The Heuer Carrera Ferrari
Re-edition of Peterson’s legendary Carrera 1158 / Credit: Monochrome
In 2016, the heirs of legendary driver Ronnie Peterson auctioned a very special watch at Sotheby’s. The watch was solid 18kt gold, it went for a price of 225,000 CHF, but it wasn’t special for the material with which it was made or the large sum of money it went for – it was special because it’s the Heuer Carrera Ferrari; quite possibly the coolest vintage Heuer ever.
The 1970s were a good time for Jack Heuer and his company, in particular for their involvement in motorsport. Throughout the ‘70s, right up to 1979, they provided timepieces to the Ferrari Scuderia team and had an excellent working relationship with them. The story goes that Jack Heuer presented each Ferrari F1 driver with an 18kt gold Heuer Carrera Ferrari at the time, or ref. 1158 Carrera. This list also included some brand ambassadors which included Peterson and Jo Siffert. Among the drivers that were gifted the was in Niki Lauda. Interestingly Siffert was also the first F1 driver Heuer sponsored, choosing Siffert after his British Grand Prix win in 1968. In terms of the watch itself, the general view is that there were 8 Heuer Carrera Ferrari models, ref. 1158. There were two versions of the 1158 ‘CH’ models, that had champagne dials and registers; two versions of the 1158 ‘CHN’, that had champagne dials and black registers; and four verisons of the 1158 ‘S’ models which featured silver dials and registers. The ‘S’ models came first, with Chronomantic appearing on the dial of the first version since 1969.
In general, all the Carrera Ferrari’s are quite rare, with the solid gold bracelets being especially hard to find. But to be clear, Peterson’s Carrera Ferrari is special for being a Carrera Ferrari, but it is also unique as it was made especially for Peterson by Jack Heuer. Peterson’s version used a classic 1158 case, but the dial was different than any other 1158’s. In fact, we’re not quite sure where it came from, but this is why it went for more than 200,000 CHF while the average Carrera Ferrari goes for far less.