Auctions: Nine Vintage Heuers To Watch At Sotheby’s This Week
In early October, I spoke to Geoff Hess, Global Head of Watches at Sotheby’s, on the stage of our UBS House of Craft in New York. The talk was billed as “Auction Season Insights,” and over the course of an hour, I probed Hess about the intricacies of running a watch auction. Among my primary curiosities was the process of creating and curating a catalog at a major auction house. Hess’s answer will stick with me. He stressed the importance of watches with a story over “hype” watches that are certain to sell in the six figures. Sure, on-trend, high-dollar lots will always be there, he conceded, but the emphasis at Sotheby’s is to offer the collector a watch with provenance, something that evokes feeling and emotion.
When the catalog for the Sotheby’s New York Important Watches sale on December 6th dropped a few weeks ago, I saw that emphasis in action. Among the watches with a story Hess and team are offering this Friday is a group of vintage Heuers, comprising 38 lots, many with direct ties to motorsport.
Jo Siffert.
Racing was in Heuer’s blood back then and is still in TAG Heuer’s brand identity today—look no further than the brand’s call out in LVMH’s 10-year partnership announcement with F1. Today’s luxury industrial complex requires becoming a “Global Partner,” a well-lit deal signing photo shoot, and a fee rumored to be $100 million annually. In 1968, Jack Heuer paid Swiss F1 and endurance driver Jo Siffert 25,000 CHF a year and allowed him to buy Heuers at wholesale prices.
This partnership, described by many to be the first sports ambassador deal in watch history, changed Heuer forever. Sure, by the late 1960s, most of the Heuer catalog was aimed at motorsport, but Siffert’s influence (and desire for personal profit) put a Heuer on the wrist of almost every driver he came in contact with. Siffert was said to have been pitching his fellow drivers on the starting grid, minutes before racing.
Steve McQueen in 1971’s LeMans.
The man who many think of when they think of vintage Heuer today is Steve McQueen. Obviously, McQueen wore a Monaco in 1971’s LeMans (one of the watches from the set is Lot 128 at Sotheby’s; we covered the backstory of that watch here). But few people recognize McQueen’s muse – Jo Siffert. The rumor is McQueen was obsessed with looking like Siffert. The guy was really, really cool, and the “King of Cool” recognized it. I mean, McQueen looks exactly like Siffert in the film, from the Porsche 917 right down to the white race suit with Heuer branding, shaggy hair, and, of course, the Heuer watch.
All this to say, without Jo Siffert and his influence, Steve McQueen likely would not have worn the Monaco in LeMans and Heuer would not have such a deep tie to motorsport. But he did wear a Heuer and the brand does have a deep tie to racing. Here are the watches from Sotheby’s on Friday that flaunt and embody this direct connection.
Autavia ‘Rindt’ Ref. 2446 Presented to John Maclay, Ford Zodiac Endurance Run at Monza 1966
Lot 110 – Heuer Autavia “Rindt” Ref. 2446. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
John Maclay was one of five drivers chosen by Ford to participate in the Zodiac Endurance Run at Monza in 1966. In the latest model of Ford’s Zodiac Executive saloon, complete with a new Essex 3-liter V6 engine, these five drivers went full out around the Monza track for seven days and nights. In three-hour stints, this was a major test of driver and car. Maclay and Co. maintained speeds of over 100 mph in the end, completing 6,658 laps and setting nine class records (listed in the Sotheby’s lot description).
John Maclay and his co-drivers. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The Heuer Autavia “Rindt” – named for Jochen Rindt, this Heuer variant’s most famed wearer – for sale here was presented to Maclay to commemorate the successes of the Zodiac Endurance Run. It is engraved on the caseback and is accompanied by enough supporting materials to make any historical nut go crazy. The estimate is $15,000 to $30,000.
Autavia Ref. 3646 Awarded to Tony Adamowicz, SCCA Driver of the Year 1968
Lot 112 – Heuer Autavia “MotorAge” Ref. 3646. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Tony Adamowicz was a U.S. government employee in the White House during the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations. Oh, and he also raced a Porsche 911 against far more powerful Corvettes and Camaros in the SCCA Trans Am series of 1968.
