Thought I'd chime in here as the author of the above mentioned blog post at Dream Chrono.

In response to Jeff's comments disputing my suggestions about the vintage Heuer market: He is of course completely right.

In the past decade, prices on many of our beloved vintage Heuer models have indeed come up...in some cases quite significantly. My comments were designed to be more of a "broad stroke" macro look at the general state of the greater vintage timepiece collector market, in which Heuer is just recently beginning to get serious traction.

It is my observation that while vintage market for brands such as Rolex, Patek, and Omega have enjoyed general recognition and enhanced appreciation/understanding throughout the timepiece community, Heuer has still remained a bit of a niche' brand within the marketplace, often completely unknown to many buyers (seriously, how often do you have to describe what a Heuer is, even to a moderately learned consumer??).

Although prices have indeed come up, I believe it is because of a smaller, more greatly educated community of buyers. What I feel we are beginning to see is a larger community of timepiece enthusiasts beginning to really appreciate Heuer (and subsequently spend money on them), and as a result I think we are going to see some notable increases on even the most "common" of vintage Heuer models.

I was in the room at Antiqourum's New York in September 2013 when this reference 3646 manual-winding Autavia broke world records and hammered for $20K ($25K selling price including buyer's premium: http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/1960s-heuer-autavia-chronograph-sells-for-25000-at-antiquorum-new-york-is-this-a-new-era-of-heuer-pricing). What was particularly exciting about this experience was that when the Hammer came down, the sale garnered the only round of applause of the day. The entire room was abuzz, a response generally reserved for the "big" sales (think $1M Pateks). In other words, people that wouldn't otherwise care...cared. In short, and even if this was just a fluke, I think there is STILL a tremendous upside potential for Heuers across the board, and expect the market to come up noticeably as more and more timepiece consumers identify them as the historically significant timepieces that they are.

As an enthusiast, industry writer, and dealer of timepieces, I see a lot of signs pointing to an epidemic of enthusiasm for vintage Heuers. I recognize that this is a relatively subjective and speculative analysis of the market, but I am calling it as I see it. I also recognize that my line-crossing titles could raise some eyebrows as to my motives. I assure you, there are none. As vintage Heuers get more expensive, the more they will cost dealers as well. On one hand I am sad to see some of the coolest affordable chronographs on the market getting out of control price-wise, and on the other I am excited and proud that Heuer is finally beginning to get the appreciation and value I think it deserves.

I do what I do on the retail end because I love vintage watches - certainly not to get rich, lol. If this ever stops being fun, I'll stop doing it.

In any case, if I ruffled any feathers with this my comments in this posting, mea culpa! I wasn't attempting to slight the impressive gains that vintage Heuer values have made in the past decade, just note that I believe there is MUCH more to come.

James
@analogshift