R

: I like so many Carreras, and I like them so much, that it's almost
: impossible for me to pick my favourites. Even if I did, the list
: would probably change from day to day anyway.

: But as I was responding to Tino's post with his early Autavias, it
: occurred to me that for those models where I don't have such an
: emotional investment, I probably could come up with a top
: "x". Rich already posed the question with Monacos and
: I came up with my top 3 there and now I think it's the turn of
: the Autavias.

: My taste in Autavias is possibly a little eclectic and you won't
: see some of the watches commonly considered classic in there -
: no GMTs, no Viceroys - but just reflects those watches it gives
: me most pleasure to look at. I don't own any Autavias so won't
: be offended if you want to mock my list all you like :)

: So, without any further ado, here is the list of my favourite
: Autavias, in no particular order:

: * 2446

:
:

: I'm going to be fussy here. It has to be an early model with
: the large registers and dauphine hands. Call it nostalgia (and
: false nostalgia at that, these watches were out 7 years before I
: was born!), but there is something classic about these watches
: in the Heuer "series" era that appeals to me. And
: these all look like they have some good stories to tell.

: * 1163 T

:
:

: Deservedly classic, and probably the Autavia that appeals to me
: most of all (yes, yes, I know I said I wasn't going to
: put them in order just a few sentences ago :) ). The balance of
: white with blue highlights is perfectly and delicately judged
: and much less common than the black/red juxtaposition. And all
: this without the Siffert connection, which seals the deal - this
: one always had its place in my top 5.

: * Late PVDs

:

: All of 'em. Yes, now I'm not being fussy - I can't pick a
: favourite from amongst these so I have to take the Pokémon
: approach (Gotta catch 'em all...). And, yes, the gold-plated one
: isn't PVD at all, but I like that one as well, so I'm lumping it
: in with the others - Heuer does the same with the reference
: numbers, so so will I :) I like PVDd watches generally and these
: are good examples, with the pewter finish especially being quite
: unusual. I also like the dial finish - I would have been quite
: happy to see these having been 1153s instead, which would
: definitely have found their way into my collection. All of 'em.
:
: * Diver 100

:
:

: I ummed and ahhed over this one a bit. The watch is pretty close to
: the PVDs above, shouldn't I choose something a bit more
: different as I'm only choosing 5 in total? But then I mulled it
: over and decided that; the markers and handset do contrive to
: make the watch look different from the PVDs; I like the watch's
: honesty of purpose (not that I would wear it for diving
: but if I was wearing one, the watch would be honest even if I
: wasn't!); and I really like this configuration of Autavia. So it
: makes it in, probably at the expense of a GMT of one persuasion
: or another.

: * 73663 Bund

:
:

: So that left the last choice. Should I include a Viceroy after all?
: Or maybe a GMT, I'd thought about those on a couple of occasions
: already. I even thought about including the mystery Autavias
: (the Cal 12 mysteries, not the Cal 15 ones) but that might just
: have been to court controversy. And then it hit me. These. I
: really like this watch. I can't really put my finger on why, but
: it's something about that handset and the arabic numerals. It
: just looks different to most Autavias and that's
: different in a good way.

: So that's it. The favourite Autavia list of a non-Autavia expert.
: What do you think? :)