Here's a quick update on the "Paintless Wonder", the Monaco Chronomatic that I recently purchased.

• A reliable Heuer watchmaker has inspected the watch and movement, and reports that the movement is 100% original, Caliber 11, and it appears that not a single part has been replaced or updated.

• The movement is in excellent mechanical condition, having been serviced at least twice in its life.

• The gasket has been replaced during one of these servicings, with no apparent damage to the dial (though such damage might be difficult to detect, under the circumstances).

• Upon inspecting these photos and hearing that this Monaco had no serial number, no reference number and no "Tool 033" on the case-back, another person familiar with the development of Heuer's Chronomatic chronographs suggested that this may be one of the first 10 Monacos produced. Here's the story -- In late 1968, the group producing the Cal 11 movement made 100 pre-production samples, of which 40 went to Heuer, 40 went to Breitling, and Buren and Dubois-Depraz each received 10. Of the 40 that went to Heuer, it is estimated that 10 were Monacos. The suggestion from this expert is that this may be one of those first 10 samples.

• This may explain the problem with the "midnight blue" paint. Either this early batch of paint was defective or the paint was not properly applied / baked, with the result that the blue pigmant has vaporized.