Jack Heuer had recognized the allure of racing cars and flight travel for the modern man from the very start of the 1 960s and was keen to incorporate some of these design elements into his watches. The Autavia was aimed directly at worldly, 'men of action' and was a deliberate shift in design to provide a cleverly designed watch that would have its place as much in a race machine as in a private jet flying to the French Riviera.

Following the launch and subsequent success of the Autavia Ref 1163 in 1969, Jack Heuer followed up with the 1163GMT reference. The first modification was to the calibre 11 movement for the 24 hour GMT module. Upgrades quickly followed to a purpose built GMT movement, the calibre 14 which was launched around 1972. Early examples have the 1 to 24 rotating bezel and brushed steel hands with red insert. The second ones from 1970, like the present lot, used the even number only bezel and red hour and minute hands. This is a short-lived feature as allegedly pilots found red hands difficult to read in low level light conditions consequently most examples thereafter used black sub-dial hands.

This second edition model also uses the earlier "no lume dot-bezel", (later or service models would use bezels with lume pieces). All the 1163GMT references have fluted pushers with a recess cut into the top side of the case and crown at 9 o'clock which is always signed. This particular dial has faded to an exceptionally rare tropical and luxurious chocolate brown color. A must-have addition for the collector having breakfast in London, lunch in Helsinki and back in Santorini just in time to watch the sun set.