As a long time lurker and a relatively new contributor can I wish everybody good fortune for 2010 and thanks for the review of the year and the wonderful resource that it OTD

Thomas

: Click Here , if you prefer to view this as a webpage.

: Comments and reactions will be welcomed.

: Jeff

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: 2009 -- The Year in Review,
: posted December 31, 2009.
:

: The year 2009 was an amazing year in the world of vintage Heuers.
: Our community developed in many new directions; prices for the
: vintage Heuers were relatively strong; and there were important
: events throughout the year. This column will present a few
: highlights of the year, along with some thoughts about what
: might lie ahead for 2010.

:

: Development of Our Community; New Resources for Collectors:
: The community of vintage Heuer collectors developed in some
: amazing ways during the year 2009. We saw the opening of a new
: discussion forum, dedicated to the vintage Heuers, in Italy
: (VetroPlastica), with Gianvittorio Molteni as the driving force
: behind the forum. We had a new blog from David Chalmers in HK
: (Calibre11.com) and a new website from Richard Crosthwaite in
: the UK (heuermonaco.com). All three of these are vibrant sites,
: with excellent new content on a daily basis. Beyond these
: informational resources, we also saw several dealers begin to
: focus on the vintage Heuers. Finally, several members of our
: community have joined Twitter, which has become an amazing tool
: for communicating within our community, especially for
: announcing new information and watch finds.

: All these realms -- the watches, the information, the enthusiasts
: and the communications -- feed on each other, in some powerful
: ways. In one example, we saw a dealer list a rare Heuer for sale
: and post about it on Twitter; from Twitter, information about
: the listing went to one of the forums; a reader spots the
: message and buys the watch, all this within a span of 15 minute;
: next, the new owner tells the story of his purchase on a
: discussion forum, with this posting being the subject of a
: Tweet. Watches, collectors and information, all very well
: connected. Each element fuels the others, and it creates a lot
: of excitement in our community.

: People talk about how the internet has changed vintage watch
: collecting over the past decade; the manner in which our vintage
: Heuer community has developed over the past year is almost as
: dramatic. Somehow, it all came together for our community in
: 2009!!

: New Content in OnTheDash (and a New Look): We added a lot of
: new content to OnTheDash during 2009. The big new pieces were
: (a) a table covering the history of the Carreras, showing
: details of over 100 models, (b) a webpage showing the detailed
: history of the Caliber 11 / 11-I / 12 / 15 movements, (c) a new
: page telling the story of the 18 karat gold automatic Carreras
: (Reference 1158), and (d) an update and expansion of the Monaco
: reference table. Of course, other pages and sections were
: updated over the course of the year, including the page about
: Barack Obama's watches. We also reorganized and updated our main
: pages for the Monacos and the Carreras.

: Beyond the new content included OnTheDash, I am proud that we
: executed a beautiful refresh of the design of the website .
: Our friends at TAG-Heuer (in Switzerland) did the design work,
: and the project was an absolute pleasure. Huge thanks to
: everyone at TAG-Heuer who was involved in this project

: The New Interest in Serial Numbers: If you were to review
: "for sale" listings and discussion forum postings for
: 2008 (or any previous years), you would find very few references
: to serial numbers. The serial numbers were largely ignored or
: even dismissed, as people thought that they were not meaningful
: to collectors. Suddenly, in 2009, serial numbers have become
: very much a part of our vocabulary . At least three of us have
: started tracking the serial numbers, they are meaningful in many
: situations; and, of course, we have only begun to scratch the
: surface. Building and maintaining a good database of serial
: numbers is a huge undertaking; I'm not sure where this project
: goes in 2010, but we have at least shown the value of these
: little numbers, marked between the lugs or on the chrono bridge.

: The Market for Vintage Heuers: In a period in which most
: categories of assets (real estate, stocks, etc.) suffered
: significant losses in value, the vintage Heuers fared remarkably
: well. (While some may suggest that my view is distorted by the
: weak US Dollar, let me assure you that I can do the math and
: that I remember the prices, from a couple of years ago, when the
: Euro was at $1.55.) Yes, some of the "biggies" (Monaco
: 1133B) may have given up some of their previous gains (at least
: for the average pieces), but we saw numerous models reach
: entirely new levels, with strong consistency.

: And speaking of the "market", does anyone here remember
: this thing called "eBay"? We used to stay up all
: night, searching for the BuyItNow bargains, sometimes even
: finding the $9.95 Autavia GMT (manual-wind) or the $1,500 Monaco
: (1133B). I can't think of a year in which we have seen fewer
: vintage Heuers moving on eBay. PayPal seems to have scared off
: the sellers, and the sellers seem to have scared off the buyers.
: Suddenly, the reputable dealer sites and ChronoTrader seem like
: the better "market".

: But we all know that the fanciest markets of all are the high-end
: auction houses, Antiquorum, Bonhams and Patrizzi, for example.
: In 2009, we saw Patrizzi stage the first "Heuer Only"
: auction in the 21st century, with very good results for the
: Heuers. Strong prices, for some relatively weak watches . . .
: encouraging for future auctions, that may have more of the good
: stuff.

: My Own Collection: Looking back over the year 2009, I bought
: fewer watches than in some previous years, but I have reached
: the point of trying to "fill in" my collection with
: some of the "missing" ones, rather than just adding
: models and executions. In terms of my own collection, highlights
: of 2009 as follows:

:

: Best Acquisitions: Best acquisitions during 2009 included a
: fantastic old Seafarer (early execution), my first Carrera Dato
: 45 (black dial), the 18 karat gold automatic Carrera (Ref 1158
: CHN), and the super rare, never-before-seen-in-the-metal
: "Memphis". [How ironic that my two
: never-before-seen-in-the-metal acquisitions were a Memphis (at
: $250) and the Carrera 1158 CHN, at some multiple of this
: amount!]

