You're quite right -- I'd forgotten that pretty much the entire continent of Europe is on vacation in August. I don't feel that the forum has failed or disappointed me, I just wish there were more facts about this somewhat unusual configuration for an Autavia of this execution. My friend Jim (the watchmaker) had the perfect take on this situation:

"This business of collectors pontificating about what is "right" on old Heuers and other low production watches is just like car collectors trying to figure out the trim details on limited production/coachbuilt European cars from small factories back then. They used what they had on hand ("Hey, don't we have some of those Fiat/VW/Bedford Van turn signals left out back?") or made what they needed. Who cared about people trying to figure it out 40 years in the future?"

Today, we see Tag/Heuer's slick advertising and tend to think of them as some super-efficient industrial monolith, but they really aren't, and they most certainly weren't 40 years ago! I'm as anal retentive as anyone -- I'd like to see a complete catalog description that shows an Autavia with every single detail mine has, but I doubt I ever will. Of course, that's one of the joys of collecting low-production items, like the many Ferrari race car restorers who find remnants of old aluminum Cinzano signs (they were just the right gauge!) making up part of the body of an early 212 Inter or Testarossa. Idiosyncracy is the spice of life.

Sorry if I left you with a bad impression, I'm afraid I over-reacted a bit when someone completely unknown to me stuck a difficult-to-understand (for me, anyway) oar into the water. I'm still not sure what he was trying to say, but c'est la vie...

Peace

Bart Brown

:

Any ideas where I might find another group more willing to share
: info?

: Bart:

: Sorry that we have disappointed you, with the lack of information
: and responses. There are times when this forum is busier, and
: other times when it is quieter. Right now, we are in a but of a
: lull . . . typical for August, when some percentage of the
: population is on vacation, at the beach, etc.

: I found the discussion interesting and informative. I had never
: noticed the many variations of this model, with or without the
: red accents on the dial, inserts in the hands, etc. Still, I
: have been busy with work and family events (end of the vacation
: season / kids heading back to school, etc.) and did not have the
: opportunity to try to put all this together, and solve the
: mysteries (if, in fact, there are mysteries to be solved).

: If you want to try another vintage Heuer forum, that would be the
: VetroPlastica vintage Heuer forum --
: http://www.vetroplastica.it/forum/viewforum.php?f=22 . That
: forum has also been quiet lately, but you can give it a try.
: It's a lively forum, with lots of good discussions . . . though
: primarily in Italian.

: Good luck with this one and thanks for dropping by!!

: Jeff

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