Abel & Jeff,

Small company and a rush to market... Compare the early artwork printed in nov/dec 1962

1962 USA leaflet (printed 11.1962)
full lume hands, small pushers, flat crown.

1963 USA catalog (also printed in 1962)
thin lume hands, small pushers, concave crown and a different seconds hand.
note all hand sets on the page appear identical..

So at least 1 batch was produced in 1962 with the "common handset".

Anybody's guess:
a) they needed to ship watches and didn't have enough full lume sets?
b) they tried the "common set" and then decided for the more striking "full lume".

For me the "full lume" makes it just a bit more special, but I'd happily settle for the other.

Jurgen

: Jeff,

: I think we agree about the red central seconds hands, for me it's
: perfectly original. Only seems to be applicable in a (very)
: small serial range. And I am sure we will see some more examples
: come to surface in years to come from these.

: And I must agree with the full lume hands being the first ones on
: these watches, in general. I was only wondering the fact that
: these "thin lume" hands were used on many other Heuer
: chronographs prior to the production of the Autavia's. I would
: assume that Heuer might have used these as well on the very
: first examples before switching to the full lume hands. Ofcourse
: this is just a thought...and it would be usefull if we would
: have any "artwork" or designing sketches at hand from
: the first exec Autavia's.

: Best,
: abel.