

Auctions A Gold Carrera Once Owned By Motorsport King Mike Hailwood Races Past Auction Estimates

It was awarded to Mike "The Bike" Hailwood by Mr. Heuer himself.


Last weekend a significant watch to the motorsport community traded hands at the Bonhams Autumn Stafford Sale auction in England. Among the classic motorcycles and racing ephemera up for auction was a Heuer that once belonged to legendary bike racer Mike Hailwood. It sold for £56,312, four times its estimate.  

Racing has always been a dangerous game. But it was an especially perilous endeavor during an era when the go-fast technology curve took a sharp turn upward while the safety standardization curve didn’t. This was was very much in  the case with F1 racing in the early '70s. In 1973, Roger Williamson and Francois Cevert both gave their lives to the sport, and many others came awfully close. During the South African Grand Prix of that year, Mike Hailwood and Clay Regazzoni collided. Hailwood had clipped another racer, Charlton, in the  beginning of the third lap. He spun out, stalled, and was immediately struck by oncoming Regazzoni going full tilt. After the car came to a standstill, Hailwood activated his fire extinguisher, but the Swiss racer Regazzoni’s car caught fire, with him still strapped in it, unconscious. Hailwood rushed over and attempted to pull out  Regazzoni from the  burning wreck, but it caused Hailwood’s suit to catch fire. Marshalls had extinguished both the fire on Hailwood’s suit and Regazzoni’s car, but the car caught fire a second time. Hailwood ran back and helped pull his fellow racer out of the blaze. Both drivers survived. 

Hailwood was awarded the George Medal for his act of Bravery. The George Medal is awarded to those who display superlative gallantry in civilian life. He was also awarded something else at the end of the season: A gold Heuer Carrera reference 1158, gifted to him from Jack Heuer himself. Inscribed on the caseback, an encouraging note, “To Mike Hailwood for a successful 1973 Jack Heuer.” Hailwood was already a decorated motorcycle racer when he  started on the F1 circuit, and his four-wheeled accolades were stacking up as well. He had been competitive at the Grand Prix level on two wheels and four, a rare feat in the racing world.   

This very reference was known as Jack Heuer’s favorite watch, and he was also known to gift these watches to a number of drivers and prominent figures in motorsport. It’s speculated that the use of gold in this reference is a tribute, a sort of horological memorial, to all the racers who have perished while participating in motorsport.  Only 150 were ever made. 

Hailwood is widely considered the best motorcycle racer of all time, but sadly it was a traffic accident on public roads that ultimately took his life at age 41. Racing is indeed dangerous, but it's also what kept Mike "The Bike" Hailwood alive. From a horological standpoint, there couldn't be a more fitting memorial than a gold Carrera, by which to remember the legend. With a selling price four times the original estimate, it seems like the collecting community thinks so too.