TAG Heuer 273.006-1 / 2000 Series

TAG Heuer 273.006-1 Chrono / 2000 Series. c1986-90

Some of you might think I’m posting the same watch again, as this is the twin brother of the 273.306 Tachy I posted a few weeks ago. It’s essentially identical, but has a minute bezel instead of a tachy bezel. Nicely sized, at a width of 41mm, these 2000’s sit nicely on the wrist and have quiet a low profile. They are extremely well made too, with the factory beadblasted case, crown and pushers are very tool-like. Originally designed under Heuer, these black & silver dialed 2000 series chronographs are quite stunning when studied closely, especially when offset with creamy lume like this one. The ‘-1’ signifies that this was either a very early or very late version, most probably identical, but this is a common theme throughout the Heuer/TAG Heuer range when the model numbers were transitioned over from Heuer.

This model also featured the ‘super-quartz’ Calibre. 185 movement – it uses the Dubois Depraz 2000 chronograph module mated with a quartz engine.

It can be seen in the 1990 TAG Heuer catalogue on OTD. The model to the left in the catalogue (273.206) is identical but with a part polished case & bracelet.

TAG Heuer 273.306 / 2000 Series

TAG Heuer 273.306 Chrono Tachy / 2000 Series. c1986-90

Originally designed under Heuer, the 2000 series chronographs are great watches, personally I think they are stunning. The size and balance is spot on. This is a rarely seen model, which has a tachy scale bezel. These are more regularly seen with a Minute bezel, but is actually a different model number. As I mentioned, these were also sold as Heuers, and was marketed with the Pilot. Apart from in the catalogues, I’ve never seen a Heuer version , ever.. in fact, I’ve never seen another one of these in TAG guise. (Specifically with the Tachy bezel).

They are stunning in the flesh, with the silver subdials with concentric grooved circles. I particularly love the triangular hour markers, I’ve said it before about these early 2000 designs, they have a military/tool-ness to them, these have gone a delectable creamy colour too. The fluted pushes hints back to the early Heuers, and I know it sounds silly.. but you can see the DNA of the early Heuer Autavias in the design, with the charcoal/black dial and grooved sub dials. Again, this features the ‘super-quartz’ Calibre. 185 movement – it uses the Dubois Depraz 2000 chronograph module mated with a quartz engine.

A fellow collector (Thanks Rob) also pointed out that the dial is marked ‘Chronograph’ like on the earlier Heuer versions, TAG Heuer changed the lettering to ‘Professional’, so I can only deduct that this is a very early version from c1986.

I can’t actually find this in any TAG Heuer catalogue, primarily because they aren’t archived online or with collectors as much as the Heuer versions are. It is however seen in pre-TAG guise here on OTD. It’s brothers, with Minute bezels (273.206 & 273.006) can be seen in the 1990 TAG Heuer catalogue on OTD.

Omega Seamaster 300 166.0324

Omega Seamaster 300 166.0324 c1965 Serial No. No date.

First thing first, unfortunately this isn’t a true vintage NOS survivor. It’s from the stables of Australian Omega wizards Watchco. For those that aren’t familiar with their work, they create these watches from genuine NOS & new Omega parts and genuine NOS Omega movements.

You’ll have to forgive me, as I don’t know the finer details of the rich history of this model, so I won’t attempt to. There are plenty of superb Omega enthusiast sites out there with every detail artfully researched.

This one has case number 22,615,XXX, which puts it at 1965. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong! The case reference is 166.0324. It is fitted with a true NOS Omega Caliber 550 movement, which (as I understand it) was manufactured for the US market.

It sits on a Ref.1171/1/633 bracelet, which really looks great. I have tried it on an aftermarket sharkmesh, this looks great too – in fact, this watch looks the business on pretty much any strap!

A big thank you goes to the fellas over at Watchco.

Some further reading here:
http://chronomaddox.com/seamaster_3oo_a_history.html
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/a-week-on-the-wrist-omega-seamaster-300-master-co-axial

 

Heuer Autavia 1563 Tachy (Albino)

Heuer Autavia 1563 T, Cal. 15, c1972 ‘Albino’

I bought this watch a long while back.. about 17-18 months ago. It was a bit of a punt, as it had a few issues. It had an incorrect crystal, handset from a Heuer Calculator and odd looking lume. Apart from that, the case was untouched being nice and sharp, plus the bracelet looked good.

