I like so many Carreras, and I like them so much, that it's almost impossible for me to pick my favourites. Even if I did, the list would probably change from day to day anyway.

But as I was responding to Tino's post with his early Autavias, it occurred to me that for those models where I don't have such an emotional investment, I probably could come up with a top "x". Rich already posed the question with Monacos and I came up with my top 3 there and now I think it's the turn of the Autavias.

My taste in Autavias is possibly a little eclectic and you won't see some of the watches commonly considered classic in there - no GMTs, no Viceroys - but just reflects those watches it gives me most pleasure to look at. I don't own any Autavias so won't be offended if you want to mock my list all you like :)

So, without any further ado, here is the list of my favourite Autavias, in no particular order:

* 2446

I'm going to be fussy here. It has to be an early model with the large registers and dauphine hands. Call it nostalgia (and false nostalgia at that, these watches were out 7 years before I was born!), but there is something classic about these watches in the Heuer "series" era that appeals to me. And these all look like they have some good stories to tell.

* 1163 T

Deservedly classic, and probably the Autavia that appeals to me most of all (yes, yes, I know I said I wasn't going to put them in order just a few sentences ago :) ). The balance of white with blue highlights is perfectly and delicately judged and much less common than the black/red juxtaposition. And all this without the Siffert connection, which seals the deal - this one always had its place in my top 5.

* Late PVDs

All of 'em. Yes, now I'm not being fussy - I can't pick a favourite from amongst these so I have to take the Pokémon approach (Gotta catch 'em all...). And, yes, the gold-plated one isn't PVD at all, but I like that one as well, so I'm lumping it in with the others - Heuer does the same with the reference numbers, so so will I :) I like PVDd watches generally and these are good examples, with the pewter finish especially being quite unusual. I also like the dial finish - I would have been quite happy to see these having been 1153s instead, which would definitely have found their way into my collection. All of 'em.

* Diver 100

I ummed and ahhed over this one a bit. The watch is pretty close to the PVDs above, shouldn't I choose something a bit more different as I'm only choosing 5 in total? But then I mulled it over and decided that; the markers and handset do contrive to make the watch look different from the PVDs; I like the watch's honesty of purpose (not that I would wear it for diving but if I was wearing one, the watch would be honest even if I wasn't!); and I really like this configuration of Autavia. So it makes it in, probably at the expense of a GMT of one persuasion or another.

* 73663 Bund

So that left the last choice. Should I include a Viceroy after all? Or maybe a GMT, I'd thought about those on a couple of occasions already. I even thought about including the mystery Autavias (the Cal 12 mysteries, not the Cal 15 ones) but that might just have been to court controversy. And then it hit me. These. I really like this watch. I can't really put my finger on why, but it's something about that handset and the arabic numerals. It just looks different to most Autavias and that's different in a good way.

So that's it. The favourite Autavia list of a non-Autavia expert. What do you think? :)