Heuer

Billing itself as “The Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the World”, in the mid-20th century, Abercrombie & Fitch was the “destination” retailer for adventurers who wanted to be outfitted with the very best gear. Pilots and sailors, climbers and hunters, all made their way to Abercrombie & Fitch’s 12-story building at Madison Avenue and East 45th Street in New York City. Others having to settle for mail or telephone orders through their famous catalogs.  

Abercrombie & Fitch always offered top quality watches and chronographs, and with the increasing popularity of motoring in the 1950s, it didn’t take long for Heuer and Abercrombie & Fitch to develop a special one “Especially for motorists”. The Abercrombie & Fitch Auto-Graph.  

Here driver or navigator used a pusher on the left side of the case to move an “extra” hand to rest on the desired speed (for example, 66 miles per hour). The chronograph would then be started at zero, and stopped when the car passed the mile marker, allowing the user to determine whether the pace was too fast, too slow or just right. In our example, if the car passes the marker in 54.5 seconds, then the car is running at the desired 66 MPH.

The present watch is a first-execution Auto-Graph chronograph, produced only in 1953, and is distinguished by its over-sized recorders and large gold-painted Arabic numerals, both features designed to deliver optimal legibility during the rigors of racing or rallying. 

Fewer than five of these first execution Auto-Graph chronographs are known to Heuer community.