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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 full-serviced Heuer 980.115N, with full lume dial and original stainless-steel Heuer-signed bracelet - is no ordinary Heuer, which in the years since the mid-1980s has had some...questionable design choices.

 

The full lume dial diver for sale here 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 Ref. 980 dive watch series - produced beginning in 1979 through 1982 - to make a stunning dive watch, never an easy feat. 

 

The attention to detail and quality is remarkable, and seems more of an achievement with these 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 32mm diver, this - like all Heuer divers – didn’t include crown guards and crown, which make it measure a nice 36mm.  With 16mm lugs, make no mistake, it’s a small watch - but perfect for an active woman.

 

The attention to detail and quality is remarkable, and seems more of an achievement with these smaller Heuer cases.  Heuer built these divers to high standards, and rendered these waterproof to 200m – just like their elder siblings.

 

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."

 

For a brief history of these amazing Heuer divers, we turn to another Hodinkee article, “A Personal Note: Marking Time With A Humble Heuer” - “In 1980, Heuer decided it was time to build a proper dive watch.  Sure, years earlier, it had fitted its 'Automotive-Aviation' Autavia chronograph with a diving bezel, but the brand was largely focused on motorsports watches, which is where it had built its reputation." 

 

But in the late 1970s, as Jack Heuer tells it in his autobiography, “The Times Of My Life (2013),” Heuer was at a sporting goods trade show in Europe and was approached by a diving equipment company having trouble finding quality dive watches.  Before that fateful show, Heuer was not doing well as a company and its situation had begun deteriorating as early as late 1974 (along with most of the Swiss watchmaking industry, badly hit by the quartz crisis caused by Seiko).  Quartz watches were more technically advanced than mechanical watches, and at a lower price point too, making them fierce competitors for the traditional Swiss companies.

 

It is in this grim context Jack Heuer saw an opportunity at that 1979 sporting goods trade show.  Heuer got the idea to address a recurrent complaint voiced regarding the difficulty in finding reliable private label watches for underwater sports – Heuer’s expertise at this time was racing chronographs, but it took the challenge regardless, and teamed up with French supplier G. Monnin.

 

Per Heuer, “To our great surprise our new diving watches were very well received by the market."  So much so, in fact, that the following year Heuer began offering the Diver Professional in four different sizes and a multitude of dial configurations

This Heuer comes on its original stainless-steel Heuer bracelet, and with nylon strap, spring bar tool, and rugged travel case.

Full Lume 1985 Heuer 980.115N Diver, w/Original Bracelet

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  • DIAL: Spectacular full lume Heuer-signed dial, with black "mercedes" hands; date at 3 o’clock position functions as designed.  Dial and hand lume - including bezel pip - glows strongly.

     

    BEZEL: Unidirectional bezel, bezel insert remains in excellent condition,and ratchets w/a satisfying click.  Inlaid “pip” remains, and in great condition.

     

    CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 32mm (w/o crown, 36mm with) x 39mm; matching signed caseback.  The later third execution "N variant" cases - like the one here - were thinner than second execution cases.

     

    CRYSTAL: Sapphire crystal, no cracks.

     

    BAND: This Heuer diver comes on its original 16mm Heuer stainless-steel bracelet, which will accommadate up to an approx. seven inch wrist (or 7.75 inch wrist if the dive suit clasp is utilized); it also comes with a dark blue and green nylon strap.

     

    MOVEMENT: Heuer ETA 955.114 hacking quartz movement.  We have performed a full service on this watch.

     

    CROWN: Heuer-signed non-screw down stainless-steel crown.

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