13 minute read
cOVER sTORY
sharmila Bertin
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Frédéric Arnault, blessed with prolific entrepreneurial spirit and daring vision on the market, joined TAG Heuer in 2017 before moving on a little less than two years ago to take over the reins of the watchmaking firm, specialist in sports watches, owned by LVMH Group since 1999. We had the good fortune to spend some time discussing with him about the Autavia collection and TAG Heuer’s future.
How long did it take to develop these three new Autavia pieces? What were your sources of inspiration?
The development of these new Autavia timepieces took around a year and a half. Our teams worked on several series of prototypes to perfect the design of these watches, in particular
as regards the dial and the pushers. Through these creations, we wished to pay tribute to the 60th anniversary of this iconic watch, which was the first wristwatch that Jack Heuer imagined. It’s worth knowing that the name Autavia comes from two of Heuer’s fields of expertise of the times, Automobile and Aviation; so, we drew our inspiration from three important features of its history: the pushers, the crown and the numerals on the dial, which were reproduced from the Autavia on-board chronometers dating from 1933 to 1957.
Why did you decide to produce a GMT version to celebrate this 60th anniversary?
Historically-speaking, Autavia is our collection dedicated to timing long-cycle time and, as such, it naturally conveys
frédéric arnaulT
Tag HEuEr cEo
the notion of travel. With this in mind, the addition of a GMT version to the threehand family makes perfect sense. What’s more, this new Autavia GMT conjures up the Autavia GMT pieces from the 1960s and 70s, which boasted two-tone bezels at the time. For this 2022 version, our teams modernized the bezel insert and made it extremely durable by using two-tone ceramic. And I think the result is highly successful!
The three models are not limited editions and that’s something rare for anniversary pieces. For what reasons?
Even though the three new TAG Heuer Autavia models are produced in quite small quantities, it’s true that they are not limited editions. As such, they can exist alongside TAG Heuer’s key collections and that’s important for us. The Autavia family of watches is really important for our manufacture; it’s one of the oldest names in the watchmaking business so it’s vital for us to preserve this collection.
In what ways does Autavia stand out from the other chronographs included in TAG Heuer’s catalogue, such as Carrera, Monaco and Formula 1?
As far as I’m concerned, Autavia really holds a special place in the TAG Heuer family. To answer your question precisely, I’d say it stands out in two ways. First of all, it boasts a pilot style that’s one-of-a-kind in our collection. This ever-so particular design is inspired by its original past as an on-board chronometer, with hours displayed by Arabic numerals, whereas our other collections generally tend to use baton-style appliqués apart from some limited-series pieces. Secondly, the Autavia collection is the only TAG Heuer chronograph family to feature a revolving bezel, which intrinsically differentiates it from the brand’s other chronograph collections which all have fixed bezels.
In the 1960s and 70s, automobile and aviation symbolized modernity and conquest; do you think this is still the case today?
The spirit of conquest is perhaps less prominent today than it was at the outset of these industries that changed our world, but I think that heading off in a plane or in a car is still synonymous with freedom, travel and unforgettable adventures for many people. And after the periods of restrictions we have just experienced, this feeling is more precious than ever.
In 2022, after having lived through two complicated years that disrupted our daily lives and obliged us to rethink our way of life, has your vision for TAG Heuer changed? Do you wish, like a lot of us, to shake up the codes, explore new avenues and perhaps occasionally take risks?
It’s true to say that the past two years were intense. Like our whole industry, we were impacted by the pandemic and although things seem to be going in the right direction now, there will most likely be some uncertainty in 2022. Having said that, the outlook is very encouraging for TAG Heuer: our product plan is sound and ambitious, our retail traffic has resumed in earnest and we’ve accelerated our digital transformation, which will enable us to cover 95% of our e-commerce markets by the end of the year. We also have a really intense product launch agenda, including highlyanticipated new models for our key collections, a major launch for the new TAG Heuer Connected generation and a host of wonderful surprises to come with our partners such as Porsche. Our teams remained agile, creative and met all the challenges that this crisis brought about. I’m extremely proud and I’m persuaded that we will come out of this difficult period even stronger. Opening new avenues, exploring and being at the cutting edge have always been part of our DNA since the firm was created back in 1860, and we will continue to innovate and pursue this route in the future.
