TAG Heuer Autavia Book

AUTAVIA Story of an icon

W

elcome to the incredible adventure of the Autavia. Our story begins with the original dashboard instrument of 1933, moves through the timepiece’s golden era in the 1960s, before arriving at the brand-new 2017 edition, the heir of this astonishing family.

The Autavia is what the «Heueristi» call one the «Big Three”, an iconic timepiece on equal footing with the Heuer Carrera and the Monaco. Aficionados love its infinite permutations, its audacious case, hand, and bezel designs, and its varied complications. So when the idea of restoring the Autavia its true place in the panoply was born, it was obvious that the Heuer community would have much to say on the subject.

The Autavia is a touchstone for the brand, and the «Heueristi» are not just its fans, they are also its archivists, ambassadors, and advisers. Establishing a dialogue with them was therefore vital to the project. To achieve this, the “Autavia Cup”, an entirely new way of defining a timepiece design, was conceived. Based on the tradition of great sporting tournaments and harnessing the power of social media, the goal of the Cup was to select one piece from 16 propositions.

The project brought forth more than 50’000 participants and generated an enormous amount of enthusiasm. The winning piece was a superb first-generation Autavia with 3 counters, an hour bezel, and straight hands. Our teams modernised and revamped the design to give it the functionalities demanded by today’s market. It was unthinkable that we would merely reissue a piece from yesteryear. To enable the Autavia’s rich motor-racing destiny and contemporary character shine through called for a delicate alchemy, a marriage of contrasts between innovation and heritage.

The new Autavia not only bears the basic features of the original 1960s Autavia in terms of its proportions, the font and the finish of its counters, the legibility of its indices, and the indentations on its robust bezel. The new design also satisfies modern expectations, thanks to a 42mm case equipped with the brand-new in-house automatic calibre Heuer 02 movement, and a date window at 6 o’clock.

This latest Autavia opens a new chapter for TAG Heuer, and builds a solid bridge between past and future. A successor is born!

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Autavia 2017. Ref CBE2110.BA0687 Sapphire back case showing the new in-house movement, Heuer 02

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I

was born in 1932 and had a wonderful childhood.

I studied electrical engineering at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and received my production engineer diploma just before Christmas of 1957. In 1958, I started working as a production engineer in our small family company. It had only about 30 employees at that time and I was the fourth generation in the Heuer line. We specialised in hand-held stopwatches and mechanical chronographs. I am basically a product man: Autavia, Carrera, Monaco, and Monza are a few of the models that I created and launched, and I cannot hide my satisfaction and pride to see them all still doing so well.

Today, I am thrilled to see the tremendous development of this company, which is over 150 years old. It also gives me great pleasure to take part in the new journey of the Autavia. Its history is a saga in itself. Launched in 1933 as a dashboard timer for automobiles and aircraft, it disappeared in 1957, when I stopped its production. Well, not exactly, as I relaunched it in 1962 as a wristwatch. This was my first achievement, and I have a very special affection for it. The Autavia was a complete range of sports chronographs, in a variety of versions, with two or three counters and different scales on the bezel. That was quite audacious at that time, and all the great Grand Prix drivers, Jo siffert, Mario Andretti, Derek Bell, Clay Regazzoni, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda, Jacky Ickx, Jochen Rindt, opted for one version or another.

The Autavia has had a truly astonishing and inspiring destiny, in a very Heuer way. My ancestors, Edouard, Charles-Auguste and Charles-Edouard, would have loved it just as much as I do.

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Autavia 2017. Ref CBE2111.BA0687 SPECIAL EDITION JACK HEUER with a special engraving of the caseback with Jack Heuer signature and the Heuer family shield.

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AUTAVIA - Summary

SAGA p. 12 text by Nicholas Foulkes

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PORTFOLIO I

p. 16

PORTFOLIO II

p. 58

PORTFOLIO III

p. 102

INNOVATION p. 128 text by Gisbert Brunner PORTFOLIO IV

p. 136

PORTFOLIO V

p. 156

PORTFOLIO VI

p. 172

STORIES p. 194 texts by Michel Jeannot

ref 2446, movement Valjoux 72, circa 1966.

Worn by Jochen Rindt, Formula 1 world champion, Winner of the 2016 Autavia Cup contest

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AUTAVIA SAGA

Nicholas Foulkes has written for most national newspapers in Great Britain at one time or another in the last 25 years. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Financial Times How to Spend It, and The Rake. He is aslo a columnist on Country Life and is international arts correspondent on Newsweek. He is an internationally recognised authority on luxury travel, material culture, timepieces and the arts.

ref 3646, special transfer on the dial for Galli, Swiss retailer

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