Reply With QuoteI like the bund. They are a classy Heuer. Then again , all Heuers are classy apart from the F1.
Nice info as well.
So ever since I joined this forum I have enjoyed the countless number of reviews that have been posted and always thought I would get around to doing one at some point, well that point has come.
The watch I really wanted to review was one that always brings a smile to my face when I put it on and there are an awful lot of watches that do exactly that, but none give me a smile the Heuer Bundeswehr.
Everything about Heuer in the 60's & 70's for me simply eludes cool, from the numerous Autavia variations, the Monza & the Monaco to name a few, they optimised the daring nature of the racing driver and pilot and not forgetting the uber cool A- list Hollywood star like Mr McQueen.
Over the years I have owned an awful lot of Heuers, It’s a brand and particularly a period of watch making (1970’s particularly) that continues to appeal to me despite changing tastes over the years.
I have a few watches, maybe a few too many and so the notion of a ‘keeper’ ebbs and flows with my taste at the time but there is one watch that since acquiring from a gracious forum member nearly 18months ago that I genuinely believe will be with me until the day it’s decided I’m to leave this mortal world and that watch is my Heuer Bundeswehr.
This is not an exhaustive review of the every variation but gives you a falvour for the history and evolution of the model, for more specific dial info you can read a great review (which was in part in great source of info for this review) here: http://brown-snout.com/horology/article ... hr_chrono/
There have been a fair view variations of this watch not only badged by Heuer but by several others, Sinn and Leonidas.
The 1st Bunds were produced by Leonidas, a company Heuer bought in the early 60’s. When they bought the company they also bought the designs owned and the Bundeswehr was one such design. They were designed for the German ‘Bundesluftwaffe’ Federal Airforce who purchased them for the large easy to read dials and the specific Flyback function of the Valjoux Calibre 220 manual wind movement, which allowed for the simultaneous restart of the chronograph features following a zero reset.
You don’t see many of the Leonidas versions, they are pretty rare as they were not produced for long and shortly after the acquisition by Heuer they choose to use their own branding. Heuer stuck to the principals of the Leonidas version but decided to change the movement to the Heuer modified cal.1550 (modified from a Valjoux 23 base), the case production was contracted out to Helmet Sinn (a pilot himself) and assembly took place in Switzerland.
Now there are Sinn badged examples of the Bundeswehr, Heuer did not have a licence to operate within Germany beyond military contracts to the German Airforce, Sinn did a deal with Heuer to use the cases that were being produced as well as the movements to create a Sinn badged version of the Bundeswehr. They are largely identical to the Heuer version except in name.
So as you can imagine there are a few variations of this model, the principal of the case design has no really changed from day one and although movement calibres have, the Flyback features have largely remained, leaving the dial as the greatest area of variations.
In 2003 W.A Manning (link at the foot of the review) attempted to research the various dial configurations and in his research found what he believed to be no less than 30 different variations, I don’t intend to through those one by one but will aim to highlight some of the key differences.
Early Heuer Bunds had several key consistent themes:
Standard Sized Heuer Logo and standard sized fonts (this was true of both the ‘T Swiss’ and 3H dials
Sinn used larger logos and fonts.
As the years rolled by the Heuer logo sizes got larger and the printing of the numerals and 3H (where appropriate) also got larger in most cases.
Examples. Taken from the internet.
I’m not completely sure when these ceased production however Sinn produced Bundeswehr’s under their Brand name and under they also supplied refurbed or NOS Heuer badged versions during the same period in to the 90’s and still today carry a healthy supply of spares and servicing work for them (which mine is a testament of).
The refubs under the Heuer badge did vary in terms of dial printing.
Refurb versions:
Sinn have in a number of ways continued with the Bundeswehr theme, producing / supplying a number of manufactures with the cases and movements to produce their own modern versions.
Sinn switched to a lemaina cal.5100 automatic day date movement and this movement along with the cases were sold to Bell & Ross and Kobold in 2003. All were a take on the reinvented Lemania powered Sinn 153 Military (a watch I’m yet to own but at some point wouldn’t mind).
Production of the 153 Military across the board stopped in 2006 when the Lemania 5100 was discontinued.
The case design still thrives albeit in a homage version of the above, in Hong Kong an eBay seller has recreated a version of the Bund which in truth is a pretty good attempt, using a manual wind movement similar to the Venus movements of old
So that’s it and all that leaves me to do is how you a few snaps of mine. You will note that mine has a powder coated PVD case, this was done on request at the Sinn factory following a refurb, and for me it gives a slightly stealthy appearance and one that for me completely suits the watch.
