COLLECTORS FEBRUARY 2020
ISSUE 05
EDITION
What are you looking after for the next generation? THE BIRTH OF LEGENDS Tempus est veritas time is truth
THEN THERE IS MEGAQUARTZ Quartz brought untold potential and wonders to watch-making
O U R G UA R A N T E E D B U Y B AC K S C H E M E
Invest in the gift that keeps on giving ABOUT INVESTMENTS
Hello and welcome to this month’s issue of Collector’s Edition As hard as it is to believe it’ll be Spring next month (no really it will be!) and already I’m dreaming of warmer days ahead and of course, inevitably, which watch is going to make an impact on me this year. As always my tastes are ever changing and recently I’ve found myself drawn to the legendary Heuer Autavia of which I’ve been lucky enough to have a few in my collection. And beautiful things they are too. Especially when you take into account the history of these remarkable watches and the events they have helped to chronicle over the years. A history tied inextricably to motor racing and this month we feature that heavily. I’m also happy to offer a look at a much overlooked end of the market, the quartz offerings for the vintage collector. In particular Tom has written a fascinating piece about the Omega Megaquartz for this month’s issue. Possibly a marmite watch but one that will always find its way to my table! Happy reading everyone.
T I M EL E S S S TO R I E S
The birth of legends Tempus est veritas time is truth
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It’s August 1961 and American Phil Hill has just eased his Ferrari 156 Sharknose Formula One car into the pits at the Nürburgring during practice. He knows he’s quick. He’s the fastest man in the world right now, but that lap was something special. His stomach is still turning after hitting the roof of his mouth coming over Flugplatz, then two sharp righthand kinks taken on rails and the perfect line into Kottenborn without lifting for even a second. He can feel it in the car. Every mechanical stress and response relayed through the sinews of his body and the seat of his pants. All he needs now is the confirmation of what he already knows. He dare not ask in case everything he trusts about his driver’s instinct is quashed. Visor up and a nod to the official. “Well?” The official shrugs and looks at his clipboard helplessly. “About 9 minutes...?” It never happened of course. It couldn’t have happened. That’s not how motor racing works. Fractions matter and the reality was that the American had become the first to break the formidable 9-minute barrier on the Nürburgring.
His 8 minutes 55.2 seconds literally smashing the mark by an incredible 4.8 seconds. A lifetime on the track and exactness was required. The measurement of time has always mattered of course. Whether it was understanding celestial movement at sea or breaking an imagined barrier on the “Green Hell” in Germany. Even more than that, accuracy matters. Precision is possibly the difference between life and death.
TEMPUS EST VERITAS – TIME IS TRUTH The symbiotic relationship between time and speed had long been established in the field of racing. But 1961 was a special year in motor racing legend for another reason. In the autumn of that year, not long after Phil Hill had set his seminal time, Jack Heuer, the fourth-generation head of the Heuer Watch company,
The classic Heuer Autavia 1163 GMT
decided to create a new chronograph wristwatch with a turning bezel, a first for the Swiss brand. It was also the first wristwatch personally created by Jack as the company head, so it just had to be special. He named it “Autavia” (a contraction of AUTomobile and AVIAtion) as a tribute to the original dash counters the company made for, you guessed it, racing cars back in the 1930’s.
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T I M EL E S S S TO R I E S
The watch soon gained icon status in the automotive world and little wonder. It was the culmination of a love affair between racing and watch making that saw the 1960’s and 1970’s become the pre-eminent period for racing timepieces and, in the view of many, the peak of design and manufacture.
Tempus est veritas - time is truth
Heuer Autavia MH with original brushed finish, unpolished underside and box
One look at a 1960’s Heuer Autavia and you are swept back on a wave of nostalgia. Every ounce of that vintage era perfectly encapsulated in a design that went on to cast a long shadow over motorsport horology for generations to come. Orignially powered by hand wound chronograph movements by Valjoux, the second generation of these watches launched in 1968 with Valjoux 7730/7732 movements, which evolved into the famous ETA Valjoux 7750 at their heart. At this time Heuer was at the forefront of developing the first automatic movement chronograph watches in partnership with other Swiss houses and ultimately the third generation of Autavia was powered by the revolutionary Chronomatic calibre 11
Nürburgring, one of the world’s most demanding tracks
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Phil Hill at the Goodwood Festival of speed in 1998
which was a world first and marked the crowning achievement for a brand and watch that had woven itself into motor racing lore. And boy are these watches collectable. Not only does the movement speak volumes about the quality of their manufacture, making them perfect daily wearables, they also have the kind of accuracy that made them the de facto accompaniment for the legends of motor sport in the 1960’s. Jo Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, Clay Regazzoni, Mario Andretti, and Gilles Villeneuve had all, at one time or another, sported the famous Autavia. That’s some roll of honour for lovers of motor racing. Although Heuer, later in partnership with TAG, went on to relaunch the Autavia in the 1980’s with a further homage just a few short years ago, the overall design, aesthetic and sheer visceral sense of the golden era in motor racing is never more appreciated than when you gaze down at the face of a vintage Heuer Autavia.
