TAG Heuer Autavia Caliber Heuer 02 For HODINKEE Orange Boy Limited Edition New

In the 1970s Heuer chronographs graced the wrists of many of motorsport’s most legendary figures: Mario Andretti, Jo Siffert, and Niki Lauda, to name just a few. One of the rarest and most collectible of the early ’70s automatic Autavias is the so-called “Orange Boy,” a chronograph re-discovered in 2004 by the online collector community at OnTheDash, a forum and site for vintage Heuer enthusiasts. 

At first, Heuer fans speculated that the Orange Boy might have been an aberration within the production of the ubiquitous Viceroy Autavias, sold at a discount to customers purchasing Viceroy cigarettes. And in fact, the very watch photographed on the wrist of a driver for an early Viceroy Autavia advertisement was indeed an Orange Boy, not a Viceroy. Eventually, though, astute collectors deduced that the Orange Boy Autavia, whose distinctive orange accents were a first for Heuer chronographs, was a much rarer bird. To date, fewer than 30 Orange Boys are known to the Heuer collector community. 

HODINKEE’s homage to the Heuer Orange Boy comes with many of the same distinctive features that set the ’70s original apart and made it so special to begin with, including its use of orange “racing stripes” on the chronograph minutes counter, orange-accented hands, a tachymeter for calculating speed, and a great automatic chronograph movement. In this case, that’s the Heuer 02 column wheel chronograph. The Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is cased in stainless steel with a see-through caseback, and comes on a wonderful “beads-of-rice” style bracelet that is itself an homage to the elegant Gay Frères bracelets supplied with vintage Heuer chronographs. 

There are a few differences, of course – necessary concessions to creating a modern watch with Heuer’s in-house chronograph movement. You may have noticed that the crown is on the right-hand side, not the left. This is a result of the engineering behind the Heuer 02 movement. Ours also has the updated round case shape that resulted from the Autavia Cup competition of 2016. We think this case looks great while giving the watch a real sport watch presence on the wrist. 

This exclusive Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 was designed by HODINKEE and TAG Heuer, and while not a strictly numbered edition, quantities are limited.