I hope you enjoyed the read. :)
Dave
Note:
1) there is a fair bit of info around on the net if you care to look, one of the main sources being W.A Manning who gives a breakdown of the different dials he has found in his research and was a great source for much of the info enclosed in this review.
2) Some of pics used are from WA Manning and off the net
I like the bund. They are a classy Heuer. Then again , all Heuers are classy apart from the F1.
Nice info as well.
This is a v good review thanks for sharing :D , I was not a fan of Heuer watches before but reading your review and looking at the pics made me think I am missing out by not giving it a try at some point.
You could do a whole lot worse than get yourself a decent 70's Heuer, some crackers come up on the SC so keep your eyes peeledOriginally Posted by LeonW
Excellent review and you already know I dig your PVD Bund! :wink:
Excellent Dave, thanks for posting,
James.
Thanks for this excellent review on this iconic watch.
Thanks for sharing! I own one myself for about 1,5 year now and I still haven't figured out why these aren't more popular. Vintage / issued / flyback / great caliber / reads time very well / affordable / 43mm so wears modern and above all: VERY COOL. What could you want more???
Oh BTW; the SINN you mention has reference 156 instead of 153.
The PVD:d Bund is indeed very, very cool...
/M
The PVD Bund is a stunner!
It is, wish I still had it :lol:
Sweet!
Nice review, now I need one of these too..
Well done Dave,
hand in hand with Walters brown snout write up you have succeded in informing the public in an entertaining way.
Yes i find it hard to understand why these large militaty watches are not more in demand, they are so easy to read, relative to the modern watch in size & are asthetically pleasing on the eye.
I have a very special prototype Heuer Bund in my collection , an extremely rare Caliber 12 automatic version that was sent to the Bundeswehr for evaluation.
For anyone interested to read more about my Chronmatic Bund here's a link to the Heuer forum write up i did in March last year
http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heu ... d;id=43394
Cheers - Darren
Excellent post :)
Wow! :shock: Now that's something special! Never seen that one before (not that I'm an expert).Well done Dave,
hand in hand with Walters brown snout write up you have succeded in informing the public in an entertaining way.
Yes i find it hard to understand why these large militaty watches are not more in demand, they are so easy to read, relative to the modern watch in size & are asthetically pleasing on the eye.
I have a very special prototype Heuer Bund in my collection , an extremely rare Caliber 12 automatic version that was sent to the Bundeswehr for evaluation.
For anyone interested to read more about my Chronmatic Bund here's a link to the Heuer forum write up i did in March last year
http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heu ... d;id=43394
Cheers - Darren
In all honesty, I must say that I like the original dial layout(s) better. The date and 3H symbol on 6 make it a bit busy. But I can really appreciate it as a collectors item of course!
Do you know if a date was a requirement for the successor to the 1550SG?
[quote=Eddy C.]Wow! :shock: Now that's something special! Never seen that one before (not that I'm an expert).
hand in hand with Walters brown snout write up you have succeded in informing the public in an entertaining way.
Yes i find it hard to understand why these large militaty watches are not more in demand, they are so easy to read, relative to the modern watch in size & are asthetically pleasing on the eye.
I have a very special prototype Heuer Bund in my collection , an extremely rare Caliber 12 automatic version that was sent to the Bundeswehr for evaluation.
For anyone interested to read more about my Chronmatic Bund here's a link to the Heuer forum write up i did in March last year
[url="http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=43394
In all honesty, I must say that I like the original dial layout(s) better. The date and 3H symbol on 6 make it a bit busy. But I can really appreciate it as a collectors item of course!
Do you know if a date was a requirement for the successor to the 1550SG?[/quote:15p5l9ty]
The date feature was a by-product of the Cal.12 movement, not a Bundeswehr requirement.
The link i added has the full explanation but basically it was a Heuer prototype (there were 7 or so of these made)
Cheers - Darren
And a lovely prototype it is - especially in the flesh! :wink:
Cheers Thomas - yes you had the chance to look it over in London.
What a great night that was !!
It was a great night. My memories are sketchy towards the end due to the red wine!Cheers Thomas - yes you had the chance to look it over in London.
What a great night that was !!
Really interesting addition to the thread, Darren. Thanks for sharing. :)
The Heuer bund. is one of my all time favorites.
The pvd coating looks great.
One of my favourites, I want to own one some day. Love the pvd version.
Anyone want to trade a heuer bund for a sinn EZM1 ?
David
Love the pvd coating on it!
It gives it such an amazing stealthy look
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Haha. Yes if you're still interested 7 yrs down the line!
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