Suddenly it pours Exotic Autavias in Chronotrader. I don’t know if the timing is good or not but I had already taken photos of my watch and had started preparing this ad when Abel listed his two Exotics. This one is perhaps for those of you who prefer your vintage watches looking vintage and not like new.

“Rare” is a word often used but perhaps not always entirely accurate. With still less than 20(?) watches known, one of which is in the Tag Heuer museum, the Exotic Autavias deserves to be called rare.

This watch has the significant characteristics that I believe are considered correct for the cal 15 Exotics:
- the unusual and distinctive dial
- case marked 1163V
- serial within 271XXX range
- movement without SX markings
- tachymeter insert without lume dot
Please see Richards and Pauls Autavia book and OTD as reference - http://onthedash.com/Guide/_Chronographs/62.Autavia/d.Automatic_Autavias/72x.Cal_15_Exotic/

The movement was serviced in march this year, it keeps excellent time and all functions work properly. I would like to mention though that there is some resistance when winding the watch manually, not sure if it is more than normal, but my watchmaker assured me it is perfectly fine to wind it manually.

The case was left untouched during the service, please refer to the photos for its condition, I tried to capture the scratches and dents. The original sunburst finish is still present, perhaps the case has never been polished but I don’t know for sure. There is plenty of material to work with if the new owner wants to have the case refurbished. The pushers were taken apart and cleaned during the service. The crown has a small dent. The original plastic crystal is in good condition.

The dial is untouched as far as I can tell, the indices have some dark spots but besides that I can’t see any obvious flaws. The chronograph sweep second hand and the small minute counter were missing when I got the watch and they have been replaced with NOS hands. The tip of the minute hand has some loss of paint. Both minute and hour hands had to be relumed during the service. The new lume looks a little lighter in the photos but it is made to match the colour of the indices and in daylight it looks good to the naked eye. If you prefer the perfect look I can advise the buyer where to find NOS hands.

This watch has unusual markings on the caseback - numbers “C 4008-7” and “412”, I’ve been told this means the watch was intended for the swiss market. It also has two triangular markings on the back of one of the lugs, I’m not sure what this means - “taxes paid”?

The watch is sold head only, I’d like to keep the Giuliano strap.

Altough recently serviced the watch is sold AS IS, no warranty or documents from the service will be passed on to the new owner, please bid accordingly.

It is difficult for me to put an asking price for this watch, besides Abels two newly listed watches here in Chronotrader the only indication of the value of the Exotic Autavias I’ve found is an article by Jeff, but it dates back more than a year: http://iwmagazine.com/news-and-now/20150113/heuer-collectables/

All reasonable offers are welcome. No trades. The watch is in EU, shipping to be discussed. Several references from OTD/Chronotrader available.