Autavia Viceroy Care

ATG
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I recently purchased an 1972 Autavia 1163 V.
Appears to be in very good condition with few case dings and great bezel with maybe a tiny bit of fading. Unpolished case. Crystal has quite a few scratches, but not cracked. Lume is intact with slight yellowing.
Watch functions well, although I believe it may run a bit slow - maybe a minute or 2 per day, but I've only had a few days. Chrono function and purshers work as expected.
The story behind the watch was the owner died in 1983 and given to another owner with other unique items at that time. It remained unworn and placed in a box since 1983.
This is a watch that I want to keep and wear on occasion in rotation with other watches. I do not like the scratched crystal.
I am getting conflicted advice on whether to service. Some say running fine, just leave it alone. But I do have concern about old seals letting in water/humidity and potential dried out lube. I've read that watches from the 30s/40s stop after about 6 months once they get worn again.

My plan on taking to a local watch guy that works on Rolex:
Service Movement - new seals/gaskets.
New acrylic crystal - keep old.
NO Polishing.
No replacement of hands or face.
Keep all parts.

Anything else? Am I doing the right thing?

20180501_150319.jpg 20180501_150355.jpg 20180501_150454.jpg 20180501_160428.jpg 20180501_165405.jpg
 
imagwai
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What you've suggested sounds like exactly what I would do too. You could polish the crystal instead of replacing. But I would probably have it replaced tbh and keep the original.
 
ATG
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Thanks for the reply. My first Heuer, but I've had a 70's Seiko chrono crystal replaced with factory parts. Does Tag still have factory seals and crystals for this watch?
 
MRC
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Pretty good idea. Just make sure your watchmaker understands the Calibre 12 movement. Any competent watchmaker could probably polish out those scratches on the crystal as long as it's not cracked.
 
ATG
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A few questions about operation:
It appears that the crown is either in or out to set the time. I do not feel any other positions.
1) Anyway to manually wind the movement to get it charged in the morning? It seems like it has a hard time keeping running the first 15 minutes of the day.
2) Can the date be set quickly without moving the hands? Or is it a 10pm-2am and back system?
3) The subdial hands are slightly behind their marks. ie. instead of being on exactly 5 minute marker, it is just a hair before the mark. I definitely know it is 5. Normal? If not, maybe a service will correct?
 
MRC
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ATG ATG
A few questions about operation:
It appears that the crown is either in or out to set the time. I do not feel any other positions.

In to wind, out to set time. Wind "backwards" if the crown is on the left, or normally when held with crown on right.

ATG ATG
1) Anyway to manually wind the movement to get it charged in the morning? It seems like it has a hard time keeping running the first 15 minutes of the day.

Get it serviced pronto. The power reserve should be 48-50 hours. Mine will run for 48 hours after just 8 hours wearing from completely run down. It starts up by itself just on the motion getting it out of its box.

ATG ATG
2) Can the date be set quickly without moving the hands? Or is it a 10pm-2am and back system?

In theory you can do the to-and-fro movement, but 9pm to 3am. In practice I tried that once with my Cal 11 and decided the date movement is basically too prone to trouble already and I wind it though 24 hours. Watch was set to 1st yesterday lunchtime, showing "3" today 😵‍💫

ATG ATG
3) The subdial hands are slightly behind their marks. ie. instead of being on exactly 5 minute marker, it is just a hair before the mark. I definitely know it is 5. Normal? If not, maybe a service will correct?

A service will sort that out. However I find that with a variety of movements of several makes the subdial hands will move slightly if the watch is left run down, so before I use the chrono function I'll run it for a few minutes then stop & reset before I actually need it.
Edited:
 
abrod520
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do not wind the watch until you have it serviced - if it hasn't been serviced since 1983 or so you'll definitely want to have the movement serviced before wearing it. Once you have had it serviced, you can manually wind it via the crown to start it, you'll just need to wind clockwise (holding the watch dial-up, but upside-down seems to help)
 
MRC
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And ....


..... welcome to the world of vintage Heuers, you have picked a good way to get started. Could be the first of many 😉 There is a lot of freely given knowledge and advice to be had in this world, which is not so for many makes. The watchmakers who deal with them regularly have their own underground movement of parts trading I believe. Whether TAG have any parts that they will sell to them is debatable.
 
ATG
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I will take the watch in Friday......always hate being without my new purchase, but gives me something to look forward to.
Lot of grime to clean up on it, so I will post some after pictures when I get the watch back. Glad I haven't heard any comments about items being out of sort...wrong hands, etc.

