Posted this over at TZ-UK, thought it may be of interest....

I took a chance on this sad looking Autavia 11630MH, it was listed over at chrono24.com before xmas, the sellers - Amsterdam Vintage watches, excellent people to deal with but the pics were'nt the best to be honest, the crystal was fogged up and it was hard to tell if the dial had moisture damage or not. The watch sat unsold for a few days after listing at a very, very good price, so i sent the seller an email asking for better pics.

In the meantime i had to quickly sell off my Omega MK2 project. :cry:

What i received back convinced me enough to take a chance on it, hell it even had the original bracelet and i could make out from the new email pics that the lume was'nt discoloured as so often happens when moisture enters the case.

Watch took less than a week to arrive from Amsterdam, all the time i was hopeing the dial, hands and movement were good, the case and bracelet could be re-finished and i do like a project to pass the time. :D

One of the better pics from the seller via email, the ones on chrono24.com were nowhere near as good and proberbly the reason it had put a lot of people off and sat unsold, you could hardly make out the dial due to the fogging of the crystal.

These Autavia's were shown in the 1977 Heuer catalogues, top left watch......

Here are some pics of the watch once i received it, the chrono hand was running constantly due to the pushers being bunged up and could'nt be stopped. Watch was losing 15 mins per hour, check out the DNA left from previous owner/owners?. :shock:

Notice the fogging of the crystal in the first pic, i wanted to save the pics from chrono24.com but i was'nt able too.

Notice the heavy case damage above the top pusher.....bet that bloody hurt the wearer, not something shown in any of the pics on the site or the ones emailed to me!!! :twisted:

Watch was disassembled, the movement looked immaculate despite the caseback gasket turning to mush, which i don't mind too much as it generally means it has'nt been opened for a long time, fingers crossed its as good mechanically as it is cosmetically....

I very much doubt this watch has ever been serviced as it shows no signs of a watchmakers mark within the caseback, it may have been but a good chance it has'nt, some going for a watch that dates back to approx 1977.

More disassembly, again the watch has plenty of dirt encased deep beneath the bezel and pushers....

Onto the glory pic, the dial and hands....lume missing from the minute hand but looking good, th orange colours fading nice and evenly.....

The watch still had a few surprises for me though, the fly-back lever part no - 8180 (see drawing) had been snapped where it meets the pusher, not just a bunged up pusher then :roll: as its the one nearest the large dent to the case, both dial feet had also been sheared off due to the impact to the case...damn!!!! :evil:

Into the deep fat fryer for most of the watch whilst i contact Rich Askham - Richie_101 on here.

Link to Rich's blog......

http://thewatchspotblog.com/

I've dealt with Rich plenty of times before and he is always kind enough to offer his knowledge and excellent servicing skills. My concern being the dial feet, i doubt i could live with those silly adhesive dial dots, would drive me crazy just knowing they were holding the dial in place. Rich agreed to service the watch if i sourced the pusher lever and see what he could do with the dial feet.

Off it went, movement, dial, hands and new pusher lever whilst i got to work on the case and bracelet.....

Forward some time time later to last week and i received an email from Rich, he confirmed the movement was in great shape as i had hoped and he had also managed to fabricate some new dial feet.... :D

Here are Rich's pics he sent me and kindly agreed to let me use for this post, dial feet magic?...the guys a genius!!! :D

So here's the watch finally recased minus the dna, serviced, relumed hands, new crystal, gaskets, sympathetically polished and i could'nt be happier, sometimes its worth taking a chance and i'm pleased i've saved this one from being stripped for parts to service other Autavia's.

Big thanks to Rich for all his hard work and i reckon it fits in nicely with my other Autavia's. :D's. :D