TAG Heuer 60th Anniversary Autavia Collection
Founded in 1860, TAG Heuer has a rich history, punctuated with the release of several iconic watches. This year, the avant-garde brand is celebrating 60 years of its automotive/aviation themed models, the appropriately named Autavia Collection. Indeed, it has chosen to mark this landmark with the release of the TAG Heuer 60th Anniversary Autavia Collection. US-based Meehna Goldsmith shares her thoughts.
TAG Heuer launched the Autavia chronograph wristwatch in 1962. Designed by company namesake Jack Heuer, it had a turning bezel and large snailed counters on a black and white dial that gave it sharp legibility. The company came up with the model name Autavia by contracting the words AUTomobile and AVIAtion.
The Autavia name was initially applied to a dashboard counter back in 1933. It was designed by Heuer and used in racing boats, aircraft and cars. Interestingly, this timekeeper wasn’t legible enough, a fact Jack Heuer learned the hard way during an auto rally in 1958. His team came in third instead of first because he misread the Autavia’s dial by one minute.
After its introduction, the Autavia wristwatch soon became the benchmark for timekeeping in motorsports. TAG Heuer was linked with some of the greatest names in motorsport. Indeed, during the 60s and 70s, its ambassadors included, Jo Siffert, Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Clay Regazzoni and Mario Andretti, among others.
Over the decades the Autavia went through several iterations using chronograph movements supplied by partners such as Valjoux, Buren and Dubois Depraz. For its 55th anniversary in 2017, TAG Heuer honoured the Autavia by outfitting it with a proprietary movement: the Heuer 02, an in-house automatic chronograph. This model, which pays homage to the Autavia “Rindt” favoured by F1 driver Jochen Rindt, was the winning result of the 2016 Autavia Cup campaign. In this contest, TAG Heuer fans voted for the reissue of one of sixteen possible timepieces. The watch came in a 42mm steel case with a classic panda dial and Super-LumiNova® filling the indices to light up the proceedings.
For the Autavia’s 60th anniversary, TAG Heuer has upped the ante, flexing its manufacture muscles by incorporating a flyback into the Heuer 02, the Calibre Heuer 02 COSC Flyback. This movement makes its debut with the introduction of two Autavia flyback chronographs. The Autavia also gets the transcontinental treatment with the Calibre 7 COSC GMT, the first-ever three-hand GMT to appear in the Autavia collection.
So why is a flyback such an important function on a chrono? It comes in handy when timing laps, especially during the pressure of a race when every second counts. A traditional chronograph takes three steps to shift from one timing event to another: start, stop, reset. Instead of going through that cumbersome task, which misses accounting for precious seconds, the flyback cuts out two of the steps. By pressing the pusher at 4 o’clock, the seconds hand ‘flies back’ to zero instantaneously and begins the next interval.
TAG Heuer showcases its flyback chrono in two new Autavia outfits. Both give a nod to the model’s historic roots, namely, dashboard timers, which can be seen in the chronograph pushers and extra-large crown. The Autavia flyback also uses Arabic numerals on the dial, referencing those found on one of the celebrated Autavia models, the 73663. You’ll also see the bidirectional rotating bezel, an integral part of the Autavia’s DNA. Of course, legibility remains an important characteristic so the hour markers and hands have a generous application of Super-LumiNova®.
Where the two new Autavia flybacks differ is in the dial treatment. One features a stainless case with a silver dial, giving a hat tip to the panda dials on the Autavia’s from the 1960s. The second has a black dial and DLC-coated case, which pays homage to TAG’s military pieces from the 1960s supplied to the German Bundeswehr. Joining its siblings is the GMT Autavia, sporting a striking blue sunray-brushed dial highlighted with a blue and black ceramic bezel all wrapped up in a stainless-steel case. The GMT also gets the Super-LumiNova® treatment for its hands and numerals in line with the legibility theme.
All three models are delivered either on a stainless-steel bracelet or an alligator leather strap fitted with a double-pushbutton deployant clasp. Customers can choose an additional strap if they wish, thanks to the easy interchangeability options on this model.
The introduction of these three new Autavia models honours the rich history of the brand while also demonstrating that it has continued to innovate and develop new calibres that racing ambassadors Jean-Eric Vergne and Alex Rossi can trust as they blaze around the track.
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