If I had to choose only one Heuer to keep, it would be this Autavia, the very first version of the Autavia chronograph, as introduced in 1963.
The Autavia is my favorite of the Heuer chronographs for several reasons:
- clean design
- great legibility
- the usefulness of a rotating bezel
Each of these features charcterized the Autavia throughout its years of production, but in terms of the overall package, I think that Heuer got it right the first time, with the very first model introduced in 1963. To my eye, the large registers and dauphine hands set this one apart from all the later Heuer chronographs. So if I could only keep one Heuer timepiece, this would be the one.
The link below will take you to some additional photographs of this Autavia, as well as a second sample of this version (just in case something were to happen to the one shown above).
Jeff
