Hi,
A friend of mine has a bunch of old watches from his late Grandfather's collection. He knows nothing about them. Apparently there are Omegas there but he doesn't have them to hand yet...

Anyway, he knows I like watches and he has no idea about them at all. I'd probably be able to have a fair stab when he shows me the Omegas, but this lot not so much.

The bag he showed me had 1 Oris, 1 Rotary, 2 Lancos, 1 Seiko ladies and 1 Buren. It also had a Heuer Autavia, which I thought would be of the most interest here (correct me if I'm wrong: I know nothing about the others either).

Anyway, these are my iPhone pics under office lighting. Have no way of opening the caseback at the moment. The chrono resets to 4. I assume that's not right. It does tick along though, as does the second hand. The subdials don't reset to 12 either.

So anyway, like I said I know nothing. I've only just seen the watch so haven't begun any research yet either, other than tapping up this fine forum. Any info would be appreciated. Or sources where I can find it.

Thanks

 

It is a 2446C, cannot remember which edition, here is a good master reference table

http://www.onthedash.com/Guide/Master_Reference.php4

There is also a price guide on the site which is way out of date, that is a US$4k watch as a ballpark figure

 

Wow. Lots of info. Should probably wait till I'm not at work ;-). Thanks for your help

 

Just noticed two numbers on the side between each set of lugs. First is 2446 (which makes sense now) and the other is 109010, which I think must be the serial number according to the link above (mods, feel free to "x" that out if it's not proper to post full numbers)

 

Apologise for the 3-in-a-row post, but anyone have a recommendation for a service for this in the UK? I assume the chrono not setting to 12 is a problem.

 

That appears to be an early model of the "snap back" or "compressor case" 2446C Autavias, http://www.onthedash.com/Guide/_Chr...nual--Snap-Back_Case/c.Reference_2446C_Early/

You're also correct that the chrono hand should not reset to the 4 o'clock position but rather the 12 o'clock position, as should the registers at 3 and 6. I am not extremely well versed in Autavias, nor the UK, but you might want to try Abel at http://heuertime.com/index.php?lang=eng&p=about or Nic Green at http://chronomatic.com/workshop.html for starters. The watch uses a Valjoux 72 movement, so there are probably many other service options as well. Unless of course you want to consider sending it my way for a song...

 

What kind of info are you looking for? looks like 2446C snap-back case. i like this reference, though this one looks a bit tired. crystal looks cracked. dial & hands have no lume left. registers look discolored (maybe picture shadows). I would want to check the movement for rust.

 

Let's see the Lancos and Buren. Make sure they are not of the military variety.

 

Thanks all.
Haven't got good photos of the Lancos or the Buren at the moment. The latter is a ladies watch though, so unlikely to be military.
By the way, he thinks his grandad had another Heuer somewhere so he's in the process of looking through his drawers!

 

@stefan is a well regarded watchmaker in the UK. He might be able to help.

 

Nice watch, they wear very well on strap or bracelet. Classic design. Shop around for a good watchmaker as this should not cost a fortune to service. m