Baselworld 2019 Hands On: TAG Heuer Autavia Watch

At Baselworld last week, TAG Heuer had a number of important introductions. One of them was among my favorites: the re-issue of one of its finest watches: Autavia Chronograph Chronometer.  I wrote about the watch for the Baselworld Daily Newspaper, but here we take a closer look at it and add some hands-on photos.

It was in the mid 1930’s that the Autavia dashboard timer made its debut from Heuer, which continued to create the timer from 1933 to 1957.  “Inspired by the wonderful world of aviation, the cockpit-inspired original timepiece was a combination of automobile racing dashboard instruments and cockpits. Its name is also a combination of the two fields. However, when the instrument was no longer made, Jack Heuer turned the Autavia into a chronograph wristwatch that he introduced to the world in 1962. It was produced for just over 20 years until 1985 and was never again presented as a complete collection … until now. With its unveiling at  Baselworld, TAG Heuer announced its intentions to position the Autavia as a new pillar of the brand’s timepiece collections.

Totally revamped but yet still carrying inspiration from the original Autavia, the new collection boasts state-of-the-art timing with vintage designs and avant-garde materials. In fact, the new collection uses TAG-Heuer’s proprietary Isograph carbon-composite hairspring. The automatic Caliber 5 that is housed within the new Autavia watch is, as mentioned, equipped with TAG Heuer’s new in-house-made Isograph hairspring that is shock resistant, antimagnetic and unaffected by gravity. The movement beats at 4 Hz and offers 38 hours of power reserve.  According to TAG Heuer, the Isograph name is derived from the Greek word iso, which means “equal” and refers to the “stable and consistent movement of the component.”

The Autavia collection launches with a 42mm three-hand watch with SuperLuminova hands and numerals on the rich blue dial. The chronometer-certified watch offers date indication at 6 o’clock on the dial and features a bidirectional bezel made of blue ceramic. The sapphire crystal is anti-reflective and the watch is water resistant to 100 meters. The case and lugs are made of stainless steel and the beveled finish of the lugs recalls the Autavia watch from the 1960’s.  The watch is offered with either a rich brown vintage-style leather strap or an interchangeable steel bracelet.  The caseback of the watch features a propeller etched into it.”

 

Technical Specs:  Tag Heuer Autavia
Reference WBE5112.FC8266

  Movement:   Automatic Calibre 5 with new in-house Isograph hairspring, chronometer-certified, diameter 26 mm, 25   jewels, balance oscillating at a frequency of 28,800   vibrations per hour (4 Hz), 38-hour power reserve

 Display:   Date, hour, minute and seconds

Case: Diameter 42 mm, case and lugs in stainless steel, blue ceramic bidirectional rotating bezel, sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment, water-resistant to 100 m (10 bar)

 Dial:  Blue smoked dial, rhodium-plated indexes and hands filled     with SuperLuminova®

Strap: Brown calfskin leather strap, pin buckle in stainless steel