Few watch fans recall that the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 watch was the product of a crowd-sourced design known back in 2016 as the “TAG Heuer Autavia Cup” (debuted on aBlogtoWatch). Fans of the brand’s historical watches were asked to vote for which vintage Heuer Autavia watches would serve as the base for a newly made retro-inspired watch that contained one of TAG Heuer’s most compelling in-house movements to date. The resulting watches debuted in 2017 on aBlogtoWatch, and I later reviewed the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 (on the leather strap).

Now, a few years later, I’ve had some time to wear the steel bracelet-equipped version of the Autavia Caliber Heuer 02 chronograph known as the reference CBE2110.BA0687. It sat alongside the reference CBE2110.FC8226 on the hip brown leather strap, but the price difference between the two models was just $150 USD. That’s considered quite affordable for a bracelet in an industry where some Swiss Made brands can charge upwards of $1,000 for the bracelet option.

The TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is a conservative watch with a degree of timeless appeal inherent in its utilitarian, vintage-inspired design. Outside of its luxury pricing and construction, there is almost nothing flashy or lifestyle about the watch — a personality trait that I think has a lot of appeal to timepiece lovers. Why? Well, there is a larger contingent of collectors who really don’t want anything more than basic public attention to their watches, especially when they are being social but also wish to be more demure on a particular day. If you know nice watches, then the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 will clearly receive an acknowledging nod, but it doesn’t scream “expensive luxury item” in the way that a lot of high-end watches do. The TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is also a good choice for calm, collected people who want their personalities to make a bigger statement than their watches. This seems to be an interesting trend not only with this Autavia but also with a lot of black and white sport watches inspired by vintage tool timepieces.

Probably the flashiest part of the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is the all-polished steel case and bracelet, but this is mainly because a lot of vintage watches were finished this way. The case construction feels solid and is water resistant to 100 meters. Over the dial is an AR-coated, domed sapphire crystal. On the wrist, the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is not small, but it isn’t larger than it needs to be. The case is about 42mm wide, 16mm thick, and has a roughly 51mm lug-to-lug distance. Proportions work well even though the case is on the thicker side, a necessity given the thickness of the automatic chronograph movement inside of it.

One of the quirkier features of the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 is the rotating bezel. It is a bi-directional ratcheting bezel with hour markers on it versus the more common 60-minute countdown timer. There are various uses for such a bezel including different forms of timing as well as keeping track of a second time zone. The dial itself is a beautiful modern construction but done in a way that is meant to evoke chronograph dials from the 1960s and 1970s. That means applied, angular hands and hour markers, a matte-finished dial with some depth to it, and light points of luminant. The white-colored chronograph subdials that contrast attractively against the black face provide effective legibility. Note how TAG Heuer injected a bit of color onto the dial with the warmer, aged-style tan luminant. While there is a slight bit of glare on the domed crystal, overall legibility is high given that the watch feels very much like a vintage timing instrument (in a good way).

Certain modern features are missing on the watch such as a ceramic bezel insert (this one is aluminum) and the relatively simple bracelet deployant clasp that doesn’t include desirable features such as a micro-adjustment feature. These would have been nice to have, but I don’t think they should bar anyone from getting one of these if one is otherwise inclined. As I said, the overall style and wearing comfort alone are major highlights.

What really makes this a modern timepiece is the movement. The watch came out when it was particularly trendy to have contemporary-looking mechanical movements inside retro-inspired timepieces. TAG Heuer along with other brands such as Omega and Breitling have done this a lot. The Heuer 02 movement does take things a bit further given that its overall architecture and finishing are a bit more modern in style. You can view the attractive movement through the crystal on the rear of the case.

Before beads of rice bracelets started their full comeback, TAG Heuer was on to something when they recreated a vintage-style polished steel bracelet to go with the Autavia Calibre Heuer 02. The bracelet handsomely tapers slightly and gives the watch a personality I prefer a tiny bit over the slick look of the brown leather strap. I’m very much a bracelet guy, so I prefer this look unless a bracelet is too uncomfortable to wear (which has happened! But not with a TAG Heuer as far as I can recall).

I’ve written about the history of the TAG Heuer Heuer 02 movement before a few times. The movement has had at least three names associated with it (Caliber 1969, Caliber CH80, and Caliber Heuer 02), which has been shifted around between three different TAG Heuer CEOs and now onto its fourth. The movement in 2020 served as the basis for the newly revamped TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph collection, a series of watches that I associate as being spiritual successes to the Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 in a few ways. The movements are truly excellent and uncommonly specced at this price point. The automatic movements operate at 4Hz with 80 hours of power reserve and feature a 12-hour chronograph that has both a column wheel transmission as well as a vertical clutch.

What does that all mean? Not too much functionality because very few people rely on mechanical stopwatches these days. If you were to rely on the chronograph function for a lot of duty, then you’d appreciate the longer durability of the column wheel transmission system (which is colored red in the movement) as well as the greater operating precision and tactility of the vertical clutch. The movement also has a date window which on this watch has been neatly designed into the chronograph subdial above 6 o’clock on the timepiece’s face.

Speaking of  TAG Heuer, the brand’s name is actually absent from the dial of the watch in favor of the retro “Heuer” name which was on all the brand’s products prior to TAG’s takeover, which made the company “TAG Heuer.” The company owns the rights to both names and from time to time they like to use the Heuer name alone on their vintage-inspired or retro models. It adds a nice flavor to the larger brand, but I can understand how luxury watch novices might get a bit confused. With that said, the trained eye has everything it needs on the dial to understand the watch, including the Autavia name, the vintage Heuer logo, and the discreet “Heuer 02” label which firmly places the product among the Swiss company’s pantheon of contemporary products.

At this time TAG Heuer has stopped production of the Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 as a new Autavia collection was subsequently released. The Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 was never supposed to be a long-lived product but rather the result of an interesting experiment marrying one of the brand’s best movements with the consumer popularity of vintage sport watches. As a marketing experiment, I think TAG Heuer nailed it being able to simultaneously please vintage timepiece collectors along with modern luxury watch enthusiasts. The story is what makes the Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 so compelling to people like me, but the appeal of this good-looking mechanical chronograph is carried by its effortless style and simplicity. The price for the TAG Heuer Autavia Calibre Heuer 02 reference CBE2110.BA0687 was $5,300 USD. Learn more at the TAG Heuer website.