The Story of an Intriguing Vintage Heuer
Heuer Pilot ref. 230.006 / Credit: NL Watch
Heuer’s bond with not only automotive but also aviation sport is undeniable. The company’s history with aviation arguably goes back to the ‘Time of Trip’, a chronograph produced for automotive and aviation sport in 1911. Another notable stop in their history of producing pilot watches are the Bundeswehr fly-back chronographs developed by Heuer for the German military in the 1960s. However, in the early 1980s, after the exit of Jack Heuer from the company, Heuer released another aviation themed watch known as the ‘Pilot’.
The Heuer Pilot had both unique and typical features for a 1980s chronograph. Unique because it had a slide-rule calculator around the bezel and typical because it was released in a quartz version. Now the slide rule calculator was the kind of thing that was once found on Breitling chronographs in the 1940s (the Chronomat), and theoretically allowed for the wearer to make a variety of calculations, including those related to geographical position, speed, fuel consumption etc. – the ideal functions for a pilot. On the other hand, the Heuer Pilot was released in two versions, including the aforementioned quartz version (ref. 230.006) and a self-winding version (ref. 130.006). The quartz Heuer Pilot used a Caliber 185, which was a Dubois Depraz chronograph module with the ETA 955; while the automatic Pilot used an LWO 283, which was again a Dubis Depraz module but this time with the ETA 2892 – the well-regarded automatic movement. The LWO 283 was also used by the likes of Hamilton, Girard-Perregaux, and Audemars Piguet.
The Heuer Pilot was upgraded over the years, with changes to things from the water resistance to the movements themselves. However, it only lasted 20 years, being discontinued in 2003. Thus, despite the Pilot not being a watch of much consequence from a historical perspective, it was the last Heuer pilot watch and the only one so far in the 21st century. For that reason, I believe its heritage, this onus of representing the entire continuum of Heuer pilot watches, makes the Heuer Pilot worth remembering.
By: Andres Ibarguen