After wrecking during the first race of the season at Daytona, Adamowicz rallied back and ended up taking first in Class twice (Lime Rock Park, Bridgehampton) and second in Class twice (War Bonnet, Mid-Ohio) before finishing the season as the champion of the “Under 2 Liter” Class. Along with the class win, motor/age chose Adamowicz as the 1968 SCCA driver of the year, presenting him with this Heuer Autavia at the SCCA convention awards banquet.
Tony Adamowicz. Image courtesy of Barry Tenin.
Traditionally, the two-register ref. 3646 Autavia is less attractive to collectors than the three-register equipped ref. 2446. But that all changes with a logo dial. And it especially changes with racing provenance. Two other motor/age Autavias sit in the TAG Heuer Museum archives. The estimate is $15,000 to $30,000.
Autavia Ref. 1163 for Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing Team 1971
Lot 119 – Heuer Autavia Ref. 1163 for Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing Team was founded in 1969 by Velko “Vel” Miletich and Rufus Parnell “Parnelli” Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis 500 champion. Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Indy 500 was a part of the United States Automobile Club (USAC) championship series.
Jones’s team competed in the USAC series and was quick to succeed in winning both the 1970 and 1971 championships. The success was by quite a margin, the team won 10 of the 17 races in 1970 and 6 of the 12 races in 1971 – taking the Indy 500 both years. To celebrate the back-to-back championships, Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing ordered Heuer Autavia chronographs for the team. The run was rumored to be 12 or 15 watches in total.
Lot 119 – Heuer Autavia Ref. 1163 for Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
This Autavia is one of those 12 to 15 with a strong engraving on the caseback and direct ties to a Vel’s Parnelli Jones team member, Steve. Steve’s team-issued coat is included with the watch as well, which is pretty cool. Can you pull off the full look, “Steve” coat, and Autavia to match? The estimate is $10,000 to $20,000.
Carrera Ref. 11553 for the 1974 McLaren F1 World Constructors’ Championship
Lot 122 – Heuer Carrera Ref. 11553 For McLaren F1 team. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The McLaren racing team was established by Bruce McLaren in 1963 and has become the second-oldest active F1 team and the second-most successful team, trailing Ferrari in both. Relevant to this, Heuer Carrera is McLaren’s first F1 World Constructors’ Championship in 1974. In this season, the Marlboro Team Texaco Mclaren-Ford M23 cars of Emerson Fittipaldi and Denny Hulme sported the Heuer logo, and Heuer timing equipment was used by the team.
If you don’t have the over $1 million required to add a McLaren M23 to your garage, this Carrera is about as good as you’re going to get. Ordered in a batch of about 20 watches, these were presented to the drivers and other members of the McLaren team to celebrate the 1974 championship. The estimate is $15,000 to $30,000.
Timing Board with Two Autavia Dashboard Timers Co-signed by Abercrombie & Fitch Used by Eisert Racing Enterprises
Lot 126 – Heuer Timing Set. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Directly from the collection of the world’s most ardent and enthusiastic Heuer collector, Jeff Stein, this timing set is less a board with two Autavia timers and more a piece of motorsport history. The board is believed to have been purchased in the 1950s (due to the age of the timers) and was used up until 1973.
Per Stein’s research and the materials included with the timing board, it is believed to have been used to time Al Unser’s winning run at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1964, the Indianapolis 500 in the 1960s, Clay Regazzoni’s Formula 5000 races in 1973, among many other Eisert Racing cars. To read more about the set, I highly recommend the very detailed lot description.
Again, this is a piece of history. The estimate is $12,000 to $24,000.
