Here are my entries for the Best of Summer, not that we've had much summer here in the UK!

I was married in mid-May at the Brooklands race track just outside London. Two things happened, my Austin Healey - which I've spent 17 years and a LOT of money restoring - was finally finished and I collected it the morning of the wedding (i'd done 1000 miles in it since September last year but it needed a gearbox rebuild and a few other repairs). I'd been promised a watch as a wedding present by my wife to be so had bought a Montreal earlier in the year from Thomas, then sent it to James to be dismantled and he then sent it on to Abel for case restoration. The watch came back with a month to spare, it was tough not wearing it! I bought a couple of NSA bracelets from Bill, one completed the watch perfectly. I wore it properly for the first time on the day of the wedding. Here is the Montreal on the morning of the wedding, and the car near Goodwood not long after (with blacked out registration plate, not - as someone on another forum suggested - a big hole in the front of the car!):

I still haven't had any money from the wife for the watch and driving back home the day after the wedding she told me that now the car was finished I could sell it so we could have a new kitchen extension built. It was made clear in no uncertain terms that the car was not going anywhere, ever!

A few weeks later at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed a friend of mine was interviewing Jack Heuer for a British car magazine so he borrowed the Montreal and my 11630 GMT (also worked on by Abel, bought from Stewart earlier in the year) to use as props and to have something vintage to talk about in the interview, Jack was very impressed with the restoration work. Later on in the day I met up with them both and had a good chat with Jack. Here are some pictures of him with the watches and with me (photos copyright Thomas Butler)

Aside from the Montreal, I have two favourite Heuer purchases of the summer. Firstly a 2446c I picked up on eBay which came with its correct and original bracelet. Rich Askham did the service and cleaned up the dial and hands, Abel restored the case and it all went back together with a NOS bezel:

And secondly I finally picked up an 11630 to replace the one I (stupidly) sold in 2010, which I've regretted ever since. It's off being serviced and having the crystal replaced (the circular marks are on the inside of the crystal, from the loose main chrono hand) but it should be back any day now. This one is remarkably original and has been well looked after so no need for case restoration:

I recently failed to buy a Montreal sold less than a week before the day I was born but I hope to have something else Heuer and interesting coming in. It never stops, does it?