60TH annivErsary of a lEgEnd
sharmila Bertin
The first-ever wristwatch imagined by Jack Heuer a short while after he joined the family-run business is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2022. The legendary Autavia, combining two industries that were rapidly evolving when it was created and a can’t-do-without piece in the history of modern-day watchmaking, continues to symbolize a desire for speed, a longing for freedom and a need to explore the world.
Two realms in a single watch
Although the first Autavia to be worn on the wrist was unveiled in 1962, with Jack Heuer in the driving seat, its name actually appeared back in the 1930s. “At the end of the 19th and the dawning of the 20th century, the Heuer family, in particular Édouard, realized something
"THE TimE of Trip was a vEry largE-sizEd clock To suiT vEHiclEs and aircrafT".
could be done around automobiles and aircraft, which were just taking off” explains Nicholas Biebuyck, appointed Heritage Director of TAG Heuer a year ago. Basically, the young Édouard Heuer (1840-1892), who had just turned twenty and who had opened his workshop in Saint-Imier, in the Berne Jura, in 1860, quickly grasped the potential of these two future industries that were rapidly evolving at the time and, above all, the usefulness of developing chronographs to accompany them. In the 1880s, his mechanical watchmaking innovations, especially the patented improvement of the oscillating pinion, enabled shortcycle time measurement to advance incredibly, and production to be rolled out in series. In 1911, the highly-creative Heuer designed “Time of Trip”, a sturdy round-shaped instrument, inserted in
Jack HEuEr crEaTEd THE auTavia wrisTwaTcH, EquippEd wiTH a roTaTing bEzEl and TacHymETEr in 1962.
car dashboards and aircraft instrument panels, which boasted a fluted monopusher crown at the bottom of the case that just needed to be gently tapped to trigger the mechanism that would display journey time (reason for its name Time of Trip). A red dot appeared instantly at 9 o’clock to confirm “trip” mode had been initiated, the duration was indicated accurately in a counter at 6 o’clock that echoed the small seconds set at 12 o’clock, whilst the running hours and minutes featured on the main dial. A second tap on the crown stopped the mechanism – the red dot was replaced by a white one – and a third tap would reset the device for the next journey. “And this was a very large clock that was suitable for both vehicles and aircraft. Well, aircraft mainly, and it would enable pilots to know how long they’d been flying and drivers how long they’d been driving”, pursues Nicholas Biebuyck before adding “As things evolved, the idea to create a smaller version came to mind. And, the Autavia was born out of this observation, this need for these two disciplines to have a smaller-scale on-board instrument that told the time and as well as measured time”. In a nutshell, in 1933, four decades after the death of Édouard Heuer who had passed the torch onto his children and, at a time when the firm was already well established in precision sports timing, the terms AUTomobile and AVIAtion, merged to create the name Autavia, a chronograph displaying seconds in the centre and minute (60) and hour (12) totalizers respectively at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock on the black dial, often accompanied on dashboards by a Hervue clock – “Really popular at the times” according to Nicholas Biebuyck – equipped with two central hands, a small seconds and a power reserve of eight days.
