Back in February I posted a few photos of a tired Autavia that I had bought with the aim of having it restored. The 11063 GMT Autavia is one of the last of the Heuer Autavia series, and my favourite of the Autavia GMTs, with its all-black dial and over-sized case. They are however difficult to find, which is why I was prepared to buy one in need of some work.
The work was done by Abel Court, a well-known Heuer collector who has the magic touch when it comes to restoring these old watches. Abel’s work has previously featured on Calibre 11, through his customised Autavia and his restoration of his dream watch- a Heuer Monaco PVD. What I love about Abel’s work is the balance between restoring the parts that need to be fixed, but also being ready to leave as much of the watch as possible in original condition.
We’ve all seen a lot of “restored” Heuers and the majority are absolute rubbish- done by people who probably weren’t even sure what the original looked like and almost always featuring a few alien parts from the parts bin. The good news is that there are some Heuer lovers who do great work at reviving these watches and have a great passion for their work…its worth seeking them out rather than going to your local default watchmaker.
So, a huge thanks to Abel for his efforts and skill. My thanks also to Alex Peters and the “mystery man”, who were a great help in tracking down a couple of key parts needed for the watch- much appreciated. So, on to the photos…
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A while back I bought this Heuer Autavia 11063 GMT on eBay. It’s the first time that I’ve bought a watch for a restoration project, although I hasten to add that I will be doing none of the work myself due to a complete lack of relevant skills.
The 11063 GMT is the last of the Autavia series from around 1984. Its my favourite Autavia type due to the larger case size and sunken bezel.
Somewhat mysteriously, these GMT watches actually have 11630 stamped on the case, despite being a 11063 series. The catalogue also refers to it as a 11630 GMT- not the only time that Heuer catalogues have referred to a 11063 as a 11630.
The 11063 GMT is also the rarest of the GMT series, with only a few examples coming on to the market each year- which also explains why I was happy to buy one that needed some work. It’s always hard to tell the true condition of a watch until it arrives in your hands, and this was especially true in this case due to the average quality of the photos that the seller had provided.
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Generally I find that being in a different time-zone to most of my fellow Heuer collectors can be a disadvantage when it comes to buying watches, as many of the best watches can get listed while Hong Kong sleeps, meaning that you get to read about what you missed out on over breakfast the next day. This time, however, I got lucky.
This New Old Stock (“NOS”) Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT had only been listed for about 20 minutes when I saw it on eBay with a Buy it Now price. One week later, the watch has arrived and certainly lives up to my expectations.
The 11630 GMT came in two models- one model with white sub-dials and the other rarer model with black sub-dials. The crucial aspect of these watches is the quality of the blue and red bezel. Its impossible to get genuine Heuer GMT bezels from TAG Heuer- and has been for several years now. There are a range of aftermarket GMT bezels that are pretty good, but the blue tends to be too bright and the font on the numbers not quite right. With the bezel being the main driver of the value of the Autavia GMT, it means that you have to be very careful wearing the watch- a fact that doesn’t really appeal much to me because, as we all know, knocks happen.
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Vintage Heuer collectors are usually difficult to please on the subject of originality, with watches being heavily scrutinised for any sign of non-original parts.
However, as this Autavia shows, there is nothing wrong with a customised Heuer, so long as its not pretending to be an original vintage piece- you know, the stories about an Autavia model that never appeared in any catalogue and was apparently only sold in a three small cities in Argentina during 1977…
This Autavia is the work of Abel Court, who details his creation- and collaborators- here
What you are looking at is a watch that uses all original Heuer parts, but from different watches and models- the case of a 11063V that has expertly had a PVD coating applied, a Calibre 15 movement and sub-dial hands from a Carrera. The watch has produced a very favourable reaction- and why not? It looks fantastic and doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is- a creative, limited edition of one sourced from the very best of the Heuer parts bin.
Some more photos from Abel below.
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Like many things to do with Heuer watches from the early 1980s, the story of the Autavia Diver 100 is hard to untangle. The watch is from the last of th
e Autavia range- the 11063V- with its distinctive over-sized case and heavily scalloped bezel. Today the watch is second only to the Chronomatic Siffert Autavia in terms of value and scarcity. Yet, there are some odd things going on:
- Why are we all of a sudden seeing a relative flood (albeit a trickle in absolute terms) of these watches on the market?
- Why are many of them Mint/ NOS?
- What is the story of the Decompression bezel fitted to some of the Diver 100s?
- What happened to the Autavia 11630 Diver 100?
The first three questions are linked- and the key to unlocking them is in this TAG Heuer packet on the right
/01Chronomatic.jpg "Chroomatic")
Without doubt the most fabled of the Heuer Monaco, Autavia and Carrera lines are those rare watches that carry the “Chronomatic” marking on the dial- a combination of the words “Chronograph” and “Automatic”. The very first Calibre 11 models released in 1969 have the Chronomatic marking on the dial, but these were only produced for a short time until Heuer replaced Chronomatic with the words “Automatic Chronograph” and moved the model name from below the hands to above the Heuer shield.
If you can find a Chronomatic Heuer, then buy it irrespective of condition- they command a very substantial premium over the later Calibre 11 models.
I’ve recently been looking around the website of the late Chuck Maddox, the renowned Heuer and Vintage watch aficionado. Chuck’s site contains a vast range of information, photos and articles written by Chuck up to the time of his untimely passing last year. Chuck’s blog is preserved here http://www.chronomaddox.com and it is well worth taking the time to visit.
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One of the great aspects of the Heuer Autavia was the variety of movements, case designs and colours variations that are available. From the iconic two-register Automatic Siffert to the three-register GMT manual, there are many classic Autavia designs. Perhaps the rarest is the Diver 100 (Ref. 11063P), a model which appeared only once in the 1982 catalogue.
This model borrows much of its style from the Rolex Submariner- the bezel design, circular hour markers and Mercedes-style hands are straight out of the Rolex design book. The Diver 100 comes on either a jubilee bracelet or a tropic Diver. The jubilee bracelet was popular with Heuer divers in the 19080′s and kept on during the early TAG Heuer years. Its a nice design, but its shame that the bracelet itself feels so light and flimsy- it certainly doesn’t match the build quality of the rest of the watch.
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Cheers Arno