: The Ones that Got Away: I missed out on a Black PVD Monaco,
: under suspicious circumstances related to the seller, but the
: good news is that this one ended up in friendly hands
: [congratulations to Abel], and has been beautifully restored. I
: don't recall any case of "bidder's remorse" in 2009
: (i.e., a situation in which I was mad at myself, after an
: auction ended, for not bidding more on a watch). We all watched
: as a seller busted a deal on a Chronomatic Siffert, to sell at a
: huge multiple of his original listed price, but this is probably
: not the last time that we will see someone value money (or a
: watch) more than their honor.

: The Dearly Departed: Well, it's December 31, 2009, and I know
: that I sold or traded away several watches over the course of
: the year. But right now, I can't recall any that I regret
: selling, so this may be another measure of a good year for a
: collector.

: Monaco 1133B -- Will the Third Time be the Charm?: For the third
: time in my collecting life, I have bought a 1133B Monaco,
: "just like Steve McQueen wore", and for the third time
: in my life, it is getting very little wrist time. You see, the
: 1133B "transitional" is my preferred blue Monaco. So
: for the third time in my collecting life, I am wondering whether
: a vintage Heuer collector really "must" own one of
: these; I am also wondering whether, if I sell it or trade it
: away, a fourth one will come into my life . . . or will this be
: the end of the line for me and Steve?

: Some Themes and Trends: Early in 2009, I was working on the
: registry of the pre-Carrera (no-name) chronographs, and bought
: several beautiful chronos from the 1940's . . . these really do
: seem like bargains. Later in the year, I seemed to be chasing
: the Carreras, primarily the manual-wind models from the 1960's.
: I will admit that I have slowly moved away from the Caliber 12
: chronographs, other than the big three (Autavia-Carrera-Monaco),
: so that the only other Caliber 12 chronograph currently in my
: collection is a black Cortina . . . that's right, no Daytonas,
: Montreals, Monzas, etc. At the moment, I am liking the purity of
: the manual-wind Carreras; the earlier 1970's Autavias (before
: they got top-heavy); just about any of the Monacos; and yes, I
: am still enjoying the pre-Carreras (and wondering how they can
: be such bargains relatives to the ones with the model names on
: the dials).

:

: Some Priorities (Resolutions) for 2010: One of the fun things
: about this hobby is that on a given day, or in a given month,
: there's no way to predict the interesting things that may come
: along. One day, I'm planning to update the Carrera section, and
: then I hear that Patrizzi will be doing a "Heuer Only"
: auction. I spend three weeks covering this auction, and then we
: get back to the Carrera section. I click on an old bookmark, and
: there's the rarest of the rare: a Carrera 1158 CHN on the
: original bracelet. Over the next few weeks, I have a new watch
: and OnTheDash has a new webpage and 50 new photos. This makes it
: fun; it also makes it difficult to plot a course for 2010, or
: even to complete several projects that are underway. With that
: warning, here are some priorities for 2010

:

: Updating the Price Guide: OK, no more excuses. First, I was
: waiting for the Euro-USD exchange rate to stabilize; then, I was
: waiting to see the results of the Patrizzi "Heuer
: Only" auction; now, there are no more excuses. This is one
: of our most popular, useful pages . . . it is over two years old
: . . . updating it will the the top priority of 2010.

: State of the Collection Page: Over the years, I have done two or
: three of these pages, but I never had the time to do one at
: year-end 2008. I am determined to do one for year-end 2009,
: showing approximately 82 of the watches that matter most to me
: [that's right, eighty two]. Stay tuned for further details.

: Camaro Reference Table: It took us five or six years to put pen
: to paper (or HTML to server) on the Carrera table; surely we can
: get the Camaro table done . . . right? I mean, there weren't
: that many of them and we have a good draft of the table.

: Divers Table: The natives are restless for a table of Heuer's
: dive watches; of course, after the table, we will need to add
: galleries and photos.

: Split Lap Unit 77: I found the designer, interviewed him (by
: e-mail), received amazing original materials, gathered the
: information and started writing this page . . . all this, in
: early 2009; completing this very interesting page will be a
: priority in 2009.

: Following the Auctions: It was fun following the Patrizzi
: "Heuer Only" auction, and setting up a new area of
: OnTheDash to follow the action. In 2010, we are likely to see at
: least one, and possibly two, major auctions featuring the
: vintage Heuers.

:

:

: Thanks: I won't even try to thank everyone by name, but if you
: have supplied photos (or watches or information about watches),
: searched through catalogs, tried to break the code on the serial
: numbers, sold a watch at a friendly price, found a watch for the
: community, organized an event, supplied parts to another
: collector, or Tweeted or posted messages about any of this, then
: you have contributed to the amazing fabric of this vintage Heuer
: community and we offer our sincere thanks.

: Looking Forward to 2010: As I [finally] arrive at the end of
: this "too-big-to-fail" report, it's difficult to make
: any precise predictions for 2009. Movements in the world economy
: and the value of vintage Heuers remain difficult to predict.
: What I can predict is that many of the forces that have
: contributed to our community in 2009 -- informational resources,
: communications channels, support from TAG-Heuer, passionate
: collectors, committed dealers, interest from the major auction
: houses, and special events -- will continue to gain momentum,
: and will be joined by many new contributors. I am optimistic
: that 2010 will be another wonderful year for the vintage Heuers.

:

: So here's wishing everyone a fantastic 2010.

: Jeff Stein, December 31, 2009

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: Six of the New Additions from 2009

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