Enthusiasts who collect some brands of vintage watches may need to use their loupes to detect the details that make their favored models so special. The Rolex collector may find exceptional value in the geometry of the crown guards, the shade of red letters or a few millimeters of underlining. Heuer collectors, however, can usually leave their loupes at home as the particularly cherished Heuer chronographs may easily be spotted with the naked eye. In this article, we provide an overview of a few of the “Holy Heuers,” the vintage models that are most coveted by collectors.
The First Autavia
In the period through the 1950s, most Heuer chronographs did not have model names. Instead, they were known by nondescript reference numbers. For example, the Reference 346 chronograph had rounded lugs, a screw-in back and waterproof pushers, and was designed for a 14-ligne movement, while the Reference 2447 had more angular lugs and was designed for a 13-ligne movement.
This way of describing chronographs changed dramatically in 1962, when Heuer introduced the Autavia, its first standard chronograph to carry a model name. Heuer had used the name Autavia for a dashboard timer that it introduced in the 1930s, with the name being a combination of the words “AUTomobile” and “AVIAtion” (or, as stated in the Heuer catalogs of the period, “autos et avions”).
The very first Autavia chronographs had a distinctive look. Lume was the theme, being used for the markers and numerals, as well as the hands. The registers were oversized, leaving only the narrowest of spaces between them. The bezel was wide, perfectly proportioned for the size of the case and the design of the dial. From 1962 to the mid-1980s, Heuer would produce more than eighty versions of the Autavia chronograph. While most collectors have their favorite models and executions, there is a strong consensus that with this Autavia, Heuer got it right the first time.
Many of these first Autavias show significant deterioration of the dial and hands, with good samples being relatively rare and selling in the range between $15,000 and $25,000.
The Motorsports Carreras
During the golden age of motorsports, Heuer was the brand of chronograph most often selected by drivers, teams and events, and in many instances those involved in motorsports ordered Heuer timepieces – chronographs, stopwatches and dashboard timers – with their logos printed on the dials. We see the Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, Audi, Volvo and MG logos on Heuer chronographs, as well as other logos associated with racing, such as Champion, Simoniz and Sunray.
Of all the motorsports-related logos that we see on the dials on Heuer chronographs, the “wing and wheel” of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway may be the most cherished. We see this logo on the dial of at least three versions of the Carrera 45 Dato, as the area otherwise occupied by the hour register provides ample space for the logo. The best guess is that these watches were sold in the gift shop of the Speedway, rather than being presented to teams or drivers.
For the 1969 New York International Auto Show, Carroll Shelby wanted something special for Shelby Automotive dealers and industry VIPs. The company ordered two-dozen Carrera 45 Dato chronographs, with the Shelby Cobra logo across the bottom of the dial, and distributed twenty-three of them at the Auto Show. Shelby was pleased with the results of the show and told his east coast field sales manager, Ed Casey, that he could keep the twenty-fourth Carrera for himself. Forty-five years later, the Casey family sold this Carrera to the TAG Heuer Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
Having seen neither an Indianapolis Motor Speedway Carrera nor a Shelby Cobra Carrera sold publicly since 2010, we won’t even attempt to estimate the market value of these models.
The Chronomatics
The race to introduce the first automatic chronographs was a three-way affair, with the Heuer-Breitling joint venture competing with Zenith and Seiko to be the first to offer this marvel. In January 1969, the Zenith El Primero was the first automatic chronograph to be presented to the public; in May 1969, the Seiko Reference 6139 was first available in the Japanese market; but Heuer and Breitling took the prize for having their “Chronomatics” in worldwide distribution during the summer of 1969.
Heuer’s first automatic chronographs were marked “Chronomatic” across the top of the dial, with the model name (Autavia, Carrera or Monaco) written across the bottom.
While today’s enthusiasts understand that “Chronomatic” designates an automatic chronograph, Jack Heuer has noted that consumers in the United States — which was then Heuer’s largest market — were not so discerning. Salesmen had to explain the meaning of the “Chronomatic” designation and, with the distinctive feature of the watches often being lost; Heuer quickly decided that the watches needed to be marked more clearly.
