Heuer has now become a household name - albeit under different ownership than founded it, namely TAG Heuer, which took over in the mid-1980s.  But the watch here - a pewter-cased Heuer Ref. 973.015, with its original Heuer-signed bracelet - is no ordinary TAG, which in the years since the mid-1980s has had some...questionable design choices.
 
The Ref. 973-style diver represents old-school Heuer design, even if it comes in a smaller package, represent a bygone era for Heuer.  Heuer managed to scale down all the elements of its highly popular 980 dive watch series - produced beginning in 1979 through 1982 - to make a stunning dive watch, never an easy feat. 
 
Make no mistake - this is the watch, made from 1979 - 1984, that saved Heuer from bankruptcy during the 1980s.  Per Hodinkee in "Why The Heuer Diver Professional Deserves A Lot More Credit Than It Gets," "Its stunning success was unexpected and came at the best possible time for the company.  In Jack Heuer’s own words: 'We could not imagine that this model would be the very watch that was to help the company recover.'  Surprisingly, this glorious hero was not a chronograph – hell, most of the time it's powered by a quartz movement.  So let's settle this injustice and look at a relatively obscure diving watch, despite it being a bestseller from 1979 to this very day.  This is the Heuer Diver Professional."
 
This quintessential no-nonsense Heuer tool watch was produced between circa 1979-84, but in some important way it continued to be made throughout the 1990s (more on this below).  The Heuer diver “…immediately sold very well for Heuer, and continued to do so even after Heuer became TAG Heuer in 1985.  After the merger, the line was kept as is, and quickly expanded… [and] eventually became the Aquaracer in 2004.  Looking at the history, the real impact of the Heuer Professional is striking: In some form or another, these dive watches have been a best-seller for (TAG) Heuer since 1979!"
 
The Heuer 2000 series was short lived, available only for a limited period, with few made.  The design has aged well, and wouldn’t look out of place if launched in more contemporary times.   The factory bead-blasted case and bracelet, and atypical reverse triangular hour markers render the watch quite "tool like," even in it's lady-like 28mm case. 
 
Most vintage women's divers feature a more delicate linked bracelet, but the Heuer design mimics the men's version with its chunky design, and provides a proper professional dive watch quality.
 
The attention to detail and quality is remarkable, and seems even more of an achievement with the smaller Heuer cases.  Heuer built these divers to high standards, and rendered these waterproof to 200m – just like their bigger brothers.

Despite being officially labeled as a 28mm diver, this - like all Heuer divers – didn’t include crown guards and crown, which make it around 32mm.  With 14mm lugs, make no mistake, it’s a small watch - perfect for an active woman.

This Heuer comes on its original Heuer bracelet, and with spring bar tool and rugged travel case.