Vintage Heuer Autavia ' Siffert ' Chronograph Watch Ref 1163
Item History & Price
For Your Consideration: A 1970s Heuer Autavia Ref 1163 featuring the Heuer Cal 11 automatic chronograph movement. Known at the 'Siffert' Autavia after the famous racecar driver Jo Siffert. The watch is currently running and operating as it should, and is sold as-is with no reserve. Please ask any and all questions prior to bidding!
From an online article on the 'Jo Siffert' Autavia:
There are some watches that have become, for lack of a better word, legendary. Whether technically... or historically significant, beloved of a famous person, or just plain cool, each watch brand has one model that’s regarded as quintessential. For Heuer, that model is without question the Autavia.Heuer released its first Autavia dashboard timer in 1933. This clock used the Valjoux 59 movement and had a large pusher at 9 o’clock. Released from 1933 to 1958, the somewhat cluttered appearance of the dial led to its complete redesign by the great-grandson of the company’s founder, Jack Heuer.A year after joining the family company, Jack found himself in the cockpit of a racing car as navigator. The dial of the Autavia dashboard timer in the car proved too hard to read in the car’s bone-shaking interior, and he misread the dial by a minute. Infuriated, Jack set about to make the Autavia easier to read, giving it a large central minute hand.When he assumed leadership of the company a few years later, he saw the potential for the dashboard timer to transition to the wrist. What followed was the Autavia wrist chronograph, the first wristwatch Heuer ever released to have a model name. The Autavia also made waves in that it was the first automotive-inspired watch to be released with race car driving as its sole inspiration.After all, the Rolex Daytona was a few years from existence, and even though the Omega Speedmaster was initially advertised as a racing watch, it found applications in less terrestrial pursuits.Soon the Autavia attracted the attention of Formula 1 drivers, with people like Jochen Rindt sporting Autavias on the wrist. And the cushion-case variants powered by the Chronomatic movement found even more notoriety when a certain Swiss driver started hawking them on the racing grid. In fact, his enthusiasm for one particular reference of Autavia led to its being known by his name in collector circles.For many collectors, the “Jo Siffert” Autavia—Reference 1163—is the Autavia to own. Aesthetically and technically, it has it all. It combines the game-changing Chronomatic movement with a cushion case that’s eminently comfortable on the wrist, as well as a sprightly color way marked by the bright blue of the chronograph hand.But it’s perhaps best-loved by petrolheads for its association with Jo Siffert. Simply put, Siffert loved racing. His humble beginnings—paying race entry fees by selling wildflowers or scrap metal—as a privateer in the Formula 1 racing circuit, plus his dogged persistence, made him one of the sport’s most popular icons.And he was one of the first drivers to adopt Heuer’s new chronograph design, appearing with it in press conferences, even selling it to other drivers right on the race track.
From an online article on the 'Jo Siffert' Autavia:
There are some watches that have become, for lack of a better word, legendary. Whether technically... or historically significant, beloved of a famous person, or just plain cool, each watch brand has one model that’s regarded as quintessential. For Heuer, that model is without question the Autavia.Heuer released its first Autavia dashboard timer in 1933. This clock used the Valjoux 59 movement and had a large pusher at 9 o’clock. Released from 1933 to 1958, the somewhat cluttered appearance of the dial led to its complete redesign by the great-grandson of the company’s founder, Jack Heuer.A year after joining the family company, Jack found himself in the cockpit of a racing car as navigator. The dial of the Autavia dashboard timer in the car proved too hard to read in the car’s bone-shaking interior, and he misread the dial by a minute. Infuriated, Jack set about to make the Autavia easier to read, giving it a large central minute hand.When he assumed leadership of the company a few years later, he saw the potential for the dashboard timer to transition to the wrist. What followed was the Autavia wrist chronograph, the first wristwatch Heuer ever released to have a model name. The Autavia also made waves in that it was the first automotive-inspired watch to be released with race car driving as its sole inspiration.After all, the Rolex Daytona was a few years from existence, and even though the Omega Speedmaster was initially advertised as a racing watch, it found applications in less terrestrial pursuits.Soon the Autavia attracted the attention of Formula 1 drivers, with people like Jochen Rindt sporting Autavias on the wrist. And the cushion-case variants powered by the Chronomatic movement found even more notoriety when a certain Swiss driver started hawking them on the racing grid. In fact, his enthusiasm for one particular reference of Autavia led to its being known by his name in collector circles.For many collectors, the “Jo Siffert” Autavia—Reference 1163—is the Autavia to own. Aesthetically and technically, it has it all. It combines the game-changing Chronomatic movement with a cushion case that’s eminently comfortable on the wrist, as well as a sprightly color way marked by the bright blue of the chronograph hand.But it’s perhaps best-loved by petrolheads for its association with Jo Siffert. Simply put, Siffert loved racing. His humble beginnings—paying race entry fees by selling wildflowers or scrap metal—as a privateer in the Formula 1 racing circuit, plus his dogged persistence, made him one of the sport’s most popular icons.And he was one of the first drivers to adopt Heuer’s new chronograph design, appearing with it in press conferences, even selling it to other drivers right on the race track.