Heuer quickly abandoned the “Chronomatic” name, moved the Autavia, Carrera and Monaco model names to the top of the dial, and began adding the words “Automatic Chronograph” across the bottom of the dial. With this, both the salesmen and customers would understand the feature that made these watches so special.
Heuer produced relatively few of the “Chronomatics” before abandoning the name, and fewer than forty of the models have been tracked by today’s collectors.
The Chronomatic name appears on two versions of the Autavia: the white-dialed model with the tachymeter bezel and the black-dialed model with a bezel marked for minutes and hours.
The white Autavia was worn by Swiss Formula One hero Jo Siffert, with today’s collectors now identifying this model as the “Siffert”. In addition to the Autavias, we see the “Chronomatic” name on the Carrera (charcoal dial with white registers) and also the Monaco, which has a midnight blue dial.
There was only one version of the Chronomatic Monacos, but the midnight blue paint on many samples seems to have disintegrated, with only the brass of the dial remaining. So within the Chronomatic Monacos, forty-five years after they were produced, we have two versions: those that retain their midnight blue paint and those known to collectors as the “Paintless Wonders.”
Black PVD Monaco
The Monacos are coveted by today’s collectors, but these huge, square watches did not sell well in the early 1970s. Perhaps the style was too modern for their day, and higher exchange rates for the Swiss franc and competition from Seiko combined to turn the Monaco into a slow seller.
In the mid-1970s, watch companies were experimenting with a bold new finish for cases, using black PVD coating to give watches a military look. In a last-gasp effort to boost sales, Heuer developed a new version of the Monaco, a manual-wind model in a black-coated case. Heuer had difficulty, however, in getting the black coating to adhere to the sharp edges of the Monaco case and it appears that this version of the Monaco never went into full production.
Today’s collectors know of fewer than twenty samples, and this model has the distinction of achieving Heuer’s highest sales price at a public auction, with a near-perfect sample selling for $75,000 in a December 2010 auction.
The dials and cases of the surviving black PVD Monacos usually show considerable wear. Still, any sample that runs is likely to sell for at least $25,000, with the best samples fetching over twice that amount.
Exotic Autavia
Heuer’s original automatic chronographs were powered by the Caliber 11 and 12 movements, two-register models with twelve-hour capacity for the chronograph. The relatively high price of these models also contributed to sluggish sales, so in 1972 Heuer worked with its partners to produce a less expensive movement for its automatic chronographs. Dubbed the Caliber 15, the new movement deleted the twelve-hour recorder (so that it had thirty-minute capacity) and used a less expensive shock-proofing system. Caliber 15 movements were used for all three of Heuer’s original chronographs, the Autavia, Carrera and Monaco.
Among today’s collectors, the most sought-after Heuer chronograph powered by the Caliber 15 movement has come to be known as the “Exotic” Autavia. This model has an entirely different look when compared to any other model in the Autavia line. We see large all-lume markers, checkerboard style hash marks for the 1/5-second track, bright orange hands and accents, and crosshairs for the running seconds register (at nine o’clock). When these models first began appearing on the Internet, collectors dismissed them as fakes, perhaps the work of an overly enthusiastic (or inebriated) dial refinisher. Now that the Exotic Autavia has been verified as authentic, we see them changing hands at prices above $10,000, well above the range for other Caliber 15 Heuer chronographs.
Every collector has his own “Most Wanted” list and there are several other vintage Heuer chronographs that match the scarcity and value of some of the ones covered in this article. Still, vintage Heuer enthusiasts would agree that we have covered most of the holy Heuers, the ones that occupy a special place in the Heuer universe.
Photos by Heuerworld.com, with watches from Richard Crosthwaite, except as otherwise indicated.
Jeff Stein collects vintage chronographs and operates OnTheDash.com, the definitive reference for vintage Heuer chronographs.