HeuerAutavia

The Heuer Autavia 1163MH is a rarely seen variant, often mistaken for, and often lumped together with the more common Heuer 1163V ‘Viceroy’. To explain this, you need a little background on what it is not.

From May through December 1972, Heuer produced a series of Autavia chronographs that were offered by the Brown & Willaimson Tobacco Company as a promotion for Viceroy cigarettes. Customers could send carton tops and receive an Autavia chronograph (Reference 1163V) for $88. At the time, these "Viceroy" Autavias were being offered, Heuer dealers were offering comparable automatic Autavias (black dial with white registers) for a list price of $200.

At the same time as this hugely popular promotion was running, another virtually identical watch was languishing in retailers displays, the 1163MH. The difference was the bezel and the V. MH’s have minutes shown on the bezel with hours in small writing above, Viceroys have the same tachymeter bezel as the ‘Siffert’ and a V after the model number. That and $112 cost.

With such strong competition, these 1163MH watches were hard to sell which is which they are sometimes discovered as ‘New Old Stock’. This example is not unused but it’s well-preserved condition tells a similar story.

The piece sports a 17 jewel Calibre 12 automatic movement beneath black, applied luminous filled, polished baton hour markers, white outer 1/5^th second divisions with red five minute markers, silvered subsidiary dials at 3 and 9, date aperture at 6, polished pointed baton hands with luminous and red inserts and red chronograph hand.

The case is a brushed and polished tonneau construction with screw-down back with original red Heuer sticker, winding crown at 9, twin buttons at 2 and 4 and bi-directional calibrated bezel.

The watch is sold on its black leather strap with Heuer buckle and original stainless steel, Heuer-signed, Swiss Made Gay Freres ‘Beads of Rice’ bracelet. 

The watch is accompanied with an associated slip box and an additional Heuer box signed by Derek Bell, a racing driver often pictured wearing the Autavia.

The condition is excellent throughout, with signs of light wear commensurate with age and authenticity.

All watches offered for sale are searched and cleared against The Watch Register database and a certificate is available to the winning bidder upon request.

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