THANK YOU, again, to Paul, Ron and Abel,
For planning, organizing and making this wonderful event possible.
I feel like I could respond for hours ... but, don't worry ;-) will not and (try to) make this short.
An amazing experience to meet so many international fellow enthusiasts !
And, not to forget, THANKS to Darren too for that nice slide-show you did, which captured some of the spirit quite well.
It was a pleasure meeting and talking to you.
So, to ALL of you, have a good week,
and best regards from old Colonia,
Cheers,
Proost,
Saluti,

Olaf

: The passion that unites us is the vintage Heuer brand and the
: watches that bare the name. There is nothing quite like shaking
: the hand of a fellow collector for the first time. Someone that
: you have come to know through a shared interest, communicated
: with for possibly years on the subject and shared a laugh or two
: all at a distance. The Heuer Summit of 2013 was such an occasion
: where a number of likeminded individuals gathered for two days
: to cement these bonds, make new ones and renew old ones.

: The location for the Vintage Heuer Collectors Summit of 2013 was La
: Chaux de Fonds in Switzerland, the home of TAG Heuer and an
: obvious choice for such an occasion. In fact, this was the third
: such event at this location, first one was in 2008.

: The event was facilitated by and with the full support of the
: Heritage department at TAG Heuer. Fabienne and Marie put
: together a packed two day programme as well as a celebratory
: dinner with the best possible guest of honour, Jack Heuer
: himself. It was made clear from the start that Jack’s
: attendance was subject to a number of factors and it was 50/50
: that he would be there. Just two weeks before we were due to
: arrive it was confirmed that he would be attending and the
: makings of the best Heuer collectors summit were now complete.

: It all started on Sunday the 1st September and the attendees began
: arriving at the lovely Grand Hotel Les Endroits from around
: midday. By the evening most had made it travelling from all
: across Europe and the United States. The room was alive with
: Heuer affectionados making contact in many cases for the first
: time. It was a grand show and tell, with fine vintage Heuer
: examples adorning the wrists and spilling out of cases for
: everyone to admire and enjoy. It was a long night for most and a
: fine one at that.

: It is worth mentioning at this point that due to the programme of
: events the number of participants was limited to 30. It was with
: a heavy heart that we could not open this up to everyone who
: wanted to partake. We had no doubt that if we made a public
: invitation it would have been over subscribed so we had some
: tough decisions to make as to who would get the invite. It is
: inevatable that there are some dissapointed collectors who could
: not be with us and we hope that they are at the next one.

: In summary the events were as follows:

: Monday’s events included a tour of the impressive TAG Heuer
: facilty. We were devided into two manageable size groups, one
: went on a tour of the manufacturing facility whilst the other
: had a watchmaking course, tour of the museum with non other than
: Jack Heuer himself as the museum tour guide and access to a vast
: aray of information, watches and parts from the archive all
: layed out in the boardroom. Lunch was held at a traditional
: Swiss restaurant serving a cheese fondu. In the afternoon, the
: group activities were reversed.

: Monday evening was the official dinner which was attended by all
: the delegates as well as Marie and Jack. The food was pretty
: good, the drink flowed and the conversation was all about
: watches. We had the priviledge to listen to Jack make a short
: but poinant speech. His official retirement is almost upon us so
: his presence that evening was emotional for all concerned. Paul
: made a welcome speech and pointed out that the vast majority of
: watch in the attendees collections were almost all from the
: period during which Jack was at the helm of the company. That in
: itself was testament to the role he played in facilitating the
: creation of many classic and collectable watches and is
: ultimatly his legacy to us. We honoured Jack for this and in
: return he honoured all of us with his presence and his
: generosity.

: For those who stayed around for day two, we were treated to a
: factory visit at Artecad, a dial manufacturer based in a nearby
: town. There are no pictures of this part of the event because
: cameras were not allowed. It was fascinating to see the
: technology employed and the resourses and expertise that goes
: into the making a watch dial. This was followed by a lovely
: lunch after which it was time to bid our hosts and our friends
: goodbye as we departed for our homes across the world.

: We would like to thank our hosts TAG Heuer and especially Fabienne
: and Marie for making us feel so welcome and for taking care of
: every detail which made for such a wonderful time. Thanks also
: to all the attendees most of whom travelled a long way to be
: with us and make such great memories. Finally, all our thanks to
: Jack Heuer, a true gentleman and legend in our world.

: Here are a small group of pictures and to make this posting even
: more interesting it would be great if all participants could
: post some more pictures that were taken during this summit. As
: good as everybody was walking around with a camera so there sure
: will be some more very nice photos to share with all of us.

: Greeting
: Paul Gavin, Ron Henselmans and Abel Court.

