In-Depth: A Comprehensive Guide To The Phillips Heuer Parade Auction
By Jeff Stein
Jeff Stein is the founder and proprietor of OnTheDash, the leading online authority on all things Heuer. Jeff is also a collector of note – check him out on Talking Watches – and one of the most knowledgeable guys in watches. Ahead of Phillips’s thematic Heuer auction this weekend, we wanted to bring you a full analysis from the master himself.
Tomorrow night in Geneva, Phillips will offer up 42 vintage Heuer chronographs (and one modern watch), in a sale officially titled “The Crosthwaite & Gavin Collection – Exceptional Heuer Chronographs from the Jack Heuer Era.” The sale’s nickname however is much simpler – “Heuer Parade.”
The 43rd watch included in the auction will be serial number 1 of the TAG Heuer Autavia Jack Heuer Edition, with 1,932 of these limited edition watches being issued to commemorate Jack Heuer’s 85th birthday.
Phillips has published a magnificent auction catalog, which is also available online, with stunning photos and detailed descriptions of these watches. Consider this story a companion to the Heuer Parade catalog, placing the Crosthwaite & Gavin Collection, and each of the watches individually, into a broader context. While the auction catalog presents the watches according to themes – chronographs for racing, for pilots, for the water, etc. – we will take a chronological approach, describing the different generations in which Heuer produced these chronographs.
The cover of the Heuer Parade catalog.
Please note that we have not examined any of the watches in person or reviewed the condition reports offered by Phillips. Accordingly, we provide the history of each of the watches included in the auction, but do not comment on the condition or authenticity of any particular watch.
For a quick look at all the watches included in the sale, following the thematic presentation used by Phillips, including photos of each watch and the auction estimates, head over to OnTheDash.
Heuer History – 157 Years in 700 Words
Ed. Heuer & Co. began producing watches in 1860, with the company continuing under the Heuer-Leonidas name in the 1960s and ultimately being acquired by Techniques d’Avant Garde (“TAG”) in 1985, and continuing to this day, under the TAG Heuer name.
From 1860 into the mid-1930s, Heuer offered stopwatches, pocket chronographs, and wristwatches, with an …read more
