It’s a Heuer, it’s olive drab and it has a Lemania 5100 movement. What’s not to love?!

Anyone who visits our site knows that we’re huge fans of vintage Heuer watches. They created some of the coolest tool watches of the mid-20th century, and had a solution for everyone, from sports car racers to SCUBA divers to engineers.

The Heuer Reference 510.502 was one of the last models to come out of Heuer before the company was purchased by Technique Avant Garde (TAG). Created alongside similar watches made for military use and commissioned by the Italian Air Force, the 510.502 is built around the Lemania 5100 automatic chronograph movement, which has itself become an object of collector’s desires, no matter what it’s cased in.

The movement was designed to be a robust, hardwearing chrono for professional and military applications, and is somewhat unique in its operation, featuring a central chrono minute rather than the typical sub-register, allowing for easier reading of the elapsed time. The 24-hour indicator at 12 o’clock is part of what makes the watch useful for the military, and the olive drab PVD further contributes to the overall style.

The case is reminiscent of other hooded-lug barrel cases from the 70s, and completes the overall tool watch look. The olive dial pairs well with the color of the case, and the orange accents pop against the drab color scheme.

At the end of the day, forget about the cult favorite movement, forget how cool vintage Heuers are in general, and just look at the gorgeous execution of this piece. It’s just an impossibly cool looking chronograph that is unlike anything else out there. This watch is as cool as they come and speaks entirely for itself.