​The big subs, all lume hands, smaller Mk1 pushers, domed crown and the Ed Heuer signed Valjoux 72 (with individual movement number) are the details that make the earliest Autavia very special chronographs. In much the same way as the Omega Speedmaster 2915-1 is the origin of the Speedmaster series and the pinnacle of Omega collecting, these very early Autavias are considered by most vintage Heuer collectors to be the most desirable Heuer and as such this reference holds the dealer record for a collectible Heuer when a beautiful example was sold in Germany for €190,000 in January 2017. Fast forward to 2021 and Phillips New York are auctioning a beautiful example on December 11th which I can only assume will sail past their conservative $30-60,000 estimate! There is little doubt in my mind that Heuer nailed the design of the early Autavia and it looks as beautiful today as it must have done in 1962. Whilst there is no doubt that early Speedmasters are great chronographs, I personally feel the contrasting oversized sub registers and lume plots elevate these early Autavias to even greater heights, although I appreciate that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

The Autavia name was first used by Heuer back in 1933 when they introduced a dashboard timer, the name being an amalgamation of the words AUTomobile and AVIAtion. Whilst history tells us that Heuer’s first patent for a chronograph was in 1882, and their first wrist chronograph appeared in time for the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, Heuer’s first named wrist chronograph series did not appear until 1962 and it was also called the Autavia. The watch was advertised with the slogan "those for whom life and a taste for adventure are one and the same" and was designed to be read easily by "pilots" of planes and cars when in the heat of the moment.

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The beginning of this series consisted of the 2446, driven by Valjoux 72, and priced at $119.50, and the 3646 driven by the Valjoux 92 which was $99.50. They both came with in standard guise with hours or minutes bezels (decimal was a special order), married to the  beautifully balanced 39mm screw-back polished steel case finished with bevelled lugs. The turning bezels were wide Radium filled examples which tied in with the "all lume" hands and large sub registers that were oversized for clarity, often referred to now as "big subs".

As mentioned above these very early "all lume hand" examples should have very specific criteria to be correct. This earliest case used smaller pushers and had unsigned domed crowns, with the Valjoux 72 Ed Heuer signed bridge which had individual movement numbers on them. You should note that on originally born examples these movement numbers (456xxx) are specific to this batch and within 150 of each other just like the serials. However I have known some movement number bridges to have been transplanted from elsewhere on "spare part constructions" and it should be noted that earlier movement numbers than this are from pre Autavia/Carrera Valjoux 72 movements and later numbers (457xxx) were born on steel dauphine hand Autavias. Case serial number ranges for the 2446 version are 4915-4930x and anything materially after this and you can be fairly sure the hands were originally steel dauphine and the all lume hands added later.

I would estimate that at most 150 of the 2446 were produced in this special early guise, with only around 15 being found and noted so far in collectors hands. That compares to a production of around 800 for the later steel hand 1st execution 2446 which makes these earliest examples around five times rarer. The value of this watch in todays market is hard to nail down, perhaps the Phillips New York sale will help to guide us as so few exceptional examples have been sold at top auctions over the past decade. However I would expect the very best examples of this reference (and condition is so important at this end of the market) to be worth circa £100,000+.

If you wish to learn more about the beautiful 1st execution 2446 Autavia and indeed vintage Autavias in general then click on the buttons below to buy the only book dedicated to the vintage Autavia, the Heuer Autavia Chronographs 1962-85 book. It contains beautiful hi-res pictures and important detailed collector info, updated in November 2021, and now additionally contains many of the Skipper references. Additionally the Heuer Superstars book has been updated into a deluxe "open and lay flat" style and covers some of the best examples of the holy grails from vintage Autavia, Carrera and Monaco.

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