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September 2012
This update sees price increases for most mint condition values, albeit by mostly small increments, to reflect the continued flight to quality amongst vintage Heuer collectors.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Heuer is attracting more interest within the collecting community and both the new collectors and established ones are seeking both mint and rare pieces. I suspect this trend is likely to continue and prices for the best examples look set to fare better in the future. However there were also some general upward movements for some of the Autavias, most notably the early big sub register 1960s Autavia 2446/3646 and the early GMT which shares the screw back case. The 1163 Siffert also has shown another increase, these aforementioned pieces (along with another mover the Blue Silverstone) are becoming firm favourites with all watch collectors and are well on their way in my opinion, to reaching the upper echelons of Heuer collecting, alongside the 1133b Monaco. 70s/80s Autavia continues to see much focus especially the hot trio of 73663 "Arabic" dial, 1563V "Exotic prototype" and the Orange boy white dial, which have now made it up to £4000 at retail for mint pieces, i see future rises for all of the above watches as the desire to own one of the few known examples grows. It should also be noted that collectors are also starting to differentiate between 1st execution Siffert dials and later ones and like 1st execution “all lume” 2446 Autavia sword hands, they will pay a premium for these often rarer details. These fine details are the cornerstone of collecting, and I believe we will see even more of this in the future…
The summer months have seen the usual slowdown in pieces being offered to the market, average & poor condition pieces have struggled and have mostly sold for the sum of their parts. After the “buzz” of the world record Heuer price for another Le Mans film set Monaco 1133b, Monacos have had some attention lavished upon them, this has led to some modest increases for best condition pieces. However there are little good/mint condition pieces in circulation, as one collector mentioned to me recently “they have all but dried up”. Certainly the amount of emails I receive each month from collectors searching for Monaco dials (please note I have none!), would indicate that most Monacos are dial damaged and this is in my opinion the best reason to not think of buying a Monaco on the cheap, the DIAL is invariably everything for collectors, and on Monaco more so than anything else, the ethos should be to buy only watches with mint dials. This scenario is evident on most vintage Heuer pieces, it is best to “walk on by” a watch that seems cheap because it has the wrong dial/bezel for the case execution, or the incorrect hand set, as finding these parts is nigh on impossible, and so often to buy cheap is to buy twice (in other words you get what you pay for!).
The global economic situation continues to look grim, with a potential weakening of growth in the Far East likely to concern some that the western world is some way away from coming through this period of gloom. It is likely that investing in art/collectibles will continue for many to be a safe haven and I see no signs of anything other than positivity towards vintage watch collecting in general. Of course as with any recession some collectors may well lighten their collections to free up some cash, however there are more Heuer collectors than ever before ready, waiting and eager to buy these pieces. This lack of availability puts Heuer in a better position than most brands to weather any potential future storm, now more than ever before demand outstrips supply. This scenario can be seen playing out with collectors from Rolex (to name but one brand) continuing to see both opportunity and appreciation for the unique Heuer pieces. The lack of availability on the truly rare Heuer pieces (such as Chronomatics) continues to amaze some collectors who have been happy to part with £50000-100000 on supposedly super rare "exotic" Paul Newman Rolex Daytona variants…which one can buy these most days of the week. However there are countless desired vintage Heuer pieces, where less than 5 examples at most are seen for sale in a calendar year and many where less than 10-20 that are known to exist overall. Now that is what I call scarce!
Going forward I expect the market to see more activity as would normally be the case going into the 4th quarter of each year. The trends which are already evident are likely to continue, come March we will see if this has indeed been the case.
Please note that the guide will now be updated twice a year, in March and September, a combination of market timing and the workload dictates that 4 updates a year is not necessary. I’m confident twice a year is more than ample to keep track of the trends and general value movements, so until March, happy Heuer collecting!
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The vintage Heuer price guide and market update for Autavia, Carrera and Monaco watches
The December 2022 Heuer price guide update
Information on the Heuer Autavia Orange Boy 1163
Vintage Heuer values in 2022 for Autavia, Carrera, Monaco
Information on the Heuer 2446 Seafarer for Abercrombie and Fitch
Vintage Heuer watch market update, Autavia, Carrera and Monaco values
Information on the 1st execution Heuer Autavia 2446 with all lume hands
Information on the vintage Heuer Skipper 7754 aka "Skipperera"