Two trains leave different cities traveling at different speeds headed towards each other. Train A carries Timmy and Train B has Juan. Timmy’s train is traveling at a speed of 100 mph (160 kmh), 199.99 miles (321 km) away headed towards Juan. Juan’s train is traveling at a speed of 80 mph (128 kmh) headed towards Timmy. When do they meet? How far from each other do they meet? Well, if you had a Heuer Calculator you might be able to answer this question by making any necessary calculations and conversions to get the right answer. Emphasis on the might as I have no idea if you could as I am no mathematician, don’t know how to use the calculator bezel on it, and can barely remember what I did 2 months ago; having a toddler does this to you.

The Heuer Calculator was first seen in 1972 and I can only imagine what people thought when they first saw it. At 15.5mm thick and 45mm in diameter it was something more suited to six-time winner Mr Olympia himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. You cannot slide this underneath a shirt cuff but it will definitely stand out for good reasons. The bezel is made of two parts, the inner is stationary and the outer rotates so you can make all those fancy calculations that only a scientist or an engineer could make. I am not that smart but I still enjoy wearing this beast.

I initially paired it with a blue rally leather strap but I felt that the weight of it just didn’t sit well on my wrist. I then started to search for some vintage bracelets that looked similar to the era and found two. The first pinched my hairy arms quite a bit and was uncomfortable. The second one is a Neet/JB Champion 22mm bracelet that is a match made in heaven and no longer has the hair pulling. The way it pairs is absolutely fantastic and it will be staying on for quite some time.

Powered by Heuer’s Calibre 12 automatic movement it’s keeping good time for a vintage piece at +5 seconds per day. Calibre 12 has its roots from Project 99’s Calibre 11. Project 99 was a collaboration between Heuer, Breitling, Hamilton-Buren, and Dubois-Depraz to make the first automatic chronograph and beat Zenith and Seiko to the punch. The hustle to win the competition was such that in March 3, 1969 it was released to the public and on that same day it required its first service. For more info on this and on Heuer I highly recommend you check out onthedash.com.

The crown is on the left side at 9 o’clock and I found the functionality/operation very odd when setting the time. My solution to this was to flip the watch so that the crown could be on the right side that way I could use my dominant hand and that solved the slight inconvenience. Chronograph functions are a delight to play with and the pushers have a smoothness to them. The orange accents on the blue dial make it pop with a vintage funk. Most collectors will gravitate towards the Autavia and Carrera pieces but I appreciate the underdog. There’s just something about an underrated piece that always catches my eye. Few know about the Heuer Calculator and those that do overlook it, probably because of its size but the uniqueness and quirkiness are what appealed to me. Lady luck was on my side once more and I was able to add this to my collection by making an offer they couldn’t refuse.