The largest independent, non-commercial, consumer-oriented resource on the Internet for owners, collectors and enthusiasts of fine wristwatches. Online since 1998.
Informational Websites ChronoMaddox -- the legacy of Chuck Maddox OnTheDash -- vintage Heuer website Zowie -- Omega information
Discussion Forums ChronoMaddox Forum Heuer Forum Omega Forum
Counterfeit Watchers ChronoTools Forum ChronoTrader Forum
Vintage Heuer Discussion Forum
The place for discussing 1930-1985 Heuer wristwatches, chronographs and dash-mounted timepieces. Online since May 2003.
OnTheDash Home What's New! Price Guide Chronographs Dash Mounted Collection
Don't feel compelled to apologise George

I don't think you did anything wrong particularly.

Perhaps you brought it to the attention of a few more people than otherwise would have noticed, but the read count of your post is 189 now and would have been less at the point the auction ended. And plenty of those would have been like me, who had no intention of bidding on the watch anyway.

Let's not kid ourselves here. The watch was advertised as "Heuer Autavia Chronograph" on a major auction site. It wasn't hidden away in a back alley shop somewhere, nor were there any significant misspellings in the auction title. How many people had seen it anyway, even without George's post? For every 1 in eBay's watch count, there are maybe 10 others watching it manually to avoid the impression that many people are watching the item.

I'll reiterate the reasons I saw for "this kind of post" from my earlier reply:

"Philanthropy, pure and simple, I would suggest. A desire to see an interesting Heuer in the hands of a collector active enough to be part of this community. Fulfilling the WTB requests that early Autavias like this have drawn. Pointing out an auction on a regional eBay website to those who have yet to suss that the sales aren't always set up to show in other locales even when intended to be. Or all the above?

It's always nice to get a watch with a maiden bid that has slipped under everyone else's radar, but also it's rewarding to tip someone else off to something they've been looking for for some time. And a bit churlish to have a go at someone who seemed to have only good intentions in posting.

I was after a watch once that was discussed on here as being something of a Franken, whereas in fact it was an incredibly rare execution with a handful of parts replaced, and could have been easily sorted. As a result of the debate here, it was withdrawn from sale. My reaction? I'll confess to sighing inwardly but chalked it up to experience and moved on. Which seems to be what's happening here now too, so perhaps all is well. "

And remember, it's not a competition. It's not who can get the most watches for the least money. It's a community, or it should be, and George just thought he was doing that community a service by pointing out an interesting watch. You might not have been happy to have more of a spotlight on a watch you were following, but it goes against the grain, for me at least, to send him an email berating him for that.

Current Position
Chronocentric and zOwie site design and contents (c) Copyright 1998-2005, Derek Ziglar; Copyright 2005-2008, Jeffrey M. Stein. All rights reserved. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the terms of use. CONTACT | TERMS OF USE | TRANSLATE