After the 'warm-up' of the little Omega Seamaster I was ready to go for my first real vintage piece!
Due to Jeff Stein's excellent resource OnTheDash, there was a lot of information on vintage Heuers available - I decided I wanted an early Heuer Autavia 1163 with the cal.11, the world's first automatic chronograph movement.
I found this one in Nov 2011 - an early (pre-Viceroy) Heuer Autavia 1163MH from Italy, dating by serial number to 1970.
You can still see the original ad here (thank you Alberto!), and more information on the early automatic Autavias here, and a detailed write-up on their serial numbers here.
In the flesh, it is an impressively handsome watch - I've come across my fair share of watches since first encountering this 1163MH, but my initial impression still remains - it is almost perfectly proportioned - just the right size to look aggressive and sporty without being oversized, the black dial with the contrasting silver subdials wonderfully balanced by the red chrono sweep hand, all enclosed within the elegant MH bezel, and everything brought together by the timeless and classy original Gay Freres 'beads of rice' bracelet.
This was not my first vintage acquisition - that honour will always belong to the little Omega Seamaster 166.022 (that I eventually sold) - but this was the first one I knew was a definite keeper.
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| 1970 Heuer Chronosport catalog, courtesy of OnTheDash |
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