It’s late Sunday evening, but I’ve got to support my declared Scan Theme, right? I’ll keep it relatively brief, but let me describe a few highlights from the summer of 2011:

• favorite watch added to the collection . . . In May, I was visiting Washington, DC, and found a wonderful Skipper, Reference 15640, in a local shop. This was my first automatic Skipper, and wearing this big Skipper left me wanting to try another 11630 Autavia. I had owned them previously, but sworn them off as being too tall / too thick. By the end of the summer, I had located a nice Autavia 11630V, and this has been my favorite acquisition of the Summer of 2011.
• favorite dashboard timepiece . . . I will admit that sometimes my appreciation for the dashboard timers comes and goes. I can go for a long time without chasing one of these, and I have been a net seller over the past couple of years, with the proceeds usually flowing into the chronograph collection. A couple of weeks ago, I found a Rally Master pair that rekindled the passion for the dashboard timers. We see a lot of the “pairs” that have been put together, by matching a Master Time and a Monte Carlo. The Rally Master pair that I found was a “factory pair”, and was in its original yellow box.
• best contribution to our community . . . Let me give this “award” to Rich, for his fantastic book covering the vintage Monacos. I will soon be writing a proper review of the book, but let me just say that this sort of research, writing and photography represents the very best type of contribution that our members can make to our community. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this volume.
• best use of old boots . . . This special award goes to David DeVos, who has made an art of using old boots to produce wonderful straps for our vintage Heuers (and other fine chronographs). Whether we are publishing books, or recycling boots, the contributions from members of our community are absolutely amazing.
• favorite “visitor” . . . black Chronomatic Autavia, shown below (on the right) with its slightly older brother
• favorite “toy” . . . Nikon Speedlight SB-900, shown below (on the left) with its slightly older brother

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: It's Friday, so let's see some "Best of the Summer"
: postings, as described here --

:
: http://chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=47026

: Think back through your summer and share some photos showing:

: •your favorite watch acquisition over the Summer
: •a favorite new strap or bracelet
: •some new watch accessory that you enjoy -- winder, box, tool
: kit, etc.
: •a favorite vacation photo
: •the best book that you read over the Summer
: •a memorable get-together with other collectors
: •a favorite family event

: Looking forward to some interesting postings.

: Jeff