Heuer “Derek Bell” Autavia Reference 1163 Unpolished

This Heuer Autavia reference 1163 is a great watch. This is one of the earliest automatic Autavias made. It is in outstanding condition. We believe the case is unpolished. It is a Mark 2 dial with ridged hour markers and full steel hands.

The Viceroy Autavias differ from this earlier model, which is sometimes referred to as a Pre-Viceroy or “Derek Bell”, as they had a fully demarcated hour register displaying 1-12 whereas this displays 3-6-9-12 only. The later versions also had different hands with a red stripe down the center whereas this model is all steel. This has an MH “Minutes and Hours” bezel that is original to the watch.

This watch does not include the original box and papers, has an automatic movement (Caliber 11 made by Heuer-Léonidas), and is 42mm in diameter. The serial places it in the 141,XXX range, making it one of the earliest automatic Heuers ever made and very close to the Chronomatic Autavia range that immediately preceded this watch and sells for many times this example.

We do not know the service history, but it is running well. It is paired with a Heuer buckle on a Honey Wind rally strap made by Nick Gabarro. It is, quite frankly, one of the nicest early Autavias we have seen. It is paired on an early Gay Frères beads of rice bracelet with correct early HLD end links. We can sell it on a strap for a discount, but it looks best like this!

SOLD (Item SBUXYT2626)

SOLD