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llstv1
·Hi everyone!!!
I wanted to tell the story of my Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT journey.
Its started when I first brought a Heuer Diver 980.006.
You might be wondering is this going to be about a Heuer 980.006.
No! But everything started after this point after buying this watch the seller of the watch told me that he got another watch called "Heuer Autavia" it was his daily main watch. At that time I was like what is Heuer Autavia? I have no idea at all because I was a totally beginner I started collecting Tag Heuer Formula One Boy Size first then the watch makes me feel that its too small for me. Then I try to look for something bigger so I did go for the Heuer 980.006.
After a day later the seller sent me a photo of his Heuer Autavia
I was amazed with the design and start researching about Heuer Autavia and came up to Calibre11 and another famous Heuer Bible website. After seeing various Heuer Autavia variation I was amazed with one watch which is the Heuer Autavia GMT.
This photo was amazingly catches my eyes and I kept on looking at it for weeks over and over. As it was really cool. At that time I was in college 3rd year and going 4th year within few months. I saw alot of student in my college wearing Rolex, Panerai, AP, PP and Tag Heuer which if I am able to own a Heuer Autavia GMT or any Autavia variation its gonna be cool and outstanding. At that time, I was wearing my Heuer 980.006 Diver to school everyday.
Few months later, when my senior year of college started my mom told me she wanna buy me a watch buy she don't know what I really want. At first she told me she was going to buy me a secondhand Rolex Submariner or buy a brand new Rolex Datejust. Then I started to think of something so I start looking on ebay as I saw a couple of auction and there was one auction for a Project watch Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT. Which was the Gray sub dial ones. So I waited till final day and I told my mom that I got the watch that I think would be a great present from you. I bid on ebay and ended up being the winnner! And my mom paid for the watch then 5 days later the watch arrive when it first arrive to me the watch isn't working and when my mom first saw that watch she was shock tell me that I am crazy spending that much money for a junk watch that doesn't worth more than 50 bucks.
I try to convince my mom that I'll try my best to get this repaired. So I found one local watchmaker his store is near my college its right opposite side from my college takes around 10 minutes walk to arrive there the place look trustable and watchmaker say he was experienced. With no choice I took the watch to him and he got the watch it took him couple of month to get the repaired job done.
Result was disappointed and he told me that this was his best job. Later after acquired the watch back. The bezel was replace with aftermarket and hand was repainted and relume. From this result the watch doesn't look attractive to me comparing to those photo that I saw on internet.
After getting to know some new Heuer friends. He introduce me to James and that friend of mine told me to send the watch over to James for some restoration. After talking with James and shipped the watch to James. He restored the watch very nicely starting by hand was repainted in a lighter color followed by dial was relume in a brighter color in order to pop up the sub dial.
After receiving the watch result was super!!! But the only problem was the Bezel. So I planned to source for an original bezel for the 11630 GMT but the price was amazingly super high so NOS condition so I tried to get something that will match the overall condition of the watch by photoshopping some photos from online and adding my dial into.
Expected result from photoshop
After getting an offer from another pal and got the bezel installed here is the end of my Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT.
I was more than happy with the result its just SUPER STUNNING!!
A watch doesn't have to be new the worn patina look is the uniqueness of the watch because every watch started from new.
I wanted to tell the story of my Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT journey.
Its started when I first brought a Heuer Diver 980.006.
You might be wondering is this going to be about a Heuer 980.006.
No! But everything started after this point after buying this watch the seller of the watch told me that he got another watch called "Heuer Autavia" it was his daily main watch. At that time I was like what is Heuer Autavia? I have no idea at all because I was a totally beginner I started collecting Tag Heuer Formula One Boy Size first then the watch makes me feel that its too small for me. Then I try to look for something bigger so I did go for the Heuer 980.006.
After a day later the seller sent me a photo of his Heuer Autavia
I was amazed with the design and start researching about Heuer Autavia and came up to Calibre11 and another famous Heuer Bible website. After seeing various Heuer Autavia variation I was amazed with one watch which is the Heuer Autavia GMT.
This photo was amazingly catches my eyes and I kept on looking at it for weeks over and over. As it was really cool. At that time I was in college 3rd year and going 4th year within few months. I saw alot of student in my college wearing Rolex, Panerai, AP, PP and Tag Heuer which if I am able to own a Heuer Autavia GMT or any Autavia variation its gonna be cool and outstanding. At that time, I was wearing my Heuer 980.006 Diver to school everyday.
Few months later, when my senior year of college started my mom told me she wanna buy me a watch buy she don't know what I really want. At first she told me she was going to buy me a secondhand Rolex Submariner or buy a brand new Rolex Datejust. Then I started to think of something so I start looking on ebay as I saw a couple of auction and there was one auction for a Project watch Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT. Which was the Gray sub dial ones. So I waited till final day and I told my mom that I got the watch that I think would be a great present from you. I bid on ebay and ended up being the winnner! And my mom paid for the watch then 5 days later the watch arrive when it first arrive to me the watch isn't working and when my mom first saw that watch she was shock tell me that I am crazy spending that much money for a junk watch that doesn't worth more than 50 bucks.
I try to convince my mom that I'll try my best to get this repaired. So I found one local watchmaker his store is near my college its right opposite side from my college takes around 10 minutes walk to arrive there the place look trustable and watchmaker say he was experienced. With no choice I took the watch to him and he got the watch it took him couple of month to get the repaired job done.
Result was disappointed and he told me that this was his best job. Later after acquired the watch back. The bezel was replace with aftermarket and hand was repainted and relume. From this result the watch doesn't look attractive to me comparing to those photo that I saw on internet.
After getting to know some new Heuer friends. He introduce me to James and that friend of mine told me to send the watch over to James for some restoration. After talking with James and shipped the watch to James. He restored the watch very nicely starting by hand was repainted in a lighter color followed by dial was relume in a brighter color in order to pop up the sub dial.
After receiving the watch result was super!!! But the only problem was the Bezel. So I planned to source for an original bezel for the 11630 GMT but the price was amazingly super high so NOS condition so I tried to get something that will match the overall condition of the watch by photoshopping some photos from online and adding my dial into.
Expected result from photoshop
After getting an offer from another pal and got the bezel installed here is the end of my Heuer Autavia 11630 GMT.
I was more than happy with the result its just SUPER STUNNING!!
A watch doesn't have to be new the worn patina look is the uniqueness of the watch because every watch started from new.
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