This example has the ‘fat boy’ case, like that on the 1163 ‘Orange Boy’ and Siffert, the case is stamped 1563.. some were stamped 1163. Both black and silver dial versions are seen here in the 1972 Caliber 15 brochure on OTD.

The cosmetic issues bothered me, the dial/hands/lume/mint insert looked disjointed. A bit like having a lovely old Sub with faded insert, beautiful brown aged lume on the dial, but with brand new white hands.. it’s not a BIG deal, but it just looks wrong... same with this watch. The handset was like new, bright orange, although from a Calculator (with a paddle central sweep chrono hand), the lume on the dial was greeny.. maybe a relume, with a mint insert. Non of these elements sat well with the lovely sunbleached dial. The orange accents on the sub-dial had faded gracefully to a yellowy hue , the minute track fading to almost white.

Together with my watch guy, we tried a correct orange handset, it looked better,  it was technically ‘factory correct’, but I still wasn’t ‘feeling it’ with the mixture of new & faded. (On a side note – whilst in this ‘factory correct’ state, this watch was  photographed for the Autavia book!)

Eventually a white Autavia handset was tried.. and it did look much better, and had an almost ‘Super KonTiki’ vibe about it. The lume was next to get treatment. I had considered having it scraped out of the tramline hour batons, but this could be a messy/risky job, so decided to try to tint the existing lume. I aimed for a traditional honey/coffee/tobacco colour, to complement the faded sub-dial. Armed with a 0000 sized brush, and a steady hand.. several applications of tint resulted in a surprisingly fantastic finish to the lume.. beautifully textured and mottled in just the right ‘honey tobacco brown’.

In the meantime, I had been fortunate enough to win a NOS Autavia crystal on ebay. Finally the watch was sent off to have the hands relumed. Jimbo did a fantastic job, the texture was bang on the money.. but to make it have the perfect match to the dial, I tinted the hand lume just a touch with the same method as I did the dial.

The bezel insert was looking ‘too new’, being factory gloss black,  so to bring it in line with the rest of the watch, I bleached it. It was a leap of faith, as I wasn’t sure what would happen. The silver of the lettering was dulled right down.. almost to matt white, but still with a hint of silver, more importantly, the gloss black had turned a really nice matt finish.

I’m now blown away by it.. the sum of the tweaked parts all come together to create something much more ‘whole’ and together. I know some may turn their nose up at it for having been artificially tinted lume, dulled down insert and an incorrect white handset, but I feel that the watch works much better in this state. For me, it’s a case of – it works better than if it was trying to be ‘factory’ correct. Plus, I’ve seen a few 1563’s over the years with heavily faded handsets and dials. Oddly, I have seen these with white hands before – sometimes called ‘Albino’, due to the loss of the colour accents. Just to finish it off perfectly, I made a distressed strap to match the lume.. and it really is a nice package now.. although, I have to admit, it looks wonderful on the signed Heuer  ‘Japan’ market Beads of Rice bracelet.

This whole process has made me realise that it is the very subtle aged accents that make a vintage watch so wonderful.. and without these ‘aged’ hints on all components, it looks wrong.

Heuer 510.501 Kenyan 82 Air Force ’82AF’ Military Issued

Heuer 510.501, 86.1000 Series, Lemania 5100. Military Issued 82 Air Force, Kenyan Air Force.

I’ll be honest.. when I bought this watch I originally thought it IDF issued, specifically from the Israel Air Force Helicopter Unit from the late ‘80’s. It came from a German trader who deals with a contact based in Haifa who buys direct from military personnel. It turns out it was not IDF at all…

Mil Hands
On a standard model, the main chrono hands are red-orange, and the tail end of the main sweep hands are black. Its common that the hand fade, but the black tail never fades. I’ve handled many Heuers with faded red hands and they fade to various colours – from pink to orange to yellowy, but never pure white.

