WRIST ICONS brings you an incredible great example of the Heur Autavia Siffert Mark 2 with original box and COMPLETED papers(rare)! This is one of the most collectible models from all Heuers. It is just a plain sexy watch with the panda dial and blue accents. A watch that was worn by one of the best drivers of the 60s, the legendary Daytona winner Jo Siffert.

In the second generation, introduced in late 1969, such as the present watch, the name "Chromatic" was replaced by "Autavia", as Heuer had ceded the “Chronomatic” name to Bretiling. However, the second generation is still fitted with the very much sough-after "ridged" hour markers.

The watch was sold on March 4, 1971 in BangKok, Thailand, by the company Bribubdha R.O.P. and has an original Gay Freres bracelet, which was the costlier option.

This piece just came back from a complete service at Abel Court in is in excellent condition!

Heuer and motorsport

The origin of the name Autavia goes back to 1933, when Heuer designed its first dash counter for racing cars, boats and aircraft. The name was a contraction of AUTomobile and AVIAtion.

Almost three decades later, in the autumn of 1961, Jack Heuer, the fourth generation head of the company, decided to create a new wrist chronograph with a turning bezel, a first for the Swiss brand.

It was also the first wristwatch personally created by Jack Heuer for the company. He chose to name it “Autavia”, just like the 1933 ancestor. The watch was successfully launched in 1962 soon gaining icon status  in the automotive world.

Its ambassadors were the greatest Formula 1 drivers of the 1960s and 1970s: Jo Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, Clay Regazzoni, Mario Andretti, and Gilles Villeneuve among the others.

Jo Siffert

Jo ‘Seppi’ Siffert, who wore one of the rarest of them all, the Autavia 1163 with a white dial and blue details, and that is the watch you’re looking at. This composition with the white dial is has been produced only about 1000 times and had an ambassador of its own; Jo Siffert. Siffert who was known to be a Heuer fan since the Autavia’s introduction wore his white automatic chronograph with pride until he crashed in 1971. Since that moment his name lives on with the story of this watch. The ‘Jo Siffert’ Autavia might be the most desired 1163 of them all with its pretty panda dial.

Some little side note: Siffert was a close friend of Steve McQueen's and is often credited with convincing him to wear a Heuer during the filming of LeMans.  McQueen was also known to have worn a Siffert Autavia.

Caliber 11, the race for the first automatic chronograph movement

During the 60s there was a big race between several watch manufacturers to become the first one to launch an automatic chronograph. Zenith was the first one to introduce one to present their El primero. But it in April 1969 it became the consortium of Buren, Breitling and Heuer who were the first ones to show their automatic chronographs at Basel World. Heuer enlisted the watchmaker Buren who developed a micro-rotor automatic movement.  These were the Chronomatic watches with the Caliber 11. The Caliber 11 movement employed a modular construction, mating Buren’s micro-rotor powered watch movement with a chronograph module developed by Dubois Depraz. Because of the rush to become the first to introduce an automatic chronograph to the market, this groundbreaking Heuer movement needed some improvements shortly after the release and in 1970 the calibre 11i was released fine tuning the movement.

Although the Zenith El Primero has a very nice column wheel, watchmakers prefer to service the less complex Caliber 11.

Condition:

This stunning example of the Heuer 1163 T Jo Siffert Autavia Mark 2 has just been completely serviced by Abel Court. The watch comes with its original box and written papers.