Two Grail-Level Carreras Ref. 2447SN and Ref. 2447NS
Lot 106 – Heuer Carrera Ref. 2447SN. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Lot 107 – Heuer Carrera Ref. 2447NS. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Ok, the title was a lie. There are ten watches highlighted here (eleven if you consider the timing set to be two “watches”). Anyway, I made an exception for these two lots because they are being offered sequentially and are reverse dial variants. For Heuer collectors, the SN and NS are among the most sought-after of the 1960s manually-wound Carreras. While most 2447 and 3647 examples produced feature dial-matching sub-registers, these two buck the trend with panda and inverse panda dials. The resulting look is about as close to “Daytona-esque” as you can get in a Carrera – if that’s something you’re looking for. I make that connection because, as many Hodinkee readers know, the Carrera and Daytona shared the same movement, the Valjoux 72, and the dial-maker, Singer, in this era.
Condition-wise you will not find two better examples for sale currently or for a good while. The cases are sharp, the lume is full and patinated, and correct Gay Frères-made bracelets are fitted. The estimate of each is $20,000 to $40,000.
Camaro Ref. 73343 For Champion Auto Parts
Lot 109 – Heuer Camaro Ref. 73343 For Champion Auto Parts. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
While this watch is down here towards the end of my article, in the section featuring watches without direct ties to motorsport, the loose connection is still present. Champion Auto Parts is famous for its spark plugs and frequently ordered watches with its logo on the dial back in the day. We frequently see Champion-branded Gallet chronographs from the 1930s through the 1960s, some of them awarded to the winner of the Indianapolis 500. Champion Heuer Camaros dates to the 1970s; the globe logo works quite well with the dual-register layout.
I featured a silver dial Champion Camaro in the first edition of Bring A Loupe’s 2024 revival – that watch ended up selling for $11,025 on eBay with awful photos! The black dial Champion Camaros, like ours here at Sotheby’s, are considered more sought after when compared to the silver dials because the logo stands pops much more. The estimate is $10,000 to $20,000.
Monaco Ref. 74033N ‘Dark Lord’ or ‘Black Monaco’
Lot 124 – Heuer Monaco Ref. 74033N “Dark Lord.” Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The Monaco, even with all of the Steve McQueen in LeMans juice behind it, was discontinued in 1974 after being in production for only 5 years. The ref. 74033N is an exception. Produced in a very small batch in 1977 or 1978, the black-coated Monaco has become the stuff of legend. When an extremely attractive and unique-in-its-look watch is produced in small numbers, everything is officially lined up to sit in the crosshairs of collectors for decades. That is exactly what has happened with the “Dark Lord” – a nickname that TAG Heuer steers clear of, preferring “Black Monaco” instead.
A rare opportunity to bid on one of the most collectible vintage Heuers, the estimate here is $30,000 to $60,000.
Carrera Ref. 1158CHN in 18k Yellow Gold on Bracelet
Lot 127 – Heuer Carrera Ref. 1158CHN. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
It is at this point in the article where I worry that I am using too many glowing descriptors of how rare and special the watches being offered here are. Truly, my excitement is for good reason! As a vintage Heuer lover and avid follower of the market, I can tell you just how difficult some of these watches are to find, let alone purchase. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this Carrera is, again, one of the most important and interesting vintage Heuers produced.
The ref. 1158CHN is, in my mind, the crowning jewel of Heuer’s motorsport connection. “Siffert” and “Rindt” Autavias are great but the 1158CHN is Heuer recognizing its own achievements in racing culture and marking that success with a big, bold, and solid-yellow-gold trophy. Introduced in 1970 to celebrate the Heuer IPO on the Swiss stock exchange, this reference entered Heuer lore because of its close association with Jack Heuer’s innovative deal to become the technical partner of Scuderia Ferrari in 1971. Each Ferrari driver, names like Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni, was presented with an 1158CHN as a part of the deal. Other F1 drivers quickly became jealous, so Jack continued to make a few deals around the paddock, and the watch ended up on the wrists of Mike Hailwood, Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson, Arturo Merzario, and Derek Bell as well.
Commercially, the 1158CHN was a tough sell, especially on the bracelet. Due to the heft, the bracelet cost was actually higher than the watch! A few 1158CHNs on the market actually came from Heuer distributors who never actually sold the watch because of the exorbitant price. Slow sales mean low production, which is rumored to be a couple of hundred examples. The estimate here is $35,000 to $70,000.
Hodinkee
