recently passed away, and while we were going through his belongings we found what seems to be a large size (men's) Cartier Tank Francaise watch in a jewlery bag. There was no box or information about where he purchased it, but there was a paper from when he had the watch serviced at a local Cartier store a few years ago.

My grandfather was not a man of means, so I am not sure if this watch is real. On the paper, it says what the retail value of the watch was, what was done to the watch, but it also says "this is not a certificate of authenticity". I called up my local Cartier store and they said that any of the sales associates could look at the watch but if we wanted it authenticated it would have to be sent away and would cost about $200.

The back of the watch says Cartier, Automatic, Swiss Made, 2302 then the serial number.

What are your thoughts? Would Cartier even service a fake watch?

 

[sublover]

Cartier would never service a fake watch, so if they have serviced it a couple of years ago it is almost certain it is an original Cartier watch.

 

[radio_shrink]

Sounds real...as they don't service fakes and those markings sound correct. Perhaps we could help you better if you posted an image?

 

[Seham]

Cartier would never service a fake watch, so if they have serviced it a couple of years ago it is almost certain it is an original Cartier watch.

I second that

 

[perfumegirl01]

Third that. They would most certainly seize a fake watch and not service it. It sound a lot like the service receipt I get from cartier

 

[vhdos]

The markings on the back are the same as the markings on the back of my women's Tank. However, that's not saying much because a replica would obviously copy the markings.
I'm not 100% sure, but I agree with the others in that if the watch was fake, Cariter probably wouldn't have touched it with a 10-foot pole... You could have a real watch on your hands