The Autavia Cup: Round One Results, Early Conclusions, And A Quick Look At Round Two

The first round of the Autavia Cup is over, and already we can draw some conclusions about the public’s preferences. The online competition – which relies on the public’s vote – will determine the look of a future Autavia model, to be presented in 2017 by TAG Heuer. So far, the contests have been pretty one-sided, the closest match-up coming from two versions of the Reference 2446. But already we can draw some conclusions from the results of the first round:

1) People Like A Panda

No surprise there. Everybody loves a “panda.” So-called because their face looks like that of Giant Panda, these black and white dials are popular at Rolex, Omega, Heuer – and really any brand that has them. Heuer actually only made one panda version of the Autavia during the 1960s, but the current popularity of such watches is probably the reason why TAG Heuer decided to introduce three more “fantasy” options in this year’s competition. And as expected most have gone through to the second round. In fact, the only model eliminated at this stage – a “fantasy” reference 3646 Mark I – was eliminated by another panda dial in round one – a fantasy reference 2446 Mark I.

2) The Valjoux 72, A Shoo-In

The majority of the watches in the competition are powered by the Valjoux 72, a manually wound chronograph movement with three registers. The others are powered by the Valjoux 92, which has only two registers. But it’s clear which one the public prefers. When facing each other, the Valjoux 72 won 100 percent of the contests. In fact, these were the most one-sided contests of the first round – the Valjoux 72 winning them by 22 and 30 percentage points. There is only one Valjoux 92 left in competition, reference 3646 Mark 3. But, while the Valjoux 72 has (almost) a 90 percent chance of taking home the Autavia Cup, we understand TAG Heuer will use an in-house movement for the winning design.

3) The Later, The Better

The very first execution of the Autavia was well represented in the first round of the competition. However, the voters have expressed greater interest in the later models, eliminating all four 1962 models. Going through into the second round are a couple of models from 1966 – which have applied metal hour markers and smaller sub dials – as well as three models from 1968. They are joined by one model from 1964, and two “fantasy” models, designed for TAG Heuer by Paul Gavin, a watch collector and photographer, who shared his love of watches on HeuerWorld.com.

The second round of the Autavia Cup is currently under way. To vote, make sure to visit the competition’s dedicated page on www.autaviacup.com. This is your chance to a manufacturing decision from one of the largest brands in the watchmaking industry.

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