Fantastic to have this one in the family, and congratulations for bringing it home.

That serial number 042, though not visible on the eBay listing, is very nice and establishes this as one of the first ones issued. Definitely better to see the 042 on this one than, say, 879!!

I am also enjoying my "Andretti" Autavia, though it has also suffered some bangs and bruises along the way.

Well done on all fronts!!

Jeff

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: I believe that this is the earliest model of the Autavias used by
: the Argentinian Air Force.

: There was some initial discussion on the forum while it was still
: on eBay, where the absence of a number under the airforce emblem
: was questioned. I received the watch a couple of days ago and
: the number is present, albeit very feint. You can see it in one
: of the photos below.

: The watch is very charismatic "in the metal", where the
: honest wear and tear of an obviously well used life gives it
: charm and character rather than detracting from the watch. I
: believe this will be a favourite weekend beater - it is nice to
: have such a special model as a beater! I love the 3rd execution
: Autavias, I feel they are the perfect hybrid between a Autavia
: and a Carrera, epitomising the purist "less is more"
: designs brought in by Jack Heuer.

: I think there is little doubt the watch is original and shows a
: new, earlier story to the Argentinian Air Force Autavias. The
: crown had clearly been replaced but otherwise everything looks
: original to me.

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: Then for the plane spotters out there, I have to apologise for the
: embarrassing rookie mistake in the photo background. The only
: Argentina articles I could find in my collection was on the
: Super Entendard, but these would have been flown by the
: Argentinian Navy, not the Airforce. The marking on the back is
: clearly Airforce, so the backgrounds are just wrong!

: Given the purity of the design of the watch, the poetic logic is
: that these watches were worn by Mirage III pilots; if Jack Heuer
: had designed airplanes, he would have designed the Mirage III;
: simple, beautiful and functional, with no extraneous extras. I
: could only find recent photos in Argentinian AF (apologies again
: to plane spotters) but this shows the beauty of the Mirage III :

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