I actually ran across my 1971/72 Seiko 6139 auto chrono last summer. This autavia came along from a lead by my brother in law a couple weeks ago. Of course the more I researched the Heuer, the more I liked the watch and had to make a deal. I just need the Zenith El Primero to finish out my collection on the late 60's auto chrono race.

MRC, of course in my research I did see pictures of the blue faced Skipper! I need to stay focused on this before that pursuit.
 
MRC
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ATG ATG
I will take the watch in Friday......always hate being without my new purchase, but gives me something to look forward to.
I have had new acquisitions on their way to a watchmaker less than 24 hours after arrival, just to get in the lengthy queue. No complaints though!

ATG ATG
Lot of grime to clean up on it, so I will post some after pictures when I get the watch back.
Yes please.

ATG ATG
MRC, of course in my research I did see pictures of the blue faced Skipper! I need to stay focused on this before that pursuit.
Something tells me you will fit in just fine here 👍
 
ATG
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Update on my watch. Not news I was hopping for.
My local guy left town, so I just stopped by a nearby town Tag dealer just to see what they had to offer. I absolutely did not want to send to Tag, but wanted to know what they had to offer. I was very pleased with their customer service and their plan to send to another local watchmaker that they use for high-end watches to get an estimate. Again, I just wanted a basic service (oil, etc), new seals, new crystal, no polish or replace visible items.
Took a couple weeks, but I got a quote of $1,000 plus any parts that would be needed.
I explained to the dealer that this was about double of what I was expecting, but asked for an accounting of what would be done and go from there.
A few weeks later I was informed that they did not get the list of services, but instead sent it to a large watch servicing place (I did not get the name). They quoted $2,600. No crystal available and would need to "make parts" as none available. I was not happy with this at all.
I again asked what parts are needed as the watch was running ok and everything worked when dropped off.
Response "if working, then why did you ask for a service"? Parts they explained is probably replacement of any springs to make thinks just like new, but no accounting of what was needed. I asked that my watch be returned in the exact condition and working exactly as I dropped off, which they insisted would be done. I picked it up yesterday and it appears that everything works and same condition.

Next step for me?
I am tempted just to wear the watch, but still want to get my service.
I just emailed my former watch guy, who left town, to see if he wants to work on it and find out about sending to him. I am not sure what business he is in.
My next alternative is another local watch repair guy that also runs an ebay store selling rolex watches.
 
abrod520
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ATG ATG
Update on my watch. Not news I was hopping for.
My local guy left town, so I just stopped by a nearby town Tag dealer just to see what they had to offer. I absolutely did not want to send to Tag, but wanted to know what they had to offer. I was very pleased with their customer service and their plan to send to another local watchmaker that they use for high-end watches to get an estimate. Again, I just wanted a basic service (oil, etc), new seals, new crystal, no polish or replace visible items.
Took a couple weeks, but I got a quote of $1,000 plus any parts that would be needed.
I explained to the dealer that this was about double of what I was expecting, but asked for an accounting of what would be done and go from there.
A few weeks later I was informed that they did not get the list of services, but instead sent it to a large watch servicing place (I did not get the name). They quoted $2,600. No crystal available and would need to "make parts" as none available. I was not happy with this at all.
I again asked what parts are needed as the watch was running ok and everything worked when dropped off.
Response "if working, then why did you ask for a service"? Parts they explained is probably replacement of any springs to make thinks just like new, but no accounting of what was needed. I asked that my watch be returned in the exact condition and working exactly as I dropped off, which they insisted would be done. I picked it up yesterday and it appears that everything works and same condition.

Next step for me?
I am tempted just to wear the watch, but still want to get my service.
I just emailed my former watch guy, who left town, to see if he wants to work on it and find out about sending to him. I am not sure what business he is in.
My next alternative is another local watch repair guy that also runs an ebay store selling rolex watches.

Servicing costs on these can be a bit high, but $1k is way over the top end. You did right to reach out to your previous watchmaker; see what he says. Maybe you can send it to him wherever he's moved to. If he's retired from watchmaking, you can Google watchmakers in your area - oftentimes you'll find threads on other forums where people are discussing just that
 
ATG
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Abrod520, thanks for the comments and the verification on the price. If something wasn't working, then I could consider that amount. I just want to oil things and keep them moving.
Can't get ahold of my previous guy and the ebay Rolex seller isn't interested. I may have another local Option to consider, but little on-line reviews.
 
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