Whether it’s the oversized white subdials and dauphine hands or smaller sub dials in later models, these beautiful timeless watches still have the power to flip stomachs in a way that the legendary Phil Hill would have easily recognised.
A very rare offering from Heuer, the 1553N Carrera Chronograph
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The perfect timepieces. The ultimate collection What is the perfect collection? It’s simple really. It’s the one that makes you happiest. Often the obsession with the holy host of dive, aviator, dress and motorsport can leave you thinking your collection isn’t complete. Likewise it’s a common mistake to assume if it doesn’t command a 5 figure fee for insurance then somehow you’ve sold yourself short. Nonsense of course. Some of the finest collections are those that have been assembled with…well…genuine love. Often that’s more to do with the history of a piece - less about the time it tells and more about the story it reveals.
SHOP WATCHES
Tudor Submariner Snowflake (£8,995)
Heuer Carrera 110.573
Omega seamaster chronograph ref 176 005 (£2,250)
(£3,895)
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N E W E S T A R R I VA L S
Handpicked timepieces Rolex Submariner ref 114060 (£7,650)
Rolex Submariner 116610LV Hulk (£12,995) SHOP NEW ARRIVALS
Heuer Carrera 110.573 (£3,895)
Omega Seamaster automatic 120 Big Blue (£6,650)
Tutima Military Chronograph MK1 (£1,795)
Dodane Type 21 French military pilots chronograph (£3,495)
Brietling Navitimer 1806 issued to the Iraqi air force (£4,250)
Omega seamaster chronograph ref 176 005 (£2,250)
Omega Chronostop Driver collectors set (£1,995)
T I M EL E S S S TO R I E S
There’s quartz, and then there is megaquartz
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To many watch aficionado’s the idea of a quartz watch is a dirty word, disregarded by purist because they ‘have no soul’. The reality of the situation is far different, quartz watches have been villainised by an industry hell bent on profiteering and clever marketing. Although common place now, quartz technology in 1969 was the equivalent of full electric cars today, the technology was an industrial revolution overnight and brought untold potential and wonders to the watch making world. The first quartz watches produced by the Swiss watch industry came in the form of beta 21, a watch so expensive
to design that over 15 different watch houses went in together to fund the project. This first movement combined mechanical technology with modern advancements in the form of tuning forks and quartz circuitry, power not by a traditional balance but by a battery. The beta 21 was showcased in 1969 and went in to production
the following year, adopted by Rolex, Patek Phillip and a number of others but extensively used by Omega, who produced the Electroquartz. The Omega Electroquartz was their flagship watch, priced way beyond anything else in the range. It boasted 5 seconds per month accuracy, compared to circa 5 seconds per day for the very best mechanical chronometers from any Swiss brand, including Omega. Swiftly after Omega released the Electroquartz they began working on a top secret project, a project that would ultimately cost 30,000,000 Swiss francs and would see a total production of only 9000 watches between 1974 and 1978. A watch that was beyond the reach of the average man and in its most expensive form cost more than a new Porsche at the time. The watch was shown at the Basel fair in 1970, boasting an accuracy of 12 seconds per year, a feat that has seldom been achieved since.
Two of the most important watches in Omega history - their first ever quartz watches
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The remarkable Omega Electroquartz Beta 21
Quartz brought untold potential and wonders to the watch-making world
‘Puprite’, a piece of watch-making history
It went in to production in 1974, released to the market initially in two forms, the Megaquartz F2.4Mhz and the Megaquartz F2.4Mhz ‘Marine Chronometer’, the first and one of the only watches to be certified by the Besancon institute as a Marine Chronometer. This marvel of watch making was eye wateringly expensive, it came (in Megaquartz format) with a range of dials, most famously the ‘Stardust dial’, boasting a hand made dial layered with aventurine crystal that sparkled like the night sky. They even made an example in 18K solid gold, weighing near half a kilo and with a retail price in 1974 of a V12 Jaguar E-Type.
in construction and showing many of the hallmarks of a mechanical watch despite being quartz. It is rumored that Omega lost huge sums of money on every watch but that wasn’t their mission, they aimed to make a watch which couldn’t be surpassed in accuracy and they achieved it.
The watch was a marvel of technology, a huge quartz circuit and motor unit kept the watch accurate or 12 seconds per year, they are still as accurate today as they where then. The movement was a design masterpiece, modular
Today these watches are highly sought after and highly collectible, they are truly a marvel of both design and technology and it is testament to Omegas vision that over 40 years later few watch makers have achieved the level of accuracy that this watch achieved.
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Time for a valuation? A lot of people ask me to offer a valuation and fair price for their timepieces and I’m always happy to help out and expand my own collection in this way. So much so that I have created this upload feature to enable me to provide an easy to understand and accurate valuation of your watch. Uploading offers you: •
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