The Skipper began with the 1967 America’s Cup, when Heuer supplied the timing instruments aboard the winning yacht Intrepid, skippered by Emil Mosbacher, and Jack Heuer ordered a chronograph to commemorate the result. The first Skipper, reference 7754, was released in 1968 in the 36 mm Carrera case — the only Skipper ever built in that Carrera body — and is engraved 7753 inside. Its Valjoux 7730 manual-winding chronograph was reworked so the 30-minute register became a 15-minute regatta countdown split into three five-minute segments, leaving the running seconds sub-dial at nine o’clock.

The countdown is what makes the dial: the three sectors are coloured teal, green and orange so a skipper can see at a glance how long remains before the start gun. The deep blue dial with those blocks of colour has made the 7754 one of the most collectable vintage Heuers, and collectors nickname it the “Skipperera”. It was never a catalogue watch — it is believed that only around 20 examples of the reference were made and that it was deliberately kept out of Heuer’s price lists — which is why it appears at auction only rarely.

The Skipper stayed in Heuer’s line for roughly a decade after 1968, moving through references 7754, 7764, 15640, 1564 and 73464 and taking cases from both the Carrera and the Autavia families. Vintage interest has kept pace with the model’s scarcity: a ref. 7754 was offered on the secondary market at $113,837, and Phillips has repeatedly included Skippereras in its Geneva sales. TAG Heuer has revived the name several times, including a 2017 limited edition made with Hodinkee (125 pieces) and the current Carrera Skipper, but the 7754 remains the reference collectors mean when they say Skipper.