New Arrival: Heuer Cortina
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 several design features that distinguished it from other Heuer models of the day. The 39mm case is the key feature of the Cortina design, being a hexagonal-shaped case with a brushed stainless steel finish, rather than the combination of polished/ star-burst pattern that was typical on other models.
The second design signature of the Cortina is the integrated steel bracelet that seems to merge into the case itself.
While the case design is a resounding success- unique and different to any other Heuer from the period- the bracelet is a bit disappointing- very plain, solid links that look a little awkward in my view. I also miss not having the safety clasp- OK, this is not a diving watch, but I’m still surprised not to see one in place.
This first-generation Cortina was available in two models- one with an all-white dial (Ref. 110233R) featuring black roman-numerals and the black-dial version that you see here (Ref. 110233 NC) . While this particular watch has the common silver date-wheel with black date, there is also a rarer version with a red date on silver background.
As detailed in Arno Haslinger’s book Heuer Chronographs, The Cortina is named after the Italian mountain town of the same name, where the rich and famous would come skiing every year. Heuer was keen to add a winter-sports model to its portfolio, and so it made sense to name this new model after the chic Italian resort. Of course, slightly reducing this cache was the fact that by 1976 Ford was onto the fourth generation of its Cortina, the looks of which had declined somewhat since the earlier models which spawned the famous Lotus Cortina.
While there is no evidence to confirm it, I’d suggest that the design of the Cortina was heavily influenced by a watch designer who didn’t even work for Heuer- the well-known Gerald Genta, who is to 1970s watch design what Giorgetto Giugiaro was to car design in the same era. Not only did he design the IWC Ingenieur, but also the two classic sports watches below- the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet and the Nautilus for Patek Philippe. The Royal Oak came first in 1972 (compare this beauty to the horrors wearing that name today) and featured an octagon-shaped bezel and an integrated steel bracelet, one of the first watches to offer this design.
Genta obviously liked what he created with the Royal Oak, because the Nautilus followed the same themes when it was released in 1976.
The Cortina of 1977 seems to use several aspects of the Royal Oak/ Nautilus template- the round dial set within a brushed stainless-steel, multi-edged case, an integrated steel bracelet…and the hour markers on the Cortina do look familiar after you’ve looked at the AP. But far from a “Poor-man’s” Royal Oak or Nautilus, the Cortina is unique enough to hold its own, and I guess it would have been difficult to design a new sports-watch in the late 1970s and ignore the impact that the Genta-duo had on the market.
The Cortina is a delight to wear and a nice change from the “Big 4″ mentioned in the first paragraph- it’s very different to the other Heuer models, yet still has the same Calibre 12 workhorse that powered Heuer through the 1970s, the same hands and the same flutes pushers. The Cortina looks more modern that the Autavia and Carrera, but you wouldn’t mistake this for a new 2010 design, so it’s still satisfyingly vintage.
I doubt that the Cortina was a huge seller for Heuer, as it only appeared for a couple of years in the dark-days of the late 1970s. Once the Piaget/ Nouvelle Lemania consortium took over Heuer in the early 1980s, there was a second-generation Cortina released that shared its design with watches from Omega, Sinn and Lemania itself- all using the Lemania 5100 movement.
While a Cortina in name, the second-generation watch shared nothing with the first, and so the Cortina you see in these photos really is a one of the great “underground” Heuers and one that I’m delighted to have in the collection.
Photos:
Calibre 11, Amanico (http://home.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-548411/)
Nice review and good pickup on the relation to the Genta designs. A lot of attention is paid to mechanical pedigree in watch collecting, but little to design pedigree. Good analysis.