Visual Description
The Ref. W51002Q3 is the large Tank Française in stainless steel. Dealers give the case as 28 × 32 mm and about 7.5 mm thick, on an integrated steel bracelet with a hidden butterfly clasp. The silver guilloché dial has black Roman numerals, blue hands and a date window at 6 o'clock, under a sapphire crystal, and the crown is set with a cabochon.
Reference Significance
The W51002Q3 is the large steel automatic of the Tank Française, which dealers list as the men's size. The small model, the Ref. 2384, is quartz, and the large automatic in 18k yellow gold is the Ref. 1840.
The steel automatic that auction houses catalog as Ref. 2302 matches the W51002Q3 in size, metal and movement, and that number has its own page. Until an auction house or established dealer prints both numbers on one watch, Archiva keeps the two pages separate.
Historical Context
Bachmann & Scher dates one W51002Q3 to 1997, and sold examples have come with papers dated from 1998 to July 2012. Papers carry the date of sale, so production may have ended a little before the last papers.
Freeman's, cataloging the steel 2302, says that reference was introduced in 1996.
What to Look For
Measure the case: about 28 × 32 mm. Look for the date window at 6 o'clock and an automatic movement; a watch sold as a W51002Q3 that runs on a battery or has no date is a different Tank Française, such as the small 2384 or the midsize steel quartz. Read the case back: the large steel automatic that auction houses catalog carries the number 2302, with the word AUTOMATIC on the example Freeman's sold. Check the bracelet for stretch and that the hidden butterfly clasp closes cleanly.