• Case: this 1163 T Mk2 Siffert case is in excellent condition. The case has certainly been worn, with superficial scratches throughout. The case. Has been refinished by Abel Court. This is the best known watchmaker to service Heuer watches.
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• These cases are notoriously difficult to polish, with the aforementioned lines being the hardest. This example, has perfect lines going through. This 1163T has  its sunburst finish on the top, brushed sides and thick bevels throughout. When you examine the case you will see that the brush marks are still visible on the top side of the case (also some scratches), the straight-line lugs are sharp and  thick, and the side profile is as it should be, grained on the front and the sides. It has a slight shine/polish look to it from what I think is many years of wearing. The bevels on the lugs are polished, The unique reference number is also visible between the lugs and the case comes with the original Heuer signed crown. Overall, the exceptional finishing of the Heuer 1163 T Jo Siffert Autavia is noteworthy, both for its design and execution. It is an really honest and exceptionally original example of a Siffert MK2.
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• Dial and hands: similarly to the case, the panda dial is in very nice vintage condition, the base of the dial has a really nice warm patina with a kind of creamy colour which is common to this dial. The large two-tone dial is silvered with applied steel markers (with ridges), no indexes at 3,6,9, two subsidiary engine-turned  black dials for the 12-hour and 30-minute registers, and a rimmed date at 6h. The polished hands with luminous inserts are continued from the first version.  The hour recorder has numbers 3-6-9-12. Later versions have all hours marked from 1 to 12. The blue chronograph hand corresponds with the blue 5-minute/5-second markers on the 1/5th second outer black division. The domed glass is acrylic
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• Movement: the watch carries the above-mentioned self-winding Calibre 11. The movement is signed on the bridge, rhodium plated, mechanical, self-winding, with micro-rotor, 17 jewels, monometallic balance, flat balance spring, shock absorber. The movement has just been serviced by Abel Court. The movement has a bi-directional central rotor, beating at 19,800 A/h, with a power reserve of 42-hours. The movement is clean, and during the time of testing the watch was fully functional.
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• Bracelet:this watch comes with afrsh refurbished Gay Freres bracelet with a Heuer signed clasp

Overall, the exceptional finishing of the Heuer 1163 T Jo Siffert Autavia Mark is noteworthy, both for its design and execution. This steel Heuer 1163 T Jo Siffert Autavia Mark) is remarkably well preserved.

As with all of our pre-owned watches this watch comes with a full 12 month warranty with ourselves that will be invoked from the day of purchase.

Viewings can be arranged at our office by appointment.

As with all of our pre-owned watches this watch comes with a full 12 month WRIST ICONS warranty that will be invoked from the day of purchase. Please check our website to have a look at the high resolution pictures on a macro level. You will see every detail at its best.

Specifications:

• Brand: Heuer
• Model: Autavia Siffert MK2
• Reference: 1163T
• Year: circa 1971
• Case: The left-handed tonneau-shaped stainless steel case is fitted with a bi-directional rotating steel bezel with tachymeter scale indicating 63 to 400 Km/h. The reference number « 1163 » is marked between the lugs at 12h, and the case number « 1415xx » is engraved at 6h. The screwed case back is polished and brushed. The winding-crown is left-handed and bears the logo Heuer. The fluted chronograph pushers are integrated into the case on the right side. polished and brushed tonneau shaped stainless steel case with a three-body construction: a steel case, a snap on interchangeable black graduated bi-directional revolving 24 hour GMT bezel with a good sharp resistance and an affirmative "Click", a screwed-down case back. The inside of the caseback is  signed with HEUER, LEONIDAS SA SWISS SSTAINLESS STEEL . The outside of the caseback is not signed. The case is finished with straight lapidated lugs, and round faceted chronograph buttons and a stainless steel Heuer signed winding crown.
• Dimensions case. 43mm in diameter (excluding crown & pushers) 47.5 mm lug tip to lug tip with 20mm lug spacing.
• Glass: plexiglass
• Dial: white dial with HEUER logo and AUTAVIA written above the logo. There is a date window at 6 o’clock  with SWISS written above and AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH  on top of that.. The dial has ridged baton hour markers with luminous material which have tritium. There are two black subsidiary guilloche silvered registers for the chronograph and seconds which contrast to the matte black main dial. At the border of the dial there is a scale consisting of red 5 minute markers, seconds markers and 1/5th seconds divisions. The dial has brushed steel silver hands with tritium material starting at 1/3^rd of  the center to the end  and a beautiful blue seconds hand.
• Movement: The Caliber 11 movement uses 17 jewels and Incabloc shock-protection. The movement measures 13.75 ligne, with a diameter of 31mm and a height of 7.7mm. The frequency was 19,800 vibrations per hour, with a power reserve of 42 hours.
• Strap: offered with a genuine Heuer signed gay Freres grain bracelet with a genuine Heuer signed buckle.
•  Condition: Very good condition