1960s Heuer Carrera Dato 45 (Ref. 3147N)

In 1963 two great chronographs were introduced. The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona and the Carrera line from Heuer. Both named after famous races and both developed for the automotive marketplace. There are far more Heuer Carrara chronograph variants than the Rolex Cosmograph range of watches, but both chronograph ranges are iconic and set the standard for what was to come from the major Swiss brands in the many years to follow. Rolex's main focus would be on waterproofness of their Cosmograph Daytona line while Heuer would ultimately focus on practicality and legibility. This 3147N is the second version of the Heuer Carrera with Date.

There are a couple of things make the Heuer Dato 45 unique and different that captivates the attention of the collector and minimalist alike. First, as you will notice the layout of the dial is very uncommon and quite specific to the Heuer 3147 chronographs. Instead of the date being displayed in the typical and commonly seen at the 3 o'clock position, it is displayed at 9 o'clock position instead. The minute totalizer is large and displayed at the 3 oclock positions on the dial and records 45 minutes instead of the typical 30 minutes, this is also where the name Dato 45 comes from. Furthermore, there is no running seconds hand or subdial which makes the Carera Dato 45 quite unique and in alignment with Heuer's goal of keeping things legible and purposefully simple. The Dato 45's are somewhat hard to find especially the matte black dials as it seems that more Heuer Dato 45's were produced with the silver dial. Additionally this specific variant bears a "Swiss" only signature above the 6 o'clock position instead of the more commonly seen "T Swiss" which makes this specific example even more unique and worthy of collection!