great messages from Phather Phil and Chuck, raise the question: "What got you started on this collecting thing?" For some, the defining moment may be the "first watch" or the first serious / real watch. For others, it might be the "second watch" (after all, isn't that when you really became a "collector" of these things).

I'll want to ponder the transition to chronographs, but I am certain that this Super Autavia, acquired in December 1998, was the first Heuer in my collection (and the one that played a big role in getting me "hooked").

Jeff

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

:

: A Watch Journey Musing

: Posted By: Phather Phil

: Date: 10/31/06 12:50 GMT

: The drone of the engines had just about
: lulled me to sleep. It was a late evening
: flight in 1992 from Orlando to Tulsa. There
: is something a bit mesmerizing about looking
: out a plane's window in the dark. The steady
: blink of the light on the wing bounces off
: the night sky with a hypnotic effect.

: My client, the COO of one of Florida's
: largest hospitals sat in the aisle seat.
: Fortunately no one was between us. My task
: was to serve as his host as we toured an
: integrated services program at Tulsa Medical
: Center. He was an impressive fellow. He was
: competent, classy and careful in all he did.
: I respected and liked him. Ironically,
: I spent a lot of time in airplanes flying
: between doctor's offices and hospitals
: during the middle 1990's myself.
:
: At the time I was working for an Ophthalimic
: equipment firm out of the midwest as the
: primary tech support persona and
: installation specialist for the firm's
: digital imaging product basically a first
: generation Kodak DCS Nikon Camera back and
: associated equipment that would allow
: doctors to take digital images of the retina
: in a quick and timely fashion.

: So I spent a lot of time in the air from
: Southern California to Munich Germany, from
: Brooksville Florida (Spent the week before
: Christmas 1995 down there) to Saginaw
: Michigan installing and maintaining these
: systems.

: Looking over at him out of my drowsiness, I
: noticed he was busy. His reading light was
: aglow. His tray was down. He was doing
: something to a watch.

: I never had paid much attention to watches.
: I inherited my grandfather's pocket watch.
: One of my old bosses wore a Rolex. He let
: everyone know it was a Rolex. I didn't like
: him or his watch. I think my dad must have
: liked watches. He always wore a big Omega.
: After he died my sister found a beat-up
: boy-sized Rolex in his bureau drawer. I
: couldn't imagine him wearing it. It was so
: small. I couldn't picture my dad flashing
: his Rolex-encrusted wrist. Maybe in 1945
: Rolexes didn't flash.

: I leaned over and looked closer. My client
: was changing the strap on his watch. He was
: intent in his work. Noticing that I was
: watching, he told me that he liked to rotate
: the straps on his watches to give them
: different looks. Watches? My immediate
: thought was why would anyone need more than
: one watch? He handed the watch over to me. I
: had never seen anything like it.

: You see, my watch that night was one of the
: billion or so made that year that was
: completely adequate. If functioned as it
: should. It told time as one tells a boring
: story. As I write this, I cannot tell you
: what brand it was. It was an anonymous
: adequate watch. It served a purpose and
: served it well.

: I had never seen a watch like my client's.
: It had little sub dials, little buttons on
: the side and little hands that were all on a
: journey. They smoothly and purposely rotated
: their way to their appointed time. I was
: fascinated. It had a vintage look that
: reminded me of something secure and steady.
: It was big; not quite bold. Its stainless
: steel case was solid without the flash. I
: instantly liked it. It had a little shield
: on the dial with the word "Heuer"
: plainly but prominently painted on it.

: My client told me that he collected Heuer
: watches. I collected old Wheaties boxes and
: Winnie the Pooh stuff. I never knew anyone
: who collected watches. Somewhere over
: Arkansas a new world was opened to me. It
: was a world that would take me on many
: wonderful journeys on which I would meet
: many wonderful people. He told me the
: history of the Heuer Watch Company. He
: talked about chronometers and chronographs.

: Next thing I knew we were landing in Tulsa.
: I gave him his watch back. "Go ahead
: and wear it while we are here." Outside
: of a marriage ceremony words were never
: uttered that so profoundly changed a life. I
: wore the watch all day. He simply reached
: into his briefcase and pulled out another. I
: looked at the watch constantly. Sometimes I
: even used it to tell the time. I was hooked.
: In fact, at the time, my two primary
: watches were my Heuer Pilot's quartz and my
: Omega Speedmaster Mark II Pro. As the Mark
: II was a bit on the beat up side, the
: Pilot's model usually got the nod, at least
: until the crown (from all those time changes
: ) popped off on a 737 heading out of
: Baltimore. I had the crown replaced and on
: the next trip (to Munich) I found a Citizen
: Navihawk (with it's Slide Rule and ability
: to display three time zones simultaniously
: and three alarms) that I bought for my
: "trans-time zone" travel watch. I
: still wore my Heuer Pilot's model when
: traveling within my home Time Zone, but when
: I went further afield I left the Heuer at
: home to preserve it as it was and still is
: one of my favorites.

: Since 1992 I have focused on map dial
: watches, pocket watches, Eternas, RGMs,
: Enicars, Portas, vintage watches and yes,
: even the occasional Rolex. The trip from
: Orlando to Tulsa took me many more places on
: many more planes. There have been trips to
: Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Dallas,
: Lancaster and San Francisco . . . each in
: search of that one (or two or three)
: wonderful watch. There have been hundreds if
: not thousands of daily journeys to watch
: forums. I have written over fifty
: horological homilies. All of it began in a
: star-filled journey to Tulsa.

: Oh yes, you may have guessed it by now. Once
: back home in Sarasota I began looking for a
: watch . . . of course it had to be a Heuer!
: Here is a picture of the first watch I ever
: intentionally bought (photo is by Chuck
: Maddox). It was a wonderful big automatic
: Heuer pilot watch. That watch is long gone.
: It got moisture inside and died a slow rusty
: death. I have often looked for another.
: Sometimes it is good to go back to your
: roots.
:
: It is indeed... The Pilot's model makes for a
: very good travel watch. One can calculate
: sales tax, currency conversions, even
: time-distance-rate equasions easily with
: it's Whiz-Wheel bezel. The stopwatch
: function is useful and it has a date which
: is always handy when you're on the road and
: away from calendars on your wall, etc.

: A month or so ago a good guy on a good forum
: indicated that he had a watch for sale. It
: immediately got my attention. It was, of
: course, a vintage Heuer chronograph . . . a
: timepiece with all those tiny hands that had
: so tickled me that time in Tulsa. Of course
: I couldn't resist. It will be here in a few
: days. The journey that began in 1992 in
: Tulsa has now come roundtrip (photo by Mark
: Holzmann). Ah, a Siffert model, very
: nice! That one has a great look!

: Incidentally, your COO coleague probably
: didn't have a Pilot's model that night as
: the early pattern Pilot's had a
: no-conventional-lug integrated bracelet, and
: the model's which did have lugs which you
: could swap out for a strap came after 1994
: or 1995 if memory serves me correctly. When
: I was on the road back then, at night I'd
: visit the local shopping malls and on one
: trip to the Princeton New Jersey area (same
: week as the Oklahoma City bombing) I priced
: a Black Dial TAG-Heuer Pilot's automatic at
: a Mall in Jersey (I think they were looking
: for about $1,000... I probably should have
: bought it).
:
: Anyway, great story and a great pictup. Thanks
: for sharing!

: -- Chuck

:

:

: Chuck Maddox

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