Great response to Heuer fan boys

[poulbrix]

Great job in defending our beloved vintage Zodiac brand. Comment is below in the article.

http://blog.dreamchrono.com/2013/10/poor-mans-heuers/

[rdenney]

Hmmm. The original Heuer Carrera used a Valjoux 72, and Jack Heuer got the idea for the watch when his case company (Piquerez) showed him a new case and crystal design that used a reflection/tension ring (aka rehaut) around the crystal and bearing on the dial. This was an improvement in water resistance, but it wasn't Heuer's invention and certainly not something they made. The case Piquerez showed him also had angular faceted lugs, which Heuer thought fit the car-racing image for the new line he was designing and matched the Heuer design DNA.

What Jack Heuer did do was use the rehaut as a place to put the minute track, instead of inside the chapter ring (or between the index markers) so that he could open up the dial and make it look fresh and new. None of the "poor-man Heuer" models in the article showed that particular feature.

Of course, the dials were not made by Heuer, either. Singer made the dials for Heuer, Omega, Rolex, and maybe even Zodiac (I'm sure about the first three, but not about Zodiac).

It wasn't until the very late 60's that they use a Valjoux 7730 in the Carrera, and then only for a short time until the automatic-winding Caliber 11 came out in 1969. When they ran the course of those movements, they used a Lemania 5100, starting in the early 80's, the same as did Omega (aka Omega 1045). But nearly everyone at middle and upper price points used Valjoux movements in the 60's, except Longines (who had their own), Omega and Tissot (because they had their SSIH in-house movement manufacture, Lemania), and Zenith (who used a Universal Geneve/Martel movement while developing the El Primero). The fact that a Clebar has the same movement as a Heuer means only that it has the same movement as a Heuer.

So, the Carrera used a supplied movement and a supplied case, and the distinguishing feature was the dial design, which is the one thing that is different with the "poor-man" models. If they said, "you, too, can have a watch with the same guts and sensibilities as one of those now-unaffordable vintage Carreras, by buying a Clebar or a Tradition," then that would have been true enough.

I now own a 1964 Carrera Re-Edition, labeled Heuer (no TAG) and made in 1996 or 1997. The case was made by Cortech to match the shape of the original Perquinez case, and they used the only good hand-wind chronograph movement available to them at the time, a Lemania 1873 (aka Omega 1861, as used in the Speedmaster Moonwatch). So, if using the same movement someone else used, and being cheaper, makes them a "poor-man's" something, then I guess that Heuer 1964 Carrera Re-Edition is a poor-man's Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch. But, truth to tell, I prefer the look of the Heuer.

Heuer and its sports timing division, which was associated with Leonidas, that made professional stopwatches and timing equipment. Jack Heuer made some highly specialized timing equipment for Enzo Ferrari in 1972 in return for putting the Heuer logo on the Ferrari race cars (which are abundantly visible in the vintage Ferraris used to make the movie Rush, by the way). They used those devices in Formula One for another ten years. So, Heuer has legitimate claim to that sort of sports timing reputation. But so do others, for different sports and timed activities.

Rick "who prefers the late Chuck Maddox for sensible Heuer info on the web" Denney