This year that saw the return of the Heuer Silverstone- one of the iconic 1970s Heuer models and one of my all-time favourites. The re-edition did a great job capturing the design essence of the original- not surprising given that except for a slightly larger case and minor changes to the sub-dials, the re-edition is basically identical to the original.
The original Calibre 12 Silverstone was released in the mid-1970s and offered in three colours- Red, “Fume” and Blue. The Silverstone was launched as the replacement for the Heuer Monaco, which …

Baselworld was the first chance that I had to put together the new TAG Heuer Silverstone re-edition and a vintage Heuer Silverstone to compare the similarities. Obviously, the two are very similar, with the only differences being:

New Silverstone (right) slightly larger diameter than vintage (left), as well as having a thicker case
The vintage blue Silverstone has a metallic inner bezel, where the new model’s bezel has the same finish as the dial
The word “Swiss” has moved from the top of the date window to sitting either side of the date …

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.

Ahead of the release of the TAG Heuer Silverstone re-edition, some photos of the original Heuer SIlverstone in blue and Heuer Silverstone in Fume

Debate over the Heuer Silverstone 510.403 Lemania- fake or real…or something in between?

Which Vintage Heuer models will be the big price movers in 2010? Look at these examples of the 510.500, Camaro, Montreal, Silverstone and Super Professional

The Lemania Heuer Silverstone reference 510.403 from Calibre11.com- Vintage Heuer Blog; TAG Heuer blog

Thought that I would share this high-res close-up of my blue Silverstone dial that was taken by Abel, who is currently doing some work on the watch.
There are two things that stand out for me- the first is that the blue has a fantastic metallic hue to it and the second is that the dial is round! Not sure why this surprised me: I guess that with the watch being square in shape I expected the dial to be the same.
You can also see that the hands are all original …