End of year posting - Heuer events and new watches

As a reaction to a conversation between Jeff and John Cote a few days ago, I feel the inspiration to do as we did in the good old days – make year-end postings. The idea was of cause to give an account for what happened in our Heuer lives – events – GTG – what left the collection – and what’s new in the collection.

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GTG in Berlin

The first event this year was a GTG in Berlin arranged by Henrik (IG heuerchrono) and Gerald (IG heuer4me). Henrik invited people from around Europe and Gerald took care of some really cool and interesting sightseeing including amazing cars at Meilenwerk (http://remise.de/Classic-Remise-Berlin.php), the memorial site of the Wannsee Conference, the castle Charlottenburg and natürlicherweise auch bier und wurst. Jan (IG pedersen2424) and I represented Scandinavia. It was great fun and there was soooo many fantastic watches, not only Heuers, and great fellow collectors.
Big applause to our German friends.

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Klarlund Expo 2019 – biggest watch event in Denmark

Klarlund have a yearly watch weekend in the beautiful old stock exchange I Copenhagen and again this year they asked if I would curate a Heuer showcase. Instead of showing all the most valuable and rarest Heuer’s, as Darren (IG go_chrono_go) and I did last year, this year I focused on the more unknown Heuer’s. Military issued Heuer’s. The divers that saved Heuer in the late 70’is. The digital watches that was a result of Jack Heuer being an electronic engineer. The flamboyant Silverstones and gold-plated watches.
Besides watches from me and Jan, Lars (IG flybacks_and_more) came with a good looking Bund 1550 SG. With help from Søren (IG sorst77) we managed to man the stand all weekend.
I will be ready again next year!

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New watches in 2019

Autavia 2446C – the watch that won’t sell
This piece that came together early this year is made of parts from many sources and with the help of a lot of good people - but all parts are original Heuer and could have left the factory together. It’s a really pretty watch where the patina on the different parts are in perfect balance. It was a fun project but I have 2 of these in my collection, so this one has been for sale for a very low € 5500 – but without selling.

Autavia 11630 Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Argentinian Air Force)
This came from Patrik (IG pr.1973) in Sweden, with whom I have dealt quite a lot over the years. As so many Heuer’s are getting oh so pretty, this one you can use mountaineering, mending your car or digging the garden. Did it take part in the Falklands War in the beginning of 1982?

Autavia 741.603 KAF (Kenya Air Force) – Ticks 3 boxes
This Miltavia came from Gianluca (IG raticosa) and has 3 features that makes it a real nice Heuer:
Arabic numerals just look so good
Valjoux 7741 is one of the rarest Autavia movement
Military connection is plain cool

Heuer 351 - A whole new Heuer world
Jarl (IG classicheuers_jarl) has for a long time inspired me with his wonderful old (pre 1962) Heuer’s. Visit his blog http://classicheuers.blogspot.com/. He knew I was looking and pointed me in the direction of this eBay listing with the traditional bad pictures and thin description. When the 1935 Valjoux GH powered Heuer ref. 351 arrived from Liverpool I was so pleased. It’s in prefect condition and after a service runs like new. 41 mm diameter without crown makes it a frequent guest on my wrist.
A keeper and probably not my last early Heuer wristwatch – thanks Jarl;-))

Carrera 110.515 CHN – Bling Bling returning from 3 years spa in Belgium
Abel, being the worlds leading Heuer watchmaker, is a busy man and this project wasn’t in any hurry. Case refurbished and plated with fresh gold made this bling Carrera come to live. I am not man enough to wear it, so it’s looking for a new home;-)

Autavia 1563 – Another could not resist!
Paint missing on the dial and a glass case back instead of the original sounds like something you don’t want. But this newly Abel serviced champagne dial Autavia is just such a nice watch to wear.

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This was my 2019 Heuer year. Hope you enjoyed reading and that it might have inspired you to tell us about your Heuer year.

Peter. Denmark