A first-owner Heuer Autavia 2446c GMT from 1968!

Autavia 2446c GMT, circa 1969

Just one post ago, I had solemnly and prematurely declared that I had completed my vintage watch collection.

So I lied - there was to be another vintage watch acquisition after all...who was I kidding but myself, right?

Sigh.....

Heuer Chronosport catalog 1969-70, courtesy of OnTheDash

This was a somewhat risky and potentially foolish Ebay punt - no movement shot, no serial number, not even a photo of the caseback. 

But from the description and poorly focused photos, it looked and sounded like an early compressor case 2446c GMT with the wrong (later) hands, but with what appeared to be a real Gay Freres double grains of rice bracelet typically found on some late 60s manual wind Heuer chronographs - this is a gorgeous bracelet that I've been hankering for for some time.

The seller said his pilot grandfather bought the watch new in 1969 (actually, X'mas day 1968 - see last paragraph below), and that he even had the original unfilled service booklet and instruction manual! 

(To learn more about the subtle yet crucial differences between 'early' and 'late' variants of the Heuer Autavia 2446c GMTs, this essay by Paul Gavin is essential reading).

Being a sucker for any vintage watch with a historical link to 1969, my birth year, I was naturally unable to resist a watch with such a provenance, so I made a tentative solitary bid before going to bed, and when I woke up in the morning, I had won the auction!

Original service booklet and instruction pamphlet

1st execution engraved caseback

So it arrived rather promptly on Christmas Eve, and here's the X'mas present I got - a 1st execution Autavia 2446c GMT with serial number 110353 (earlier than the range mentioned in Jeff Stein's OnTheDash Autavia Reference Table), a faded first execution bezel with the smaller knurling teeth, some marks on the crystal, a good condition dial with the earlier smaller sub-registers (the hour sub-register marked 'T') and even patina, plain pushers, first execution compressor caseback with engraved 'Heuer Autavia' faded but visible, original GF bracelet marked 1/68, later (likely service) hands, and the original unfilled Heuer service booklet and instruction pamphlet!

Heuer signed Valjoux.724 movement

The mandatory visit to the watchmaker left me even happier. He popped open the case to reveal a correct, and pristine, Heuer signed Valjoux 724 movement.

He even buffed the crystal, leaving me with an absolutely gorgeous 44 year old first-owner beauty!

What a wonderful way to end 2013, and to mark my becoming a daddy a second time round! =)

10 Nov 2014 Addendum:

What's wrong with me? So it turns out I was wrong about the service booklet being unfilled!

Serendipitously, I took it out this morning to have a look, and it is indeed filled, in pencil, and is very faded.

I can barely make out the date of purchase (12-25-68)(Not 1969!!! Damn!!!), and the name and street address of the original owner!

I email the Ebay seller to confirm - and within the hour, the Ebay seller's father emails me!
The name on the service booklet is indeed the Ebay seller's grandfather, who was a WW2 US Navy pilot flying Catalina PBY torpedo bombers in the Atlantic and Pacific, then a US Air Force reserve pilot throughout the late '50s and '60s, flying a variety of transport aircraft in support of the Berlin airlift and other missions!
He bought this Heuer as a Christmas present to himself in 1968 - apparently he had wanted 'the best available chronograph of the time'!

He retired from the US Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1984, and continued to wear this Heuer till his death in 1996, after which it sat in a drawer till the end of 2013, when his grandson put it up on Ebay.

So this watch was originally purchased on 25 Dec 1968, and I received this, from the original owner's grandson no less, on 24 Dec 2013 - that's 45 years later, less a day.

I don't know about you, but to me, that's a darn cool story.

This Autavia 2446cGMT is now not only a first owner 1968 Heuer, but a family heirloom, and I vow to treat it with the care and respect that it fully deserves!