: Craig from Chronodeco http://www.chronodeco.com/ is based in the
: US. & comes with a long list of recommendations from forum
: members (including myself). He has a passion for the older
: Heuer's and has worked on many Valjoux.72 powered watches
: before. He will also listen to your wishes, should you want just
: a pure service or some restoration Craig can deliver exactly as
: you request.
: We'd love some before & after photo's for this watch. Also
: there are very few contributors to the forum that are original
: owners that purchased from new. Can you share how that came
: about,
: Why you chose a Heuer ?
: What it cost from new ?
: Were you offered the options between metal bracelet & leather
: strap ?

: Cheers - Darren

Darren: Thanks for the link. I will contact him. My stepfather bought the watch in Switzerland sometime in the mid-1960s and wore it on his wrist through Customs. I had asked him for that specific one because I was an auto rally competitor and needed an accurate timepiece and I am also a pilot and wanted a watch that showed Greenwich Mean Time at a glance. Since it was a gift, I didn't ask how much it cost. It came with a leather strap that is long since gone. I used it in many rallies in Canada through to about 1974, together with a Type 1 Curta calculator and a copy of Larry Reid's Rally Tables (both of which I also still have). The large Heuer stopwatches that you could mount to a clipboard were very popular with the rally crowd. By the way, my stepfather bought himself one of the first Wittnauer electonic wristwatches at the same time, which I still have but which has been deemed unrepairable because of the unavailability of the contact points.

I wore the Autavia as my regular watch for a number of years, having it serviced from time to time. It was really difficult to find a good watchmaker, and I kept having problems with the zeroing of the stopwatch hands, even when it was repaired by the Heuer service center. Finally, I figured out how to do it myself, although it is a very fussy job. At one point, I think someone put the hands with the red accents on it, probably because the original ones showed cracked luminescent paint. He also dug up a new bezel, but didn't install it properly and it fell off and got lost. Fortunately, he had returned the old one with the watch. The red numbers on the old one are somewhat faded, and I would be delighted it I could find a better one. The metal bracelet was a later addition, I believe supplied by a Heuer service center. It is not the "grains of rice" model I see on the other examples on the board, but rather has a three-wide set of links in the center.

Eventually with the advent of digital watches, the Heuer got put away in a drawer, except for special occasions. About four years ago, I was about to wear it, but the stem pulled out while I was trying to set it. I thought about getting it fixed, and then set it aside again. Now, I'd at least like to get it working again, and I'll ask Craig for advice about restoration.

I'll try to post a better picture. The web service I'm using allows me to send only thumbnails.

Egon