Hi Gianluca-looks like you have been busy! Great story on the Autavia-thanks for sharing in full and it looks fantastic in those pictures. I'm hoping to have a similar story in the months to come, as you know, but this is your post, so congratulations!

You are right of course-it has to be the Monza this weekend......!

Steve

: Hi all,

: this summer has been quite positive on Heuer collecting side, let's
: go in order starting from the last acquisition.

: This popped up the 23 August on an Italian local AD website while I
: was surfing the web from my smartphone staying on Riccione's
: beach with my family, the dealer was located in Rimini, approx
: 10km away... took the car and after one hour was on my wrist...
: yes, is neither a rare nor a sought-after watch, but find an
: original one with PVD in mint condition is not so easy so I
: decided to buy it... paid cash so had a discount... here is
: dressed with an Abel's matt black 20/16 strap... moreover this
: is Monza weekend :-)

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: Going back in time I spent June in finding a good gray Monaco,
: started with an 1533G in my mind but nothing so good around,
: then I had a dinner with my friend Cipino where he shown me his
: 1133G with grey subs, never saw one in the flesh before, and has
: been love at first sight... after a while a good one popped up
: on Chronotrader, sent the usual email to Abel (thanks mate, as
: usual) that confirmed was all original and decided to buy it, is
: an early one with 1590XX serial, dial in very good condition
: with only a very limited gasket melt damage on the left side
: (but remains all under the plexi), but the thing that made me
: decide to buy it is that tritium on hands and dial is original
: and beautifully aged in a lovely creamy colour:

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: Talking about accessories, always in June I received from Giuliano
: this creamy 22/16 strap that perfectly matches the creamy lume
: of my NOS Movado Super Sub Sea (still waiting for the first
: service of his life :-( ):

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: But the thing that gave me more satisfaction has been that, after
: more than one year, I finally have been able to finish my
: project 11630 Autavia with silver dial:

:
:

: Before going on I want to specify that this is not a
: "franken" watch because is made of all original parts
: (and many of them are NOS), let's say that has been assembled 40
: years after by me and not into the Heuer factory... I have
: enjoyed so much in finding all the parts needed and I have to
: thanks many friends for their help...

:
:

: Everything started more than one year ago with this Cal12 movement,
: bought as spare one for parts:

:
:

: I serviced it (yes, I did my homeworks in last years) then put in
: the drawer...

: then this dial popped up from Anthony:

:
:

: then found this NOS handset (paid a fortune but worth the price),
: thanks Amer for helping me:

:
:

: and made the creamy part repainted in white:

:
:

: The case has popped up on Ebay and the Belgian master acted all his
: magics to wonderfully restore it:

:
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: I found the NOS pushers in Italy while the crown came with the hep
: of Giuliano and is another NOS part.

: For the bezel at the beginning I was thinking to install a NOS
: insert one (the one in the first "exploded" image) but
: then I preferred to switch on an used Tachy one before and
: finally on an used and scratched MH I had in my drawer, as I
: wanted a beater for everyday use and not another "safe
: Queen" as the one bought from Abel some years ago (on the
: left the Abel's one with a late dial and the NOS tachy bezel, on
: the right the project one, difference is into the dial indexes,
: sorry for the poor quality image):

:
:

: Last thing was the plated bracelet, even if, to be honest, I used
: only for a while because IMHO 11630 Autavias give their best on
: a simil Corfam strap.
: I am really satisfied of the final result, the thing I prefer is
: that the orange hands match exactly the orange accents of the
: dial and the orange colour is bright but with that original
: "aging" that gives to the ensemble that real vintage
: look:

:
:

: Hope you enjoyed the trip, thanks to you all.

: Best.

: Gianluca