Edouard Heuer (1840-1892) established Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG in St-Imier in Switzerland. He was just 20 years old. He was the son of a shoemaker, he started his apprenticeship as a watchmaker at the age of 14. In 1892, Edouard patented his first chronograph, showing it one year later at the Amsterdam International Exhibition. Edouard's sons, Jules-Edouard and Charles-Auguste took over the company when he died in 1892. Designing the first dashboard chronograph in  1911 for use in automobiles and aircraft, the patented "Time of Trip". In 1933, Heuer designed the highly successful AUTAVIA, a dash counter for racing cars, boats, and aircraft. Its name is derived from AUTomobile and AVIAtion, later used in the 1960s as a wrist chronograph. During the 1940s US Presidents, General Eisenhower bought a Heuer chronograph ref. 2447 with a steel case in 1945. Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, wore a Heuer triple calendar chronograph in gold ref. 2558 in 1947. In 1961, Jack Heuer created a new wrist chronograph with a turning bezel, which was a  first for the Swiss brand. He named it “Autavia”,  taken from the 1933 watch.

Autavia was launched in 1962 with a classic 38 mm steel case. Famously worn by the very best Formula 1 driver of the day Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, Clay Regazzoni, and Mario Andretti, to name but a few. In the 1970s Heuer continued to build on its chronograph successes producing the Heuer Monaco famously worn by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans and their sponsorship of Ferrari in Formula 1 from 1971 to 1979. In June 1985, Heuer sold the company to a Saudi business group called TAG (the acronym for Techniques d’Avant Garde) owned by Akram Ojjeh, a Saudi businessman who was considered to be one of the richest men in the world. Once completed, the company formally changed its name from Heuer to TAG Heuer starting from January 1st, 1986.

This TAG Heuer Formula 1 has a 38mm brushed stainless steel case. The case gently curves over the lugs making a comfortable fit on your wrist. On the right side round pushers and a signed screw-down crown with deep knurling giving you a good grip for adjustments. The black deep knurled bezel has a 60-minute scale, large Arabic numerals are printed and painted in white. A flat sapphire crystal sits above a deep blue sunburst dial. An outer minute chapter ring with applied tritium luminescence indexes mark the hours. At 3 o’clock an hour register, at 6 o’clock a continuous seconds and 1/10th seconds and finally at 9 o’clock a 12-hour register. Each evenly spaced for a legible chronograph. At 4 o’clock a date aperture. Broad baton hands lume infilled with Super Luminova complete with a tapering red chronograph seconds hand making them highly visible. On the reverse, a screw-down case back with the Tag Heuer shield engraved into it. Inside a Swiss Quartz Movt. Fitted on its Tag Heuer fine-brushed stainless steel bracelet with folding clasp and flip-lock.