Congratulations, Rob!!

Your explanation makes perfect sense to me, and I am reminded of the quotation from Kristian Haagen that I posted a few days ago, "“When you buy quality, you cry only once!”.

I expect that underneath some dirt and a well-worn crystal, you will find a fantastic watch . . . so no tears for you today and I imagine there will be no tears in the future.

Please post photos, as quickly as you can!! We are all dying to see this one!!

Jeff

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Figured I might as well jump in here, as I'm the one who ended up
: with the winning bid. My stop-limit was $13,750, so this was
: dangerously close to going to someone else.

: As others have noted, it seems like a very, very large price to pay
: at first blush. That said, this listing had everything that I
: search for. Just an incredibly "honest" example with
: zero prep work or salesmanship and great bones (ie - super sharp
: case, caseback, and nearly flawless dial/hands). Simply put, the
: watch spoke for itself. I have full faith that when it arrives
: (tomorrow!) and I'm able to clean the crystal, remove the
: dirt/grit, and inspect the movement, it will come out the other
: side looking like a completely different Autavia.

: As far as where the market is headed...I have absolutely no idea.
: I've long felt that screwback Autavias were overlooked by the
: market, and to be honest, I didn't care if I had to push the
: ceiling a little higher to get this one. I don't buy from
: dealers, so passing on this likely meant that I'd be on the
: sidelines for a long time to come. Finally, seeing the prices
: for some, ahem, less clean screwback examples lately, I think
: that the price is fairly justified and may even end up looking
: like it was well bought in a couple years. If it's not, however,
: it's of no concern to me. I got exactly the one I wanted!

: Cheers,
: Rob