It has been noted in the past, that some military issued Heuer were supplied with a different handset to the standard production models, often the handsets are white (as seen on IDF issued models). Heuer collector Arno Haslinger, who in a post on OTD, noted that often …“hands are white on IDF watches and orange on Argentina Airforce watches”.

82 AF 180 Markings
Like anyone buying a mil-watch, I wanted to find out the story behind the markings. I was optimistically confident that the military markings were genuine, but on the other hand, I couldn’t find any comparable evidence online to ‘back-up’ the markings. I mused that it’s highly unlikely that anyone would go the trouble of faking mil-markings that no one had ever seen before. If you’re going fake an IDF watch, just stamp M and 3 numbers, right?
Interestingly, I’ve seen many Lemania driven SAAF watches with the ‘AF’ marking accompanied by numbers, I guessed this proves the fact that AF is used for ‘Air Force’ in military watch marking, but I wasn’t sure..

http://forum.atgvintagewatches.com/showthread.php?t=3310

So, I asked the Mil watch experts…
I posted up on a few forums, MWR and OTD to see if anyone could help with identification. Many suggestions and theories were put forward, including Israeli Air Force Flight Academy graduation gifts, plus other suggestions that didn’t hold water. Eventually, a break-through.. I had a theory put forward that made sense..
Thanks to ‘NetMatrix’ (aka Paul) on OTD who put me in touch with an African Mil watch expert, Neil Herbert, based in South Africa. After exchanging several emails, Neil believed that these markings could well be Kenyan Air Force (KAF).. or part of KDF (Kenyan Defence Force).. Specifically ‘Air Force 82’.. as he has seen similar ’82 AF xxx’ markings on other mil issue equipment.

What is the 82 Air Force?
On 1st August 1982, there was a failed coup d’etat attempt to overthrow the Kenyan president. Lead by a group of Air Force officers (no aircrews), the failed attempt lead to the disbandment of the Air Force on 22nd Aug ’82. It was reconstituted shortly after under tight Army control under the name ’82 Air Force’ (or 82 AF). It regained independent status beginning of 1994.
Kenyan Air Force: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya_Air_Force

http://home.eblcom.ch/f5enthusiast/AirForces/KenyaAF.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_F-5_Tiger_II

KAF Northrop F-5 Tiger II Fighter Jets. Since 1978, it is the KAF’s main air defence fighter.

Kenyan AF 82 BAe Hawk Mk52, supplied around 1980, probably as a fast jet trainer.

Another Breakthrough..
Then, to my surprise, in January 2012, a fellow UK watch enthusiast, Dennis Davis, who had the very same model also with AF 82 markings, contacted me. Dennis’ example had a different issue no. 82 AF 163. He bought the watch several years ago, and at the time of purchase, the watchmaker thought the military markings were South African. The markings and their execution are identical to my example, with a unique number of course. This proves that the ‘82’ part is a constant, so reinforces the 82 Air Force theory. Both my example and Dennis’ have very heavily stuck markings, which was a worry with just one example, but with two, proves that they were simply struck with a rather heavy hand, as opposed to a bad ‘faking’.
Furthermore, as I type this out, there is another example on eBay, being sold by a Canadian dealer, which has the issue number 82 AF 112.

More 82 AF Heuers…
Apart from these three 510.501 Heuers, I knew of no other Heuers with 82 AF markings, then another break-through. A mil watch collector posted up 3-4 of his very rare military issued Autavias on OTD’s Heuer forum. One model, a 11063 from c82-85, also had 82 AF stamps on the caseback, very similar to those on the 510.501’s. Wonderful news, and confirmation that the Kenyan 82 Air Force were supplied with Heuers for issue.

Discussion on OTD when someone else owned it before me:
http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?md=read;id=31865

My Discussion on OTD:
http://chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?md=read;id=49963

My Discussion on MFW:
http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?t=47624

The Restoration..
So, many of you will be looking at the watch shouting.. it can’t be a 510.501 because that was the black PVD model. Yes, you are quite right.. it was.
The watch was in a bad way when I got it. Chipped & scratched glass that had been crudely glued in place, poorly fitted crown, that looked like it had been fitted with a monkey wrench – as there was a huge amount of PVD missing from around the crown area of the case with some gouging. The PVD was badly chipped everywhere. Now, I’m all for keeping a watch original, especially when it’s seen military service, but this one was bloody awful, so I set about doing a sympathetic restoration.

