If you were a watch guy and a car guy growing up in the 1960s, one name loomed larger than all the rest:
Heuer.
A young Edouard Heuer (Image by Tag Heuer)
Established by Edouard Heuer in 1860 in St-Imier, Switzerland, the brand dominated the automotive space in the mid-20th century, growing from a producer of dashboard timers to dedicated racing chronographs such as the Autavia and Carrera. By the late 1960s, the company’s automatic chronograph technology proliferated throughout its watch collections, with the Monaco receiving particular attention on Steve McQueen’s wrist in 1971’s Le Mans. While Techniques d’Avant Garde’s acquisition of the brand in the 1980s saw an emphasis on less expensive quartz watches such as the Formula 1, LVMH has returned TAG Heuer to its roots, focusing once again on elevating models such as the Carrera to the pinnacle of automotive-inspired watchmaking.
The Camaro
Sketch of a Heuer Camaro from the late 1960s - (Image by Tag Heuer)
Of all the vintage Heuer models from the brand’s classic ‘60s-’70s era, there’s one that stands out for its brief production run and the lack of modern reissues: Introduced in 1968, the Camaro was so named by Jack Heuer after the American muscle car in an effort to penetrate the U.S. market. (It was also easy to remember and to pronounce in multiple languages.) Housed in a handsomely finished cushion-shaped case and powered by hand-wound movements from Valjoux, it was born just before the introduction of the Calibre 11 automatic movement, but was never fitted with one. Thus, while the rest of Heuer production began adopting the more modern and convenient automatic chronograph movement, the Camaro retained the old-school hand-cranking technology, rendering it functionally obsolete. Around 1972, Heuer canceled the Camaro, surely unaware that some five decades later, it would become a favorite of Heuer aficionados and vintage watch lovers everywhere.
The Basics
The Camaro is a 37mm cushion-shaped chronograph cased in stainless steel, 18K yellow gold, or gold-plated steel and available in two- or three-register form. Named for the Chevrolet Camaro — a rival to the Ford Mustang and a pace car at the Indy 500 in 1967 — it was intended to help bolster Heuer’s position in the U.S. market via an association with leading race cars and races of the day. The case’s bezel is handsomely finished, with radial brushing extending from the center to the edges, where the right flank is joined by a signed crown and dual pump pushers. (Initially smooth, these pushers were fluted on later-run Camaros.) A polished flange and midcase offer contrast to the brushed bezel, while the caseback is screwed down via a dedicated tool to ensure water resistance.
Camaro fitted with Valjoux cal. 72 hand-wound movement - (Image by The Watch Spot)
Three different families of Valjoux hand-wound movements were used to power the Camaro, which in turn influence the wide variety of available dials: The first is the venerable Valjoux Calibre 72, a triple-register calibre with column wheel, no date display, and three registers: a 30-minute totalizer at 3 o’clock; a 12-hour totalizer at 6 o’clock; and a running seconds display at 9 o’clock.
The second movement was the Valjoux Calibre 92 with dual registers: a 45-minute totalizer at 3 o’clock and a running seconds display at 9 o’clock.
A Heuer Camaro fitted with a Valjoux 7733 hand-wound movement (Image by Vintage Watch Advisors)
The third and final movement was the cam-activated Calibre 773X family: First used was the 7730, a dual-register movement with a 30-minute totalizer at 3 o’clock and a running seconds display at 9 o’clock. Second was the 7733 series, which exists in the same configuration as the 7730; in the same configuration but with the addition of a date display (7734); or with the addition of a 12-hour totalizer (7736). (A Camaro using the Calibre 7736 three-register movement will be thicker than one using the Valjoux 72. Furthermore, the bottom pusher of a Valjoux 72-equipped reference will be further from the crown than the top pusher, making these earlier models more readily identifiable.)
The Dials
The Heuer Camaro came in a wide variety of dial configurations, though the basic varieties were Noir (black-anthracite) or Silver, indicated via an “N” or “S” in the reference number, or a champagne color that accompanied gold-cased references.
One thing that’s readily evident from the Camaro’s dial is that it borrowed heavily from the design language of the already-popular Autavia and Carrera models: Its outer edge is fitted with either a printed 1/5th-seconds track or a tachymeter scale in a matching color, or a contrasting color that matches that of the subdials (“panda” or exotic dials). On executions bearing the tachymeter, a 1/5th-seconds track was placed in a concentric position closer to the dial center. Certain references then featured an inner dial in a contrasting color to that of the tachymeter scale, while others used a matching hue; executions with outer 1/5th seconds tracks but no tachymeter scale featured a single color all the way through this section.
Heuer Camaro Ref. 73443T with date window at 6 o'clock
Within this inner dial section are the chronograph totalizers and date window (if applicable) arranged in a two- or three-register format. As on the Carrera, these totalizers feature an azurage pattern and are recessed with contrasting printing matching that of the dial scales. Surrounding these totalizers are applied, faceted, luminous indices in a wedge-shaped configuration, with the 12 o’clock position typically formed by a double index. These indices came in one of four forms: standard/plain; with a black or white short stripe; with a black or white full-length stripe; with black or white full-length double stripe in opposition to the dial color.
On those examples with date windows — often referred to as “Dato” references — this is situated above 6 o’clock and features a white date wheel with black printing. The handset used is a luminous ‘sword’ configuration with a contrasting central chronograph seconds hand that appears in white, black, orange, gold, or other colors. The hands came in one of three configurations: plain polished (first-execution watches); with a central black strap (second-execution watches); with a white or black edge in opposition to the dial color (third-execution watches).
The “Camaro” wordmark, meanwhile, appears at 12 o’clock above the Heuer shield logo, with “Swiss” generally appearing above the 6 o’clock position. Finally, period catalogs show two available bracelet types for the Camaro: a Corfam (artificial leather) two-piece strap, or a stainless steel double beads-of-rice bracelet from Gay Frères with a Heuer-signed buckle.
The References
Heuer made numerous colorful Camaro references in addition to the common Noir and Silver monochrome executions. At Analog:Shift, we’ve had the good fortune to handle many of these as they’ve passed through our hands over the years, and we continue to stock excellent examples when they’re available. Check out some of our favorites below:
Ref. 7742N ‘First Execution’
HEUER Camaro 'First Execition' Ref.7743N - IN THE SHOP
Ref. 73443T
HEUER Camaro ref. 73443T
Ref. 7220N
Heuer Camaro ref. 7220N
Ref. 7220T
Heuer Camaro ref. 7220T
Ref. 73345T
Heuer Camaro ref. 73345T
Ref. 7743ST
Heuer Camaro ref. 7743ST
Ref. 7220NT
Heuer Camaro ref. 7220NT
Ref. 73643
Heuer Camaro ref. 73643
