.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
The present prototype ref. 1163 Chronomatic Autavia is one of the most legendary and historic pieces in the world of vintage Heuer watches. Bearing the serial number 10’528 it is thought to be the earliest of all Chronomatic Autavias, and therefore, also one of the earliest ever automatic chronographs made by any manufacturer. As such, it is of exceptional importance both in the history of Heuer and in wider horology.
Until its discovery by a reputed Swiss collector around 2015, this prototype design featuring several unique characteristics was only known from an official Heuer press release document dated 3 March 1969. Indeed, until the emergence of the present watch, nobody could be certain if it had physically existed at all, or whether the image used in the 1969 press release had simply been an artist’s impression. The press release presented three watches which we now immediately recognize as the Carrera, Monaco and Autavia models but, crucially, they did not feature any model name on the dials, only the Heuer signature and the name ‘Chronomatic’ but in larger graphics and positioned in the lower half of the dial as opposed to being above the Heuer signature in the regular production ‘Jo Siffert’ reference 1163. The exact dial layout of these three mysterious Heuer watches from the 1969 press release was never to be seen again and it did not appear in any of the company’s published official sales catalogues.
As the present watch is the only known example of its type that has surfaced in the intervening 50 years, it may be assumed that it is indeed the mythical watch featured in the Heuer press release of March 1969. Upon close inspection, a number of obvious differences become immediately noticeable which are not seen on any other known Heuer Autavia watch, but match exactly the watch illustrated in the 1969 press release, further underlining the assumption that it is indeed one and the same watch:
The style and size of the word “Chronomatic” is considerably larger than on the production models, it is positioned in the lower half of the dial instead of above the Heuer shield; the indexes for “2”, “4”, “8” and “10” - those adjacent to the registers - are shorter than the other five indexes; the indexes themselves have a distinctive style, not quite like those used on the Autavia 2446C model (that preceded the Chronomatic Autavia) and not quite like the ridged markers that were used on the first production models of the Chronomatic Autavia; the tail of the chronograph hand is distinctive and matches that shown in the 1969 photograph.
The regular reference 1163 Chronomatic Autavia is an exceptionally rare and desirable watch, with perhaps less than 100 pieces produced. It became known by collectors as the ‘Jo Siffert’, after the Swiss double Formula 1 Grand Prix champion. In a further comparison, this time between the regular ref. 1163 and the present prototype, other differences can be noted:
The Dial
The original and unrestored dial is, as already discussed, signed differently to the four-line “Chronomatic”, "Heuer", "Autavia" and “Swiss" of the early ref. 1163 production. In addition, the hands of chronograph and chronograph counters are different, a version of that used for the ref. 2446, instead of the blue triangular-shaped chronograph hand and rectangular-shaped counter hands of the early production ref. 1163. It can be assumed that the present hands were most likely fitted especially for the press release at a time before the blue hands had been developed for the model.
The Case
The body consists of a copper-zinc-nickel alloy of yellowish colour, the case back is in stainless steel, as opposed to the standard production’s full stainless steel version. This alloy is much softer than steel and was presumably used for an easier modelling in Heuer’s prototype department.
The Movement
Possibly associated, the Calibre 11 is equipped with the extremely rare calendar system made of plastic as used in the very first examples of the movement.
Until its discovery by a reputed Swiss collector around 2015, this prototype design featuring several unique characteristics was only known from an official Heuer press release document dated 3 March 1969. Indeed, until the emergence of the present watch, nobody could be certain if it had physically existed at all, or whether the image used in the 1969 press release had simply been an artist’s impression. The press release presented three watches which we now immediately recognize as the Carrera, Monaco and Autavia models but, crucially, they did not feature any model name on the dials, only the Heuer signature and the name ‘Chronomatic’ but in larger graphics and positioned in the lower half of the dial as opposed to being above the Heuer signature in the regular production ‘Jo Siffert’ reference 1163. The exact dial layout of these three mysterious Heuer watches from the 1969 press release was never to be seen again and it did not appear in any of the company’s published official sales catalogues.
As the present watch is the only known example of its type that has surfaced in the intervening 50 years, it may be assumed that it is indeed the mythical watch featured in the Heuer press release of March 1969. Upon close inspection, a number of obvious differences become immediately noticeable which are not seen on any other known Heuer Autavia watch, but match exactly the watch illustrated in the 1969 press release, further underlining the assumption that it is indeed one and the same watch:
The style and size of the word “Chronomatic” is considerably larger than on the production models, it is positioned in the lower half of the dial instead of above the Heuer shield; the indexes for “2”, “4”, “8” and “10” - those adjacent to the registers - are shorter than the other five indexes; the indexes themselves have a distinctive style, not quite like those used on the Autavia 2446C model (that preceded the Chronomatic Autavia) and not quite like the ridged markers that were used on the first production models of the Chronomatic Autavia; the tail of the chronograph hand is distinctive and matches that shown in the 1969 photograph.
The regular reference 1163 Chronomatic Autavia is an exceptionally rare and desirable watch, with perhaps less than 100 pieces produced. It became known by collectors as the ‘Jo Siffert’, after the Swiss double Formula 1 Grand Prix champion. In a further comparison, this time between the regular ref. 1163 and the present prototype, other differences can be noted:
The Dial
The original and unrestored dial is, as already discussed, signed differently to the four-line “Chronomatic”, "Heuer", "Autavia" and “Swiss" of the early ref. 1163 production. In addition, the hands of chronograph and chronograph counters are different, a version of that used for the ref. 2446, instead of the blue triangular-shaped chronograph hand and rectangular-shaped counter hands of the early production ref. 1163. It can be assumed that the present hands were most likely fitted especially for the press release at a time before the blue hands had been developed for the model.
The Case
The body consists of a copper-zinc-nickel alloy of yellowish colour, the case back is in stainless steel, as opposed to the standard production’s full stainless steel version. This alloy is much softer than steel and was presumably used for an easier modelling in Heuer’s prototype department.
The Movement
Possibly associated, the Calibre 11 is equipped with the extremely rare calendar system made of plastic as used in the very first examples of the movement.