Articles in the Cortina Category
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With all the focus on the “Big 4″ vintage Heuer chronographs (Monaco, Autavia, Carrera and Silverstone), it’s easy to forget that there were many other models that sat alongside these classics during the 1970s. Names like Verona, Jarama and Daytona also appeared during this time and like the Big 4, were powered by the family of Chromomatic movements.
Another forgotten model from this time is the Heuer Cortina, of which there were two distinct series produced in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The original Heuer Cortina emerged in 1977 and boasted …
"Poor- Man's" variants, 5100 Series, AMI, AudiSport, Carrera, Cortina, Lemania 5100, Silverstone »
Heuer’s relationship with Lemania in the early 1980s was brief, but intense. As the first part of the Heuer/ Lemania story detailed, Heuer was actually owned by a consortium involving Lemania for a few short years before being sold to TAG in 1984/5. This relationship explains why there were so many Heuer models using the Lemania 5100 movement in the early 1980s.
However what this doesn’t explain is why are there so many other brands that sold almost identical version of these Heuer watches. Based on the trusty formula of two-parts research mixed with one-part assumption and one-parts guesswork, the conclusion is perhaps surprising: Because for the most part, they were not Heuer designs in the first place.
