A Week On The Wrist [Vintage Watch Edition]: The Heuer Camaro Reference 7843SN

I always loved the Hodinkee column ‘A Week on The Wrist’. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if it was exclusively vintage watches! Therefore I have decided to commandeer the defunct column for a series of brief articles on vintage watches that I find interesting and worthy of a quick discussion.

The Heuer Camaro was introduced in circa 1968 with its namesake being an homage to the American muscle car. These feature a somewhat daring cushion case design which stood out from the rest of their product line as deviation from the classic Carrera and oversized Autavia. While the Autavia (and Carrera) took on several design changes over the years, the Camaro remained the same with minor changes in dial variants over the four year production run until circa 1972 when it was fazed out by the brand.

Heuer was deeply involved in the racing scene within the United States seeing success amongst the important race teams which helped sustain their chronograph market and this era represents the heritage of Heuer. One of chronograph collector had a funny comment on the trajectory of the Camaro stating “If the Heuer Camaro was named [Shelby] Cobra, I bet it would have been produced longer and be more expensive now.”

The model has a cult following and has always been a favorite for collector Scott Sawaya of 10thWATCH.

“I always love a chronograph but specifically when it comes to the vintage Camaro, the uniqueness of the cushion case stands out in a sea of predictable or classically shaped watches and Heuers of the era. The sunburst finished 37mm case is special. In my collection, it provided a much needed design bridge between the round cases of the early divers 60s and the chunky, oversized tonneau shapes of the 70s.”

These watches are powered by the manual wind calibre Valjoux 7732. The reference 7843 was phased out to introduce the subsequent Camaro reference 73443 which used the upgraded calibre Valjoux 7734. Some estimate the production number of Camaro reference 7843 as around 1,100 examples. The Heuer reference 7843 comes in two dials variants - a Panda version (featured in this article), as well as the all black dial variant. Which do I prefer? The Panda or 7843SN (Silver/Noir).

This is certainly the best value buy in a vintage Heuer “Panda”, but the reference 7843 may be the best value buy in vintage Panda overall. The three register Carrera “Pandas” can be $45,000-$50,000 retail and are extremely rare. A Paul Newman Panda could be north of $1 million! The Heuer reference 7843 are sub-$10,000 all day and are the same dial makers. How cool is that?

If I am looking at the alternative vintage Heuer models to the Camaro, the Carrera is certainly most collectors’ first option. The price points for a three-register Carrera are around +$8,000 (but most collectors will tell you not go for the two-registers as it never really scratches the itch). A great Autavia from the same period or slightly later such as a Heuer GMT Autavia reference 1163 is my first choice, but that is mostly due to the bezel inserts and interesting colors. It is a totally different watch all together. A Heuer Viceroy is probably the most comparable vintage Heuer at the price range being that these trade near $5,000. If it were between the Viceroy and the “Panda” Camaro reference 7843, I would go for the more classic dial design in the Camaro.

After spending approximately one week wearing the Camaro reference 7843SN, I’d say it is a really special vintage chronograph model. Who would I recommend the watch to? This watch really would appeal to the chronograph enthusiast who may already own one to several Heuers. If you are looking for a panda chronograph in general, this is a very fun watch that is not going to break the bank compared to the Daytona/Carrera. It really stands out for the dial and that its fantastic case with a sunburst finish and beveled sides. It cases measure 37mm in diameter, 44mm lug to lug and feature a 19mm lug width. If I were to compare the watch with how another example wears, I would say it wears comparable to the Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox reference E 855. It is a jumbo case with a touch smaller dial and thicker bezel. You could go with a Heuer beads-of-rice bracelet made by Gay Freres which can add a few thousand dollars to the value, but wearing it on strap also looks great. I wore it on a strap, and thoroughly enjoyed the watch. @watchAbbie said I looked cool with it on as well!!