Hi DJD,
what a lovely thing to be gifted. From your description of the bezel with "even numbers" & the fading of half the bezel i am guessing that you may be talking about a GMT model.
Does it look like this ?
http://www.onthedash.com/Guide/_Chronographs/62.Autavia/e.Automatic_(GMT)/72.Reference_11630_GMT/a.White_Registers/?show=33gmt1163DB.jpg

The GMT models are rarer & quite desirable. They use a different movement to the other automatic Autavia's and have the 4th hand mounted on the center pinion. These older Heuer's are reasonably robust but do respond well to some love and attention (read mechanical service).
The faded bezel may be quite difficult and expensive to replace. There is something to be said about allowing a vintage watch to show its life and proudly sport its age.
As Nathan has already pointed out, there are a number of Heuer specialists that we can recommend to you around the world. It really does come down to where you & your watch are located to find the watchmaker closest to you.

We would love to see some photo's of your watch, are you able to post them on the forum for us to see.

Best of luck with it - Darren