Heuer Chess Timer, 1960s–1970s

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

Sure, Analog:Shift is a business built around the love of watches — mostly mechanical watches. But, in essence, it’s our love for timepieces and timekeeping in general that are the common themes throughout the items we procure. And that includes the love of clocks in general: pocket watches, travel clocks, and more. After all, in the couple hundred years before the First World War, personal timekeeping was all about the pocket watch, and before that, it was larger clocks that were front and center, horologically. We still believe a good clock — such as a classic travel model from the 1920s or 1930s — has a place in the watch lover’s collection. Chances are good that you’ve never seen a clock quite like this one before, however: Dating to the 1960s-1970s, it’s a chess timer clock made for Heuer by Looping, a Swiss manufacturer of travel and desk clocks. Housed in a 6” x 3” x 3” stainless steel and wooden case, it features dual acrylic crystals, red stainless steel start and stop pushers, and dual clocks with white dials, painted black ‘Arabic’ indices, and matching ‘baton’ handsets. After making a move, a chess player stops his own clock — thereby simultaneously starting his opponent’s clock — using the button on the case top, thus beginning a countdown indicating how long he or she has to finish the next move. Pretty neat, and pretty analog! Powered by dual hand-wound movements that are wound and set on the back of the case, this chess timer is a nostalgic reminder of an era before digital timekeeping — an era that was arguably much more fun, in our humble opinion.