:
:
: Our hotel at La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
:
:
: All participants received a wonderfull gift, the Autobiography of
: Jack W.Heuer, an absolute première and we all had to promise to
: keep it all private untill officially released at the end of
: this year or early next year.
:
:
: Fabrizio Rebella, Ron Henslemans and Richard Crosthwaite at the
: “cocktail”.
:
:
: The main entrance of TAG Heuer Headquarters in La-Chaux-de-Fonds,
: Switzerland.
:
:
: Richard Crosthwaite and Ron Henselmans caught in the middle of a
: suspsicious deal at the Cheese Fondue lunch…
:
:
: Jack W.Heuer at the Official Dinner at monday evening.
:
:
: Eric Wind his Heuer Autavia “White Boy”.
:
:
: Paul Gavin while perfoming his perfect speech.
:
:
: Richard Crosthwaite, Abel Court and Paolo Bernardi.
:
:
: Limited Edition TAG Heuer Monaco V4 movement in the process of
: being assembled…
:
:
: Two rare and valuable timepieces…but on a slightly different
: level…
:
:
: TAG Heuer Carrera Jack Heuer 1887
:
:
:
:
:
:
: Display with some very expensive and exclusive TAG Heuer
: Timepieces, Haute Horlogerie.
:
:
: Olaf Langer (at left side) sees that it’s all good…Lanny
: Epperson on the right (clearly has doubts).
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
: TAG Heuer production line.
:
:
: Final touch before putting on the bracelet/strap.
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
: Our location for the lunch on monday – Mont Cornu.
:
:
: Three Belgians; Jean-Pierre Magalhaes, Abel Court and Gianni
: Vangaever. Please note the colours of the trousers...colours of
: the Belgian Flag! They also asked us to form the German Flag but
: we proudly refused!
:
:
: Better don’t mess with these guys; Paolo Bernardi, Francesco
: Bruni and Pierluigi Mancini.
:
:
: Minibus to Artecad…
:
:
: Ultra rare dial for Heuer Autavia Ref.2446c
:
:
: Another rare dial, for Heuer Autavia 3rd execution screwback
: ref.2446 with tachymeter scale.
:
:
: Watchmaking class at TAG Heuer headquarters.
:
:
: We were followed all the time by TAG Heuer professional
: photographer as well…
:
:
: Watchmaking class at TAG Heuer headquarters.
:
:
: Francesco Bruni @ work for TAG Heuer…
:
:
: In the private cinema from TAG Heuer museum, commercial from
: “Rush” by TAG Heuer.
:
:
: TAG’s archives…
:
:
: TAG’s archives…
:
:
: TAG’s archives…
:
:
: Boxes with bezels…from the archives…
:
:
: Unseen before…all dials officially produced for Heuer
: watches…all on cardboards with internal refs. Impressive and
: never exposed before.
:
: Valjoux 72 dials.
:
: Some Valjoux 92 dials for Heuer.
:
:
: 2446cSN Heuer Autavia…on the wrist!
:
:
: Two amazing Heuer Timepieces, the left one is Paul Gavin’s
: Yachting Carrera with unequalled patina and presence. On the
: right we have Paolo Bernardi’s Seafarer in first execution
: 2446 case.
:
:
: Again Paul Gavin's 2447 Carrera Yachting, this time accompanied
: with Laurent Bouzoulouk's Carrera Seafarer.
:
:
: Timeless Classics.
:
:
: Two of the same but different. Heuer Autavia Ref.2446 2nd
: execution.
:
:
: Heuer Autavia Ref.11063 “Kenian Air Force”.
:
:
: From left to right; Rafael Gago De La Mata, Morgan King, Lanny
: Epperson and Jean-Pierre Magalhaes. In the back we see the guy
: with the smartphone checking whether he won that ebay auction or
: not…Henrik Schreiber.
:
:
: Morgan King, Darren Stuart and Peter Moller.
:
:
: Jan Pedersen and Ron Henselmans.
:
: Peter Moller explaining his collection, Darren Stuart, Henrik
: Schreiber and Jean-Pierre Magalhaes.
:
:
: This…is not likely to happen soon again.
:
:
: Panda and inverse-Panda…or inverse-Panda and Panda…Mark Moss,
: please help us out!
:
: Paolo Bernardi having his book signed by Jack W.Heuer.
:
:
: Heuer Carrera Ref.1158 – Club! Apparently quite a “common”
: watch. Top row; Michael Wirthgen, Mick Tock, Laurent,
: Bouzoulouk and Abel Court. Bottom row; Shaun Wainstein, Jasper
: Bitter and Paolo Bernardi.
:
:
: Our legend Jack W.Heuer togehter with the organizing trio; Paul
: Gavin, Ron Henselmans and Abel Court.