Timothy A
USA 1

: 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

:
: