The “Exotic” Autavia, although driven by the Calibre 15, is housed in cases marked 1163V, thought to be leftovers from the Autavia promotion with Brown & Williamson and their “Viceroy” cigarette brand, which offered the 1163V (Viceroy) at a heavily reduced retail price, featuring a black dial with two white registers and red accents. Thousands of units were sold, with many surviving today. This is in stark contrast to the 30 “Exotic” Autavia examples known to be in collectors hands.
The dial of the “Exotic” Autavia is a pure expression of the 1970; colorful, playful, avant-garde, in much the same way as the Rolex “Exotic” Paul Newman dials. It was believed that the unusual checkerboard dial hash marks (1/5th seconds for accurate timing) allied to the tachymeter bezel and the oversized lume plots, rendering the watch extremely legible, were conceived for race timing. Research suggests the correct configuration for this reference is with a Calibre 15 that does not have the letters “SX” visible on the bottom left hand side of the main plate (as is the case here).
This is the first time a full set example in new old stock condition has been offered at auction and as a bonus it retains its original red sticker on the caseback. Having never been seen in an official brochure or publication, it is amongst the rarest and most coveted of the automatic Autavia chronograph models ever produced.