Shaun:

First of all, congratulations on the purchase. I am thrilled to see that this one will be staying in the family. It is exceptional looking, and I agree that it may be a long, long time until you see another in this condition.

A couple of thoughts about the auction, the price, etc.:

• with the weak dollar, and strong euro and pound, everything looks exepnsive from here in the US of A. based only on currency exchange rates alone, everything is up 40% over the last year or 18 months. this certainly is making it difficult for us Americans to compete on the buy side.
• this is a great looking chronograph, condition seems to be spectacular, and it is a very rare model. I agree, that it is the best looking of the automatic GMTs (to my eye).
• as I think more about the situation, when I told the seller of the other Autavia GMT that $1200 was the "top price", that advice maight have been correct. $1200 was, in fact, the top price that he could expect to receive in an ebay auction, based on other recent sales. this was not an absolute statement of "market value", but my estimate of what he should reasonably expect to receive.
• in the end, it's only the dealers who need to really worry about buying at the low prices, so that they can resell at a profit. as collectors, most of us can be happy to over-pay once in a while, to snag something that we will really enjoy. who can say that we are over-paying, when the top condition pieces are so scarce, and getting more so every day?

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

: I’m the guy who bought the earlier GMT for
: Eur1780 ($2150 appx). Yeah I knew it was way
: over what a “typical” Autavia went for.
: Here’s my story, justification, tale of
: idiocy, whatever...

: I’ve collected Heuers for years, but never
: bought an Autavia, probably because
: everything I saw had poor condition bezels.
: A few months ago I decided, OK, I like the
: Autavia, I think I’ll get one. Looked thru
: the OTD Guide to Chronos and thought “yeah
: that one with the white face is really
: nice”, I’ll find one of those. A few seconds
: of research made me realise that wasn’t
: going to happen anytime soon.

: My next choice was a GMT. I really only liked
: the one with the bezel with 1-2-3 hours
: rather than 2-4-6, which looks a bit
: “ordinary” to me. I wanted one in excellent
: condition, I’m not that fussy about perfect
: original untouched state, as long as
: replacement pieces are “correct”. That is
: the only Autavia I wanted (besides the
: Sieffert blah blah). So I watched ebay for a
: month or so. Spoke to a few dealers I know.
: I saw many many Autavias, none of which
: matched my specs. Then this one came up and
: the rest is (auction) history.

: So if five (or even one) GMT in excellent
: condition with 1-2-3 bezel is sold on ebay
: (or at dealer site) in the next few months
: for $1200 (or even 1800), then yep, I am and
: idiot and I overpaid. But it’s that risk I
: take.

: It is also true that a very high auction result
: can prompt many more sellers chasing the
: same value, then the price could crash after
: the 2-3 guys have bought what they wanted.
: But there are at least 1 or 2 other guys out
: there who bid high prices on the two GMT
: auctions and didn’t win....

: BTW the way if Charles wants to sell his
: Autavia with the original strap and box at
: $900 or even $1200 I might be interested.
: And a few other guys out there.