Lot 262

Heuer

Diver

A heavy vintage diving wristwatch with date

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Tag Heuer’s passion for sports watches – be they for the road or at sea – is legendary. As early as 1895 Heuer patented their first water-resistant case and in 1939 they introduced their first waterproof wrist chronograph on the market. The first regatta stopwatch, the Yachting-Timer, came out in 1942; the Heuer Solunar in 1949 was the first ever wristwatch to feature a tide indication – to be followed by the Mareograph in 1950, a chronograph with tide indication. In 1968 Heuer created the Skipper, a mechanical chronograph with regatta countdown, which was updated to an automatic chronograph version in 1972. The "2000 series" was launched in 1982; this was the first range of professional sports watches.
Jack Heuer came up with the idea of launching Rolex-style diving watches with and without quartz movements at the end of the 1970s. The cases were supplied by the Swiss company MRP SA, which held the patent (marked Brevet 503.305 in the case back) for the louvered, unidirectional rotating bezel of the reference 844 and supplied numerous manufacturers of diving watches with cases.
The design of the diving watch reference 844 is striking. Its case, the black bezel and the dial with the luminous hour markers were taken over in many points from the Rolex Submariner. Significant is the dial with the triangle at 12 o'clock, the bar-shaped and circular markings and the date window.
The present model is in very good condition, despite some slight signs of use. The luminous mass of the markers and the hands has slightly darkened but complements the dial perfectly. Perhaps the most striking feature is the 24-hour display printed in red.