I decided to not touch the dial and hands, apart from remove the excess glue from the tachy ring (from where the crystal being glued in place). With the case, I opted to have it lightly bead-blasted, but keep it’s little dings, scrapes and ‘life history’. The crown had already been replaced with a like-for-like but in stainless steel, so I left that as it. The pushers I dismantled and painstakingly removed the PVD using very fine wet n dry paper and then polished to a high gloss with a cape code cloth.

I decided to fit a mil-style bracelet (with wider link gaps), similar to a genuine Heuer type seen on a mil Autavia I’d seen. I hunted around and found a great 22mm bracelet from Watch-band-centre. I could have fitted a straight 20mm bracelet, but these 510 series, along with many Heuers, were originally fitted with cut-in bracelets, so I custom filed the 22mm endlinks down to fit the 20mm lugged case. The bracelet was brush finished, so I sent that off with the case to get blasted. Although the case had already been blasted, it was done again to ensure a perfect match between bracelet and case. They both were treated to an ultra-sonic bath spa to get rid of all the grime.

Finally it went away to be re-assembled & have new glass and gaskets fitted (Thanks James), then sent away to Steve at Rytetime for a full overhaul and service. It’s taken 22 months to get to this stage, and I have to say it’s looking rather good – I’ve also opted to retains its slight wonky crown (stem), which I kinda like.. it connects it to it’s story. Part of me thinks it actually looks too clean, I’ve resisted dropping the case into a jar of nuts & bolts & giving it a good shake.. but I think it’s ready for another 30 years of abuse & wabi to collect on it.

Heuer Autavia 2446 H Jochen Rindt

Heuer Autavia 2446 H, 3rd Execution Screwback ‘Rindt’, Valjoux 72, 1968

I really do have a soft spot for the early Autavias, especially the v72 driven 2446’s, and this model is one of my favourites. Sure, the very early versions, especially the 1st Gen are beautiful, but they really are like hens teeth, and have a price tag to match.

Figuring out which exact generation is which isn’t that easy these days, as subtle differences have been found and this expands the generation line. A lot of work has been done recently by Rich Crosthwaite and Paul Gavin whilst researching their new book on the Autavia. (Buy it here).

The upshot is that some of the generations have minor differences in them, but still remain under the banner of one Mark. So, as an example there are 2 types of ‘Mk1’ (different hands) and so on.

As there is no ‘governing body’ on these matters, it’s actually all down to individual collectors own thoughts, but the majority would call this model the 3rd Gen. (3rd execution dial, 3rd execution hands, screw back case from 1968/9). This one has an Hour bezel, the most aesthetically pleasing in my mind, but it was also available in Minute and Tachy bezel formats. It’s more commonly known as the Rindt, as Jochen Rindt, the famous race driver wore this model (with minute bezel). Even this throws up some confusion, as some collectors loosely refer to any screw back model as a Rindt, which is technically incorrect.

The screwback generations are overall smaller in case size than the later compression cases, with an unusual 19mm lug too. They are rather beautiful, but oddly, they are quite difficult to capture properly in photos, it’s difficult to show their true essence. It sounds strange, but it’s a fine watch to actually handle – the sweeping elegant case lines, the superdome acrylic crystal, it has a warm feeling, if that makes sense, a true vintage piece with all the Autavia heritage connected to it. It really is special.

