Heuer Solunar

In life, there are no constants but time and the tides, and no one feels the relationship between time and tide more than fishermen. 

While publications like the Farmers�?Almanac have long attempted to give fishermen insight into the best time to fish, the results have been mixed. And watch companies, eager to dive into the post-war sporting boom of the late 1940s and early 1950s, sought to develop a watch that would be the definitive sportsman’s tool. Such is the case of this watch, the Solunar, and its companion, the Seafarer. 

The Solunar was created at the behest of noted outfitter Abercrombie & Fitch. Though the name might now conjure images of bare abs and cloying cologne, back then the company’s midtown Manhattan store was a sportsman’s Mecca. The company had enough pull with manufacturers to request specially-made products for their customers �?thus, when enough A&F customers inquired about a watch that would show the tides, the president of Abercrombie & Fitch turned to Charles-Eduoard Heuer.

The timepiece that resulted from that inquiry, the Solunar, was “the only watch in the world that tells both SOLAR (sun) time, and LUNAR (moon) time”�?or so an ad ran upon its release in 1949. The Solunar was a niche product, and saw a limited run of just 1,000 pieces before being discontinued, making it all the more sought-after today.

However, the Solunar would live on in the Seafarer. The tidal dial of the Solunar would be married, in true Heuer fashion, with that most versatile of complications: a chronograph. The Seafarer had the hour and minute counters of a standard chrono, but instead of running seconds, the tidal indicator was nestled comfortably in the register at 9 o’clock.

This particular Solunar, dates to the 1950s, and features a 36mm chrome plated case with a single barrel pusher at 4 o'clock, an acrylic crystal, an unsigned crown, and a tidal indicator at 6 o’clock. It also features a beautiful, patinated white dial with gold-foil Arabic indices, a turquoise lance handset, as well as radium lume plots.

Powered by the A Schild Calibre 1188 manually-wound movment, the Solunar harks back to the heyday of the wristwatch as a professional's tool, which makes us love it even more!