One man’s vision
Even though Heuer is synonymous with state-of-the-art watchmaking, one man would change the game by
bringing his daring nature and dynamic spirit to the family firm, which he joined after his studies. This man was Jack Heuer, great-grandson of the founder and fourth-generation descendent. Jack Heuer narrated his beginnings in an interview for the magazine L’Express in 2017: “I really became aware of the hold the brand had on the automobile world when, after graduating from Zurich Polytechnic University with my engineering diploma, my father offered me a MGA and I drove down to the Monte Carlo Rally in it as a journalist and observer. It was here that I discovered that twothirds of the drivers and cars were equipped with Autavia on-board counters and Heuer hand-held stop watches”*. Autavia became the first ever wristwatch imagined by Jack Heuer, in 1962, following a misadventure during a race where “(…) his co-driver read the time incorrectly and instead of finishing first, he finished third” explains Nicholas Biebuyck. And Jack Heuer specifies:
“We lost the race by just a minute. I was really frustrated and I decided to create a more readable on-board watch (...) We’d had classes over a semester to learn to create dials that were following a misadvEnTurE optimally readable in the heat of the THaT Jack HEuEr ExpEriEncEd, action”. Why did he decide to use a name conjured up by his grandfather in THE auTavia would bEcomE 1933? “Since the 1950s, brands a wrisTwaTcH in 1962. had a tendency to use references instead of names for their models but Jack, with his great feeling for design, marketing and communication, knew that this name wouldn’t just be attractive and easy to remember but would also be adaptable to a host of
languages” explains Nicholas Biebuyck. As such, the Autavia, a pioneer, proposed a dusky-hued rotating bezel featuring a tachymetric scale with light-coloured numerals; the contrast between the two shades resulted in fast data reading. The same play on opposition between light and shade invited itself in on the black dial set off with snailed, silvered counters. To ensure the idea of travel reigned, the watch was equipped with a second time zone in 1967. A myriad of variations, reeditions like the “Rindt” in 2016, special pieces like the 1,932 pieces produced for Jack Heuer’s 85th birthday in 2017 and the bronze versions showcased at Baselworld in 2019, to name but a few, were added to TAG Heuer’s catalogue over the years, making Autavia an everso rich collection. For Nicholas Biebuyck, whose job it is to analyse the past and observe its influence on the future, “The Autavia, the Carrera and the Monaco form the three fundamental pillars of the history of our firm, three chapters that tell really different stories, and its portfolio of products”.
Timeless design
60 years on and the legendary Autavia still epitomizes curiosity, a desire to wander the globe on land and on sea, and to open up new perspectives. The world has changed since it was created but, like any great adventurer, it has been able to adapt to today’s yearnings, has found its identity and has pursued its own route, and after two years of pandemic, it passionately embodies total freedom. Measuring time with no constraints whatsoever is literally its core ethos. “As far as I’m concerned, with the Autavia, there’s this idea of travelling long distances,
whether you’re on your motorbike for a solo round-the-world trip or on a boat crossing the Atlantic, something that can’t be measured in sixty minutes or in twelve hours but on another time zone” confides Nicholas Biebuyck. To celebrate this anniversary, TAG Heuer has unveiled a trio of 42 mmdiameter Autavia models comprising two chronographs with flyback function on a leather strap and a three-hand model hosting a date and GMT display on a link bracelet. Each of these steelfashioned pieces centre stages radically different styles of faces: a “panda” layout face for the version that feels quite Sixties with its silvered dial and two black totalizers, an elusive look similar to that of historic military watches such as the Flieger that Heuer launched back in 1935, emphasized by its black DLC coating, and a blue-tinted glow jazzed up by a bright orange-varnished hand. The two chronographs are driven by the new Calibre Heuer 02 COSC Flyback, a high-performing movement beating at 4 Hz and delivering a power reserve of 80 hours. Its skeletonized, blackened oscillating weight captivates as it twirls festively through the transparent caseback. The case, with its screwed crown and piston-style pushers, is enhanced with a bidirectional bezel featuring a ceramic ring with a carved-out scale, as such heightening the relief-effect even more. The white or green Super-LumiNova®filled applique-type Arabic numerals boost this three-dimensional allure, also magnified by the combination of sunburst, snailed and finelysandblasted surfaces. For the three-hand version, the calibre 7 COSC GMT breathes life into the ticking hours, minutes, seconds and second time zone, and animates the date display
THE auTavia cosc gmT inviTEs To gET away and dEligHT in ExquisiTE advEnTurEs, on land and on sEa.
EacH of THE nEw auTavia 60TH annivErsary piEcEs cEnTrE sTagEs radically diffErEnT sTylEs of facEs.
at 6 o’clock. Here, the face takes on a 24-hour scale with day/night indicator spread across the blue and black twotone ceramic insert of the bezel, hovered over by an orange arrow-tip hand, ensuring GMT reading is child’s play. This time round, the caseback is solid, waterproof to depths of 100 m and decorated with an engraving portraying the “nose” of a propeller plane, a tip of the hat to Autavia’s past and illustration of a major human saga.
* “La TAG Heuer Autavia racontée par Jack Heuer”, article in French by Vincent Daveau published in L’Express on 11 May 2017