The Leather Racing Strap…
I get asked this a lot – it’s one I have hand made, I will be selling them soon, but haven’t yet set up a shop or anything. I’m advising people to follow me on Twitter, and I will publish updates direct to your phone when they are available.
My Twitter is @Heuerville

Further reading…
Valjoux 72 Technical manual
Dec 2005 Posting by Chuck Maddox on the V72

More info & Photos of Jochen Rindt & his watch here on fellow a Heuer enthusiasts excellent site..
http://gianvittorioheuer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/heuer-autavia-2446-m-jochen-rindt.html

Jochen’s wife, Nina, has a fascinating FB page, where she posts great old photos – well worth a visit..
Nina Rindt’s Facebook Page

Omega Speedmaster Mitsukoshi ‘Domino Dial’ Project

Omega Speedmaster Pro ‘Moonwatch’ 3570.50 with Mitsukoshi Dial

Amongst the Heuer community, there is a healthy respect for vintage Universal Geneve and Zenith chronographs. Some of them are stunning, and a few really caught my eye. I looked into them, as you do, and there were a few disappointments, namely they are fairly small, quite pricey, and very hard to find in the right condition. My thoughts turned to a white ‘panda’ dial Carrera, but again, these aren’t exactly easy to find…

Then I spotted an Omega ‘Mitsukoshi’ custom conversion online somewhere & I dug a little deeper. I loved the look of it so found myself a standard black dialed Speedmaster Pro, and sourced a handset & dial from Ofrei. The conversion was fairly straight forward, my watch guy making short work of the parts swap. Click here to see the original regular Speedmaster that I bought.

During my time with the standard model, I actually really liked it, and while I waited for the Mitsukoshi parts to arrive, I managed to grab a ’69 example as a part trade to fill the hole it would leave after the conversion.

So, what is a Mitsukoshi?  Put simply, released in 2003 it was a limited edition Speedmaster Pro of 300 released by Omega in conjunction with one of Japan’s most famous departments stores – Mitsukoshi (they have a selection of exclusive worldwide Japanese restaurants too). The watch is essentially a regular Speedy with steel handset and a ‘domino’ dial. They were available exclusively from their store(s) in Japan, although a handful collectors managed to buy internationally. It is a stunning clean design and the 300 sold out very quickly. They do become available on the second hand market now and then, but they command big bucks.

My conversion isn’t identical to a true Mitsukoshi, which has all steel hands. I opted for a slightly different hand set-up, as I thought it was more ‘vintage-esk’ in it’s look, more like the Universal Geneve’s and Zeniths I admire so much.. therefore I only had the hour and minute hands changed from painted white to steel. The central sweep chrono hand and the subdial pins remain painted white, which I think looks better.

Hanhart 417ES Flyback Flieger ‘McQueen’

Hanhart 417ES Flieger Chronograph ‘McQueen’ 1957 Stainless Steel case. Cal. 42/51* Flyback Handwind (1 of 500 made)

*Known by various names.. Large 16”’ 17-jewel Hanhart movement, variously described as a cal. 4054 (Antiquorum), a cal. 40 (von Halem), or a cal. 15 (Knirim).
From Ranfft: Breguet hairspring family: stem for wrist/pocket watch respectively: 42/52: 2 pushers, flyback.

Like most watch-hounds, I found myself browsing online for something diverse to add to the collection. I was drawn to a classic 60’s Heuer Carrera, but as lovely as they are, my one reservation was the smaller 36mm size. The guys over on the OTD Heuer forum urged me to give one a go, as they wear well. Other marques were also suggested, and my casual hunt continued. I started looking at old tool watches, Fliegers, etc. Then I happened upon this Hanhart 417ES. It was an impulse buy, being so different from anything else I own, and I’m glad I bagged it. The McQueen connection, the military history, and its rarity (500 made), easily sold it to me.  There is also a 1 in 500 chance this was McQueens actual watch.. OK, OK, wishful thinking. One thing that I am certain off, this is one ice cool vintage watch.

Hanhart (founded 1882) produced Fliegers during WWII for the German Luftwaffe. Following the war the Black Forest region, where Hanhart were located, was part of the French Occupation Zone. As  part of the German reparation payments to France, watches were produced by Hanhart under the Vixa (Type 20) name for the French military. In 1956/7 Hanhart were allowed to go back to making their own signed watches, and continued to make the Flieger for the Luftwaffe & commanders of Naval vessels, including U-Boats and Destroyers – the 417E (brass case) and ES (stainless steel case). The 417 was short lived, and in 1958 the Hanhart was replaced by the Junghans (J88) as issued equipment. In c1967 the Heuer Bund replaced the Junghans. By coincidence Hanhart is celebrating 130 years this year.

