ISAMU SAWA

THE ANALOGUE WRIST

It reads like a cliché Hollywood movie script – a divorced (handsome) single man in his late 40s; driving a vintage Porsche; is flagged down by a (beautiful) blonde Austrian tourist. They fall in love and said girl gifts him a vintage wristwatch belonging to her late grandmother... A ‘barn find’ is a fantasy of many a vintage watch collector – stumbling upon ‘that’ forgotten but significant vintage timepiece in a flea market, deceased estate or garage sale. But I don’t think we ever imagine a story like the one of Aldo Agustin’s and how he acquired his 1960s Heuer Carrera 3647S.

In late 2015, Aldo was driving along the Nepean Highway, Victoria in his Intermeccanica Replica Porsche 356 Speedster – when, in Aldo’s own words, ‘a hot blonde’ summoned him to pull over.

He says, ‘As it turned out, my 356 Speedster was her absolute dream car, and she simply wanted to have a look and take photos of it as she was also a budding photographer.’

One thing led to another, and in the following year, ‘Nina’ invited Aldo to her hometown of Graz, in Austria.

‘I flew 14,000km to Austria and fell in love again, which resulted in a relationship now lasting nearly four years,’ says Aldo.

In 2018, Nina's grandmother passed away at the age of 91. Given that both of her parents were in their 70s, Nina, with the help of Aldo, was entrusted with sorting out her belongings.

In the process, they came across a small wooden box which housed three old wristwatches including a Heuer Carrera 3647S – nowadays a very sought-after watch by enthusiasts and collectors alike.

Aldo says, ‘The plexiglass was cracked and loosely floating around in the box, and the leather strap was detached. Strangely enough, the Junghans (the other watch) was more beautiful and in almost perfect condition. Still, I was strangely drawn to the patinaladen Heuer watch and fell in love with the clarity and simplicity of the design.’

The Heuer 3647S is a perfect expression of what the Carrera was meant to be – a very sleek and legible chronograph, designed by Jack Heuer in 1963. (Read more about this reference in ‘The Analogue Wrist’ –

Retromotive, Volume Five).

As an architect, Aldo says, ‘Design is about clarity, the elimination of the superfluous and the triumph of beauty through rigorous design over “decoration” especially in this day and age of disposable digital excess. This is how the Heuer’s design left me spellbound. It was much like the Porsche 356 when Erwin Komenda designed it, it was a direct outcome of function which resulted in its exquisite beauty.’

Using his research and restoration skills learnt from working on old cars, Aldo decided to restore the watch himself.

Aldo says, ‘It was a labour of love. I searched far and wide, joining many websites, making countless phone calls, both here and abroad to find original plexiglass for the watch. I finally found someone in Poland who had two originals in his collection.’

The next challenge for Aldo was finding someone to install the newly acquired plexiglass. He struggled to find anyone locally who would do it for a reasonable price. Luckily for him (again), Nina found an old watchmaker in Graz who could do the job.

‘We took it there together, and to my surprise, he knew everything about the ‘old watch’, which gave me enormous confidence. He also told Nina it was worth 3000 Euros, which worried me as I thought she would ask for it back.’

After further research, Aldo also realised that the watch hands were not original. It was incorrectly painted black, and he painstakingly restored it himself back to its original state.

‘I allocated an entire day, a box of cotton buds and acetone, carefully wiping off the paint, exposing the original steel hands underneath.

‘I did not restore the dial nor polish the case; it was the patina of the watch that I fell in love with. The passage of time is a reflection of its life, it cannot be created or replicated, and it is these imperfections that add authenticity to this beautiful timepiece.

‘When restoring this watch, I was driven to bring its beauty back to life – a promise I had made to Nina – and to take care of it as a family heirloom. I will be the custodian of this watch until I pass it on to someone else to whom it will mean as much as it means to me...’