www.heuerchronographs.com

: I love it when two collecting hobbies come together:

:

: I started collecting Autocourse (a motorsport annual that's been
: going as long as the Formula 1 World Championship (i.e. 1950) if
: anyone is unfamiliar with it) long before I started collecting
: Heuers. It's cheaper for a start, although an early 60s annual
: with mint dust jacket (which sadly rarely exist any more) would
: cost about the same as a Viceroy did not very long ago at all!
: It fuelled an interest in Formula 1 that still goes strong
: today, and my colours have always been nailed firmly to the
: Ferrari mast - though I have dallied with the occasional
: non-Ferrari pilot as my favourite driver from time to time. Too
: young for the usual Heuer-related drivers (I had my first
: birthday 12 days after Jochen Rindt had sadly been killed at
: Monza), I settled on my favourite driver the best part of a
: decade later - the force of nature that was Gilles Villeneuve,
: also sadly to die in an F1 car a few years later. So I guess
: that implanted the Heuer shield somewhere in the base of my
: (collecting-prone!) mind.

: At that time, Heuer and Ferrari had a close relationship
: (thankfully I'm just old enough to remember that and not just
: make the association between Tag-Heuer and that awful
: "grey" team ;) ) and every season the Ferrari drivers
: (and a few more who had a relationship with Heuer) were
: presented with a Heuer Carrera - the 18K gold 1158 CHN:

:

: It's also a personal favourite of Jack Heuer - the relationship
: between Heuer and a driver seems to be synonymous with the
: relationship Jack Heuer had with same driver.

: And I've now managed to get one, just a couple of weeks after just
: missing out on another! This one comes from its first owner (via
: a dealer), complete with original papers from 1975. Hence the
: 1975 edition of Autocourse. Coincidentally a year in which
: Ferrari won both constructors and drivers championships (with
: Niki Lauda). The 1158 was actually made for a remarkably long
: time for a Heuer, but only ever in pretty small numbers - the
: number TH give is a total of 150 made. There was a version with
: champagne registers too (1158 CH) but, for me, the most
: desirable has to be this 1158 CHN with black registers in an
: early edition with white-on-black date dial - later ones
: reverted to a more familiar black-on-white, which I personally
: find less attractive.

:

: The watch is in great condition, even down to the lume on the
: hands. I'm so happy to have one because of the resonance it has
: for me - I'm sorry to have wittered on for so long about a tool
: watch in gold that many of you may not even like, but I'm quite
: excited by it :)))