From May through December 1972, Heuer produced a series of Autavia chronographs that were offered by the Brown & Willaimson Tobacco Company as a promotion for Viceroy cigarettes. Customers could send proofs of purchase for a carton of Viceroy cigarettes (10 packs) and receive an Autavia chronograph (Reference 1163) for $88. At the time, these "Viceroy" Autavias were being offered, Heuer dealers were offering comparable automatic Autavias (black dial with white registers) for a list price of $200.

It is difficult to present a comprehensive description of all the variations of the Viceroy Autavias. At $88 per watch, the Viceroy promotion was very successful, and Heuer was hardly able to produce the watches fast enough to meet the demand. After beginning with cases made by Piquarez, Heuer had to add a second supplier (Schmitz), and cases from both suppliers were used throughout the production of the Viceroys. So over the relatively brief period of the promotion, Heuer used cases of varying thicknesses; two different styles of case-backs; cut-outs for the pushers that opened to either the front or the back (or both); and two different styles of bezels. Cataloging and describing the various "Viceroys" is made more difficult because many of these elements were interchangeable (for example, either style case-back -- shallow or deep -- could be used with either of the cases -- 1163V or 11630).

Accordingly, the following table is not an exhaustive attempt to describe each variation of the Viceroy Autavia that was produced. Rather, it describes certain elements that should be found together in a "genuine" Viceroy Autavia. (For example, if the pushers are visible from both the front and the back of the case, then the case was made by Schmitz, and the case-back should be the deeper variety, also made by Schmitz.) By describing certain of these combinations, this table covers the more common variations of the Viceroy Autavia.

In reviewing the "Viceroys", it is important to keep in mind the distinguishing features of all the "Viceroy" chronographs -- they had (a) an "economy" dial (with all 12 numeral on the hour recorder, (b) brushed steel hands with red inserts and red triangular tips, and (c) a tachymeter (T) bezel. These chronographs were sold by Viceroy for $88, during the period from May through December 1972. During this period, Heuer continued to market its regular (non-Viceroy) Automatic Autavias through its customary channels, however, these had the "standard" (non-economy) dial, polished steel hands, minute / hour (MH) bezels, and a selling price of either $200 (for the Reference 1163 model, with plastic crystal) or $275 (for the Reference 1163 model, with a mineral crystal). All this becomes more complicated when we realize that chronographs physically identical to the Viceroys may have been offered by dealers for some period shortly before the Viceroy promotion and were certainly offered by dealers after the Viceroy promotion had ended.

  

	Reference 1163V	Reference 11630
Outer Rotating Bezel	narrower (3.3 mm across surface); no luminous dot	wider (4.2 mm across surface); luminous dot in triangle
Inner Bezel (between dial and crystal)	polished steel (shiny) tension ring	matte black support ring (flange)
Crystal	plastic (domed)	mineral (flat)
Case-Back	shallow (if case made by Piquerez) or deep, with sides at 45 degrees (if case made by Schmitz)	shallow (if case made by Piquerez) (less common) or deep, with sides at 45 degrees (if case made by Schmitz)
Pushers	fully visible from front, and partially obstructed from back (if case made by Schmitz) or fully visible from both front and back (if case made by Schmitz)	fully visible from back, and partially obstructed from front (all versions, whether made by Piquerez or Schmitz)
Thickness (top of bezel to back of case)	13.0 mm	14.6 mm
Price When New	$88 (through Viceroy promotion)	$88 (through Viceroy promotion)

Standard Features of all Viceroy Autavias --

• economy dial -- polished markers, with white inserts
• brushed steel hands, with red tips and red inserts, and thin luminous material
• bi-directional, ratcheting Tachymeter (T) bezel
• Cal 12 movement
• measurements across case (42mm), lug-to-lug (47.2mm) and between lugs (20mm)

Some Additional Notes regarding the Viceroy Autavias --

• The hands on the Viceroys were brushed steel, with red inserts and a narrow (thin) insert of luminous material ; the brushed steel hands on the Monacos had wider (thicker) luminous inserts; over time, many of the Viceroy-style hands were replaced with the Monaco-style hands, as either a part of routine servicing or because the customer requested the change (to increase the visibility at night); in the photo of the Viceroys (above), three of the main hands are Viceroy-style hands, with the hour hand on the 1163V being the Monaco-style hand (wider, thicker insert).
• In terms of the visibility of the pushers, there were actually three variations --
  • on the earlier 1163Vs (manufactured by Piquerez), the pushers were fully-visible from the front and partially obstructed from the back (as on the sample shown on the left); this was problematic, as dirt would get into the cut-outs, become compacted, and "gun-up" the pushers (requiring a major servicing).
  • on some of the later 1163Vs (manufactured by Schmitz), the pushers were fully-visible from both the front and the back of the case; these cases were manufactured by Schmitz, to supplement the production by Piquerez; these cases will always have the deeper Schmitz back. Click here to see samples of these cases.
  • on the 11630, the pushers were fully visible from the back and partially obstructed from the front (as on the sample shown on the right).
• The 11630 cases were made by both Piquerez and Schmitz -- those made by Piquerez had the shallower case-backs and those made by Schmitz had the deeper case-backs. The Schmitz version of the 11630 seems to be more common.

Last Updated: 2204.01.06.08.11 - CM3