The present ref. 1163 is an extremely rare example of the iconic ‘White Orange Boy’ model. It is distinguished by the colour of its so-called ‘tropical’ chronograph registers which have changed from the original black to a superb tobacco brown. The combination of the ivory-coloured dial, the brown subsidiary dials and the orange indexes and hands render this watch a very unique and highly unusual appearance.

The production of the Heuer Autavia ‘Orange Boy’ comprises two styles of dial: black dials with white subsidiary dials (‘Orange Boy’) and the present model with white dial and black subsidiary dials (‘White Orange Boy’). It was available with either the hour/minute bezel such as the present watch or with a tachymeter variant. The orange details on the dial, such as the hands, indexes and register are reminiscent of the orange used on the Gulf Oil logo of the 1970s, consequently the model is also sometimes nicknamed the ‘Gulf’. Serial numbers for the model start around 241’xxx until around 244’xxx.

The two ‘Orange Boy’ styles of reference 1163 are among the most difficult Heuer chronographs for collectors to find. It is thought that less than 30 examples are known publically, the white dial versions such as the present watch, surviving in far fewer numbers than the black.