hi

opening a Monaco is not that difficult. tool 033 is, as i understand it, a plate with a square hole that the watch is placed face up on and the case opened by pushing on the edge of the crystal so the inner part slides out into the hole. have a look at the link to the Heuer technical manual featured in "on the dash"

one of the problems with the monaco top case is that it is quite weak where the crown & pusher cut outs are. if you try to open the case by supporting it on it's top and bottom lugs it's possible to bend the case top. the case top must be supported at the sides as well.

in one very extreme case my watchmaker and i had to bend the case at these points in order to open a very trashed Monaco that had been dropped in a tin of paint. (though not by me i would like to point out, i bought it like that) it did prove possible to bend the case back again and refinish it. amazingly the dial and movement were ok, it must be the only time a Monaco has ever managed to keep some kind of liquid out. the bottom part of the case was the real headache as the paint had got into the spring clips that hold the 2 case halves together, a great deal of soaking an assortment of nasty liquids was required to free them up.

which brings me to another Monaco problem, does anyone know how to fix the sprung clips when they don't spring any more? i have an early blue metalised dial Monaco with square hands that will not stay together because of problems with these clips.

Any suggestions please?

Bruce