Hanhart & McQueen Research
The world of military watches, especially the history of Hanhart is a researching minefield, almost too much information, some contradictory, some vague. I’ll do my best to condense the facts on these pages, but I apologise if any info is inaccurate. Feel free to post comments with any corrections or extra info.

417ES – McQueen’s toolwatch
McQueen is the undoubted king of cool, and had a love for machines and watches. Most notably the Rolex 5512 Sub and the legendary Heuer Monaco 1153B. But what was Steve’s go-to tool watch when he was going to ride or race his beloved motorbikes? Yep, the Hanhart 417 ES.

When ‘thekingofcool.com’ informed Hanhart about this, they had no idea and were pleasantly surprised to find that this was one of McQueens favourite watches. Hanhart carefully studied photographs of Steve at the ’64 IDST, and confirmed that it was a 417ES, and some time later reintroduced a re-edition of 64 pieces.
The original of the watch is touched on by ‘thekingofcool.com’…

“It is not documented how and where McQueen obtained his watch, but in the last war a Hanhart was considered highly covetable by American pilots and quite a few would have made the journey home across the Atlantic after the conflict. Alternatively, he might have acquired it during the filming of The Great Escape, But McQueen was an incorrigible collector of all things mechanical and it is no surprise that he would have valued owning such a rare and historic pieces.”

1964 39^th International Six Days Trial (ISDT)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Six_Days_Enduro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR6_Trophy#Steve_McQueen_and_the_1964_International_Six_Day_Trials

Amazing read on McQueen & the ISDT…
http://federicodecalifornia.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/mcqueen-america-take-on-the-world-isdt-%E2%80%A2-east-germany-1964/

The ISDT was, and still is the highlight in the off-road motorcycle calendar, it’s the oldest, toughest and most respected of events… sort of an Olympics of the FIM.
FIM link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Internationale_de_Motocyclisme

McQueen was part of the US team that competed in the ‘64 event, held in Erfurt, East Germany. This was the first time the US had taken part in the event as a team. Throughout the event, McQueens trusty Hanhart sat on his (right) wrist, whether battling the gruelling trials or relaxing in-between, it was his tough-as-nails tool watch. He was part of a five man team, representing the best riders in the US… His teammates were brothers Dave & Bud Ekins from Hollywood, John Steen and Cliff Coleman. Their rides were Triumphs – brand new TR6SC’s and T100Sc’s. Bud Elkins is one of the most famous and respected motorcyclists ever, with a whole raft of medals to his name. (He was the guy who jumped 65 feet in the barbed wire fence in McQueen’s famous ‘Great Escape’ scene in ’62)

McQueen loved the ISDT event, he proudly carried the stars & stripes at the opening ceremony, in this right hand, and of course, accompanied by the Hanhart. Cliff Coleman achieved third place in the up to 750 cc class and Dave Ekins gained fifth place in the 500 cc. Bud Ekins and Steve McQueen both crashed out on the third day, Ekins with a broken ankle. (The Steve McQueen bike has been rediscovered and is now owned by Sean and Catherine Kelly of Johnson Motors.)
http://www.johnsonmotorsinc.com/speedshop/40summers.htm

There are a mountain of photographs from the event, many fill the book ‘Steve McQueen – 40 Summers Ago’. Spectacular photos show him battling the ISDT course on his Triumph TR6, with his now infamous comp. number 278. http://www.motorcycle.com/products/steve-mcqueen-40-summers-ago-12731.html

There is another book, a LE or 1000 with additional photos, by photographer Francois Gragnon, simply titled ‘Steve’.. http://www.dadsstyle.com/valvebounce/2009/03/steve-mcqueen-isdt-photographs.html

The 417ES is also seen in many other photos of McQueen throughout  his life, it was clearly a favourite. He wore it whilst filming The War Lover http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Lover

 

Links/more reading..

