: As some of you know I was recently elected to the board of
: directors of the National Association of Watch and Clock
: Collectors. I am in Dallas now at a board meeting which precedes
: our National Convention. The biggest part of the National is a
: huge watch and clock mart with over 1,000 mart tables full of
: watches and clocks. Before our show an organization you may know
: called World Wide Traders (WWT) put on a mart with about 200
: tables of mostly watches and mostly wrist watches. I visited
: this mart yesterday.

: I can tell you that the population of good Heuer watches at this
: mart was almost non existent. I have always managed to buy
: Heuers at this mart in the past. At this mart there were a few
: beat up 40's and 50's Heuers and a few of the not much desired
: late '70s and early '80s heuers. There were a few Calculators.
: There was not much of a trace of Autavias or Carreras. I asked
: some of knowledgeable dealers I know about this and I got the
: impression they were afraid to sell right now. They don't want
: to sell unless they get the ridiculous prices they see at
: auctions and they think the up-swing is not over. Some of them
: say they Heuers are on their websites or on eBay at BIN.

: I will let you know how it goes at our bigger mart. I am sure some
: treasure will be found. Some people who don't follow the market
: will bring a Heuer or two....but the days of easy pickin's seems
: to be well over.

: JohnCote

Hello Mr Cote,

Thanks for these very interesting insights.
I believe that the Heuer market is much smaller than, say, the market for vintage Rolex or vintage Patek, it is not necessarily a brand you fall into if you're not a hard core collector.
For example: I'm pretty young, and as I started collecting I only knew Tag Heuer (which I didn't like that much), so I was pulled towards the brands that have the most visibility (Seiko, Omega, etc.) and when I started focusing on vintage chronographs, I started learning about Heuer. I got hooked, now I own 2 (with a 3rd special one that should come soon, fingers crossed).
I think that today there is another effect that creeps up Heuer's value: the increase in Heuer's value itself. As price keep increasing, as big blogs start mentioning them heavily, as auction houses feature an increasing number of them, more and more "non hardcore collectors" start buying into the brand and, since there are much less Heuers than Rolexes or Omegas for instance, prices skyrocket.
As far as I'm concerned, when I compare 1960's Carreras to 1960's Speedmasters (which is my favorite watch by the way), I can't help but think that the market has still a nice growth margin...

Anyhow: for the time being, I'll just keep on enjoying them. If the market increases, good for me, if the market crashes, good for me (I'll be able to buy a bunch of them!!!)
:)