The love of vintage - Interesting history with my latest purchase

So I’ve picked up Heuer number 13 for the collection.

It’s not quite what it says on the tin. Pasadena on dial, but not in a PVD case, so is it a Montreal case?......

Well there’s a story to it, so whilst it is missing it’s PVD finish the story of this watches purchase and history makes it very authentic.

I bought the watch on the bay knowing little of its history, but with it coming with the Heuer blue box and original guarantee paperwork I set a price in my head I was happy with and boom won it.




Then with the doubts setting in I felt I needed to message the seller and find out why this watch was not PVD and the bracelet different.

It turns out in 1992 the watch went to Tag Heuer for service. The PVD finish at this point was well worn and Tag convinced the owner to to have the PVD coating removed and to fit a new bracelet to match. So whilst not as it left the factory I do like the fact it has a story.



With that settled I probed a bit more with the seller, Peter. Peter at 70 no longer needs a watch as he has plenty of things to tell him the time and with no one to leave it to decided to pass it on to someone else, having had it since 1981 when he bought it brand new.

I asked him If there was a story as to why he bought the watch.

“The reason I bought it in the first place, well that’s kind of interesting. In the late 70’s early 80’s there was a popular television program called ‘The Professionals’ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075561/ starring Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins as a pair of tough Special Branch operatives. Both characters wore all black chronograph type watches throughout the series and you could say that it was love at first sight, as soon as I saw the watch I wanted one.”



“I went to the extent of contacting London Weekend Television (LWT) who passed me on to the production company Mark One Productions and I finally found out that the watches worn by the cast members were indeed Heuer Pasadena’s, with that knowledge I went straight round to Watches of Switzerland in Manchester and bought one.”



Peter is very happy the watch has found a home with someone who was so interested in it and it’s history and I’m happy to have such a complete story from the original owner.

He later dug out a screensaver he’d made many years ago using a photo of the watch when it still had its PVD coating.



Personally I think it’s very cool and exactly why I love vintage watches, so feel I got a bargain in the end.
A long story but thought it worth sharing. I’ve not even got the watch yet as it’s at my UK address so will have to wait to see it with my own eyes when I’m next back. 😲

Love a good story with a watch 👍

Great watch and detective work Gammba-Bodie and Doyle would be proud of you! I always say it's great to know the history of these watches.

Being controversial however, it's quite well documented that while a couple of Heuers did pop up in The Professionals, Bodie's was the Porsche Design version; also being mooted it became Lewis Collins' own watch which he kept for some time and made other appearances, such as in the subsequent (awesome) film Who Dares Wins-

(photo courtesy of WatchesinMovies.info)

It's still undeniably a great find and a great pick up Gambba!

Steve

Cheers Steve.

You too have done your research it seems.

Definitely not controversial and it could have been simply one episode Peter saw the watch in and at that time it was a Heuer one. I honestly can’t doubt the story though as it was just too fluid and fast in response to have been contrived.

So was it that they had multiples of the same watch, just different brands, on set for stunts etc? Or was it when he contacted the studio the question about which watch was being worn came back as Heuer......and then turning up at the shop the Pasadena fit the bill, but they actually were referring to the Manhattan?

Interesting.

Well it could have been lost in translation perhaps. I often think that the people/companies who have this info don't quite appreciate how pedantic watch identifiers/collectors are 😀 and it could have been a throwaway comment-'Oh yes, they were supplied with Heuers.' (Manhattan and Chronosplit at the very least.) or possibly different watches used in different scenes/episodes, which again doesn't seem uncommon.

There are often reruns of The Professionals on UK TV and they're easy to get into, as I did-it was way before my time originally. (it's very gritty too, incidentally.)

Anyway, I digress D. Great watch, great find, great story, much jealousy-especially as I've recently become enamoured with these later Heuer chronos. Enjoy it, as I know you will. 😀
Steve

Congrats @Gambba

My only question is the photo of the watch that he has used as a screensaver. It does look like this watch has different sub-dials than the watch you bought., specifically the light grey ring outline on the register. Perhaps this was also replaced during the service?

dc

I believe that to be the case David (I’m going to check), and Tag Heuer certainly did a job on it back that. Strange to think that only 11 years after buying they pretty much replaced the watch. But it is an interesting story nonetheless and hate to think how much he paid at the time for TH to do everything.

He’s a lovely old chap, and went on a hunt for old paperwork and even believed he still had that 1992 invoice kicking around.

I wonder if they even removed the PVD or simply replaced the case, as very possible they had stock of the cases at that time given the abrupt stop to the range after Tag took over. Bracelet is certainly from the later model watch.
Case back is quite scratched up but the model number is still visible and if there were no box, supporting papers and a genuine owner I’d have thought it was a franken watch to be honest.

At $1300 it was a worthwhile punt ( lin my eyes that is) and I’ve got to be honest and say I love the story of it all. Once I pick it up I need to do a little more research as even the case back appears a little different. Is it all as it left the factory? Definitely not, but interesting to know it was Tag Heuer who then made it the watch it is today.

I totally agree on the worth of knowing the stories of these watches. I remember when I used to buy a vintage watch, I would always ask the seller what the story was...many of them found this odd, but I was curious about where they got it, how many owners the watch had, etc.

And no question it's a great buy at that price 👍

I forgot to reply on this at the time as I asked the former owner on this and it appears that it’s just the light reflection and the way the photo was tweaked. Actually looking at many pictures of black dials on these vintage models you see that ring reflecting light.

Congrats! Great story and it would be cool to restore the PVD of the watch. As mentioned in another post before orfina/schifferle & schifferle restores th pvd on their orfina porsche design and prestige watch international watches. I was always hovering around one of those until I discovered that I should stay in the 38mm territory, based on my aristocratic wrists that is.