Hanhart website

Hanhart History

Hodinkee Article

German Militray watches, post WWII by expert Konrad Knirim

German Military watch site

Dating a Hanhart

ISDT Photos/Info and more ISDT here

WatchWiki
http://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=HANHART_AG/en

More on the Type 20..
http://www.finertimes.com/asp/articles/type20.asp

More on the ISDT 64 Team
http://budanddaveekins.com/stories-photos/isdt.cfm

More McQueen Pics
https://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/steve-mcqueen-hollywoods-own-true-son-of-liberty/

TAG Heuer 980.023N Deep Dive 1000m

TAG Heuer 980.023N Deep Dive 1000m (3300 ft), c1986-91

The fantastic Heuer 1000m tool watch was not canned when TAG acquired Heuer, they continued to build this stunning watch, pretty much identical to the earlier Heuer version right up to c1993. The ‘N’ at the end of the model code simply marks the fact that there are small differences between it and the Heuer version – most notable, and obvious, is the TAG Heuer shield on the dial. It most probably has a different ETA quartz movement too, but I haven’t opened up the caseback to verify this. (The suffix letters were never referred to in catalogues).

I’ve noted that early versions of this 1000m TAG Heuer version has a larger pre-TAG crown (seen in the early catalogues). This example has a crown with a  slightly different design and is signed TAG Heuer, so it is either a later model, when TAG finally ‘shed’ any cross-over parts, or a service crown fitted by TH.  These crowns can be seen on many other 980.023N’s.

Seen here in the 1987/8 Catalogue on Calibre 11’s fantastic catalogue archive. (Scan 38, 1/3 down the page)

This model was considered a top of the line tool watch by TAG Heuer, the catalogue describing it as…
“Super water-resistant – Model from the top of the TAG-Heuer’s range of professional diving watches. Water-resistance 1000 M (3300 ft), Quartz, date, stainless steel case, screw-in crown, uni-directional turning bezel 0-60 minute with ratchet. Mineral glass. Available with steel bracelet or rubber strap. Special: 1000m/quartz. Perfect perception of time to 1000m in depth”

The crystal glass is actually constructed in a ‘top hat’ shape and is held in place with a special design screw down ring.
The model actually survived into the early 1990’s. It can be seen with the same model code in the 1991 catalogue. However, in the 1992/3 catalogue, the model code changes to WB1111, a time when TAG Heuer overhauled their model codes to a new system. It is shown next to the rarely seen black PVD Super Professional, still clearly a tool watch to top the range.

Heuer AMI 1000 Series 510.543

Heuer Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) 1000 Series 510.543 (Civilian)

I can’t quite believe I’ve managed to get my grubby paws on this beauty. As Jeff Stein says over on OTD, “This is one of Heuer’s “cult” watches — collectors chase them for years; they appear suddenly and vanish even more quickly”.

This isn’t actually an issued watch – hence why it says ‘Civilian’, it was custom for a prolific collector known to most Heueristas (Davis D). Built using an identical case from Sinn, that was used in the factory Heuer AMI’s. It was professionally overhauled, case back was stripped of the SInn markings, given a circular brush effect, and had NOS AMI dial, handset, pushers, crown and seals, plus a completely overhauled movement. Ok, technically it’s a franken to the purist, but I couldn’t care less.. it’s ice cool. The only notable difference is that the day/date is English black on white instead of Italian white on black, but I have seen another AMI with black on white – so I’m not sure about that being a ‘rule’. I’ve fitted it on the bracelet from my Super Professional, which suits it perfectly and fits like a glove. The head isn’t massive, it’s not as big as the Heuer 510.50X series, but is wonderfully shaped, and I prefer the brush effect to the factory bead blasted finish.

I have to admit, I don’t know the full history behind these watches, but one thing is certain, they are rare and very hard to come by.
Clearly built for the Italian Air Force, or ‘Aeronautica Militare Italiana’, they seem to come from around 1982-4. It’s part of Heuer ‘1000 Series’ of Lemania 5100 driven models, all with a similar design. The dial features the AMI initials & wings, and the 3H symbol often seen on military watches. I believe that this is a military symbol to indicate Tritium in the lume, with H-3 being the chemical symbol (hydrogen-3 isotope).

Further reading about the Lemania 5100 driven Heuers can be found on Caliber 11 here.