So Where Have All the Heuers Gone ? ? ? Posted By:
jeff stein Date: 9/20/07 13:17 GMT

the morning ebay search for pre-TAG Heuers showed some stopwatches, booklets, dials, embroidered patches, back-plates, a couple of fakes and one miserable looking Calculator, but not a single "correct" Heuer chronograph. So where have all the Heuers gone? Why nothing listed on ebay?

I dunno, I received 523 hits... True most of them were new or recent models, but...

Possible explanations might include:

• people getting sick of the whole ebay selling experience . . . too many crooks and scams?
  

  Might be a possible contributing factor.
  

• Fed's recent easing of interest rates calms concerns about recession, so people will hold onto their old Heuers?

  Possible, but I don't think most collectors are watching Mr. Greenspan/the Federal Reserve quite so closely.

• Sellers awaiting the updated Vintage Heuer Price Guide, to see appropriate BuyItNow prices?

  I don't know how many sellers are following that closely.
  

• Sellers awaiting Chuck's Flea Market, and holding back on all the good stuff?

  I don't know how many sellers are following that closely either.
  

• It's all been sold -- after eight to 10 years of ebay, all the old chronographs from grandpa's sock drawer have been discovered and sold?

  I suspect this is the most likely major contributing factor. All of the "easy finds" and "good bargains" have been exhausted. Most people have raided the Safety Deposit boxes, and many interesting pieces are currently being offered from Mexico and South America. In all honestly, "the Herd" has been thinning for the past 5-6 years and is a shadow of it's former self. I remember when there were a couple pages of Vintage Autavia's being offered at any given time on eBay, not it's rare to find more than a handful listed. It's a sign of the times.

Any other observations or explanations?

Jeff

Demand is high, but sources are fairly well exhausted. I wish I knew more, but I suspect there weren't so many of these various vintage pieces offered back in the day and most of the good one's are already in collector's hands.

-- Chuck

Chuck Maddox

Chronographs, like most finer things in life, only improve with time...

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