One watch, one man, lots of stories: Heuer Autavia - 11063v

This is the story of a Heuer autavia with the refrence 11063v and a caliber 12. Inherited by a little kid called Max. Max is Dutch guy with a passion for watches and photography and this Heuer did really kickstart his collecting life like a madman. Let us all be honest for a second, who would not want a Heuer with a stardust dial and diver bezel for free when you were still a kid? This is the story through the eyes of Max: 

My grandpa always was a hard worker, been a car mechanic and a firefighter for years. He also is a very generous man, likes to give people presents and did do a lot for others too. The ol' man never was the richest, but he wanted to help others out. One day he gave his camper away, to a good friend, and this friend was the connection to the watch we are talking about. This friend in fact gave him this Heuer autavia as a 'Thank-You' for the camper. My grandpa always wore this watch. He just loved this watch, didn’t baby the watch, wear It as his everyday beater. He also did wear this during his work as a proper tool watch, it was by far his favorite watch. 

When I was younger I already was really fascinated by this watch. I just loved how it was more than just a watch. It was not only a watch, it also was a stopwatch. The divers extension to enlarge the bracelet so you could fit it over a wet suit, it just amazed me and intrigued me as a kid. I used to ask him all the time if he was wearing "the dive watch" now. I was in love with it. Although I was just a 6 year old that didn’t know anything about watches, there was just something special about this watch.

Nowadays I’m into watches and my grandpa gave It to me a couple of months ago. I just couldn’t believe it, It was my dream watch since day one. My holy grail. I got quite emotional when he gave it to me. Since my early days i have been dreaming about this watch. I asked my grandpa if he didn’t need it to wear and why he gave it to me. And my grandpa answered: "I would much rather give it to you with a warm hand and see you enjoy it."

I now have this watch in my collection and it's my favourite piece and has a lot of emotional value. I’m 14 years old and I already own my grail watch. I try to wear it like my grandpa: use it as a tool watch and get a lot of wrist time on it. My grandpa didn’t want to pay for new gaskets in the bezel back in the day because he had already spent €230 on it. The watch maker "locked" the bezel. Now I’m saving up for a full service and I'm looking for a new end link so I can wear it exactely how my grandpa wore it.

(6 months passed since the first draft of this article)

It's a half year ago since I wrote this article. I'm 15 years old now.

I just got the watch back from the service, It was pretty hard for my watchmaker to get some parts. But it's like a new watch! Ofcourse I didn't let anything polished since the watch, the scratches reflect my grandfather in his roughness and how he used the watch as a tool. I want to keep it that way. After some searching my grandfather did manage to find the endlink, I can now wear the watch like granddad used to do: on the original jubilee bracelet. 

written by @maxx_vdvv

photos:  @maxx_vdvv

edited by: Bert @perpetualwatchlover

strap: racing strap available here