Why This Watch Matters

Wrist Autavias are great and all but these dashboard timers are where Heuer started with the product name and really hit their stride, before the era of wrist Autavias.

The Full Story

Abercrombie & Fitch dates back to 1892 when the retailer was founded in Manhattan by David T. Abercrombie. Ezra Fitch, one of his best earliest clients, would join him a few years later. A&F catered to the upper echelon of society, who, at the time, were obsessed with camping, fishing, and hunting, playing off the spirit of the American Frontier and Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." The brand's client list once included names like Ernest Hemingway and Amelia Earhart as well as Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Taft, Harding, and Kennedy. You could walk through the doors of A&F's Madison Avenue HQ and get everything you needed for the outdoors – including watches.

Heuer and Abercrombie & Fitch teamed up in the 1940s to stock the retailer with the highest quality, Swiss made watches with a focus on chronographs. Most of the watches were co-branded as both Heuer and A&F on the dial. A few of the most famous watches that Heuer built for Abercrombie & Fitch include the Seafarer and Solunar watches with tide indicators.

A&F continued to carry Heuer watches in their store for decades, including during the 1950s when this Autavia dashboard-mounted stopwatch was offered. Just as the retailer rode the frontier spirit earlier in the century, Abercrombie, especially through their relationship with Heuer, made goods for the growing recreational racer in the 1950s and 1960s where hot rodding and endurance racing were kings.

This example of Heuer's Autavia stopwatch comes with a correct single timer dashboard mount signed "ED HEUER & CO SWISS" on the back. The case and base-plate are both in great condition, but the dial is really what we love here. With a simple, well-thought-out layout and finished with a deep black surface, this dial is really so special. The original radium lume on the numerals and hands is mostly complete and has developed a great and rich dark yellow patina. To top it all off, this dashboard timer is complete with its original yellow Heuer box.

The descriptions tend to get a bit long winded with A&F Heuer here at Hodinkee; we're really big fans. The addition of "ABERCROMBIE & FITCH Co" on this dial just works so well. It looks like the model was designed to include the American retailer's signature.

The Fine Print

What We Love And What You Should Know

Things We Love:

Things To Know:

This Autavia dashboard timer is in very good and honest vintage condition. The base-plate is signed and has some scratches and wear on the reverse side. The front bezel of the base-plate is in good condition with a few spots of patina. The stopwatch case has some scratches. The ridged bezel on the case has remained sharp and crisp.

The dial has developed some patina throughout and some scratches. The radium lume on the dial has developed patina and aged to a pleasing dark yellow color. The hands have developed a light patina. The hour register hand at six o'clock has some wear to the white paint. The lume on the hands has aged to a similar color to that of the dial. The central hand shows some slight  lume degradation along the upper edge. 

The dial is retailer signed "ABERCROMBIE & FITCH Co." The movement is stamped with an import code reading, "SOX," meaning it was made for the U.S. market. This "SOX" import code corresponds to Corbert, Orvin Watch Co. and Tradition - this has been seen before on other Heuer dashboard timers. The stopwatch case, base-plate, dial, and movement are all signed by Heuer.