With the recent listings of a couple of Israeli Military Heuer chronographs, I have received some inquiries on the issue of what might be real and what might be fake.
Here is one sold recently on ebay - - -
- A Heuer expert told me that he does not believe that this chronograph was made by Heuer, and that he was uncertain about the Israeli military markings
- An Israeli chronograph collector told me that the Israeli military markings are not "correct", but that he thinks that the piece was made by Heuer
So the Heuer-guy says it isn't a Heuer and the Israeli-guy says it isn't Israeli!!
Here is my own analysis:
- The "Heuer" logo / home-plate looks wrong . . . It is the flatter, thinner style used in the 1940's rather than the taller, fatter style used in the 1960's and 1970's.
- The case and bezel do not match any Heuers known to be real, but they do match some that seem to be fakes
- The dial markings look "weak", particularly those on the two registers
- I have never seen a Heuer chronograph that does not have markings for 1/5ths of seconds
- The hands do not match any Heuer known to me to be real
I realize that military timepieces often differ from their civilian counterparts. If the agency ordering the pieces wants white hands, they will be white. If they do not want markings for 1/5ths of seconds, I am sure these markings can be deleted.
For my money, I'll stick with the Autavia, Reference 113.603, which I know to be a genuine Heuer issued by the Israeli armed forces to certain officers. Here are a couple of these - - -
Below is a link that will take you to the OnTheDash page where the one on the right is shown in greater detail.
If anyone knows more about any of these chronographs, I would welcome the information.
Jeff
