I must, as well, preface my post with my sincere apologies and I truly hope that my Opinion is not "offensive" or "impolite". And must state again that I enjoy immensely working with Heuers and Her Collectors. BUT we all assume, at one point or another, that they were perfect at all times , even during the dreaded quartz onslaught. The Heuers that we adore were made at a time when the company was consistently in trouble and especially around the time that the Monacos would need servicing. I'm sure former and current Heuer employees would deny this as we all would ( when we do our family tree we usually do a little pruning) . We have all run into things that would lead us to believe that the company had to cut corners, go to the parts bin or fudge some parts .
With Respect to TAG, Heuer and Chuck Maddox!

: Stewart,

: Firstly I want to express my appologies if
: you experienced my comment as
: "offensive" or
: "impolite". It was certainly not
: ment as such. I think most of us collectors
: here on this forum want to have constructive
: discussions and a positive attitude.

: You're also quite right about "striving
: to understand the nuances rather than
: perpetuating sweeping generalisations".

: So let's go on with this discussion in peace
: :-))

: This watch is certainly not a "fake"
: one, that's quite obvious as the case,
: movement, crown, pushers, crystal, box,
: bracelet, papers are all looking great and
: 100% original Heuer(IMHO).

: What worries me is obviously the dial in first
: place, and the hands in second place.

: The hands:
: I am not going to discuss on these hands as I
: do not have had expertise on these
: particular model of minute - hour and
: chronograph hands. I haven't seen them
: "in the metal" yet so I cannot
: decide about the quality or originality at
: all. Maybe others among us on this forum
: know more about them or have experience with
: these hands. As stated before, I wouldn't
: feel comfortable with these type of hands on
: my Monaco. Maybe they are 100% genuine and
: original Heuer but I certainly prefer the
: more known hands as in my picture.

: The Dial:

: Well, everything what I'm going to write now
: (and also what I have written above) is MY
: OPINION and I do not pretend in any way this
: would be correct or the only truth. It's
: only MY personal point of view on these
: dials. So, I admit I can be wrong. This
: having said, here follow some of my remarks
: or observations regarding this dial.

: I'm only 4 or 5 years active as a Heuer
: collector. This is just peanuts in
: comparison with some other collectors around
: here and you also have much more years
: experience as me with these Heuers. But then
: again, like it is with everything in life,
: it's not only the "quantity"
: (years of experience) but certainly also the
: "quality" (higher standards and
: eye for detail) that's very important with
: these great timepieces. The pictures I
: always share on this forum confirm this
: unmistakably. I only collect the Autavia's
: and Monaco's starting from 1970. I have
: owned and own several Monaco's and I love to
: have my watches clean and crisp with respect
: to their "originality". There is a
: hughe difference between repairing a watch
: or restoring a watch .

: My comments or remarks are not based on
: "an internet article" alone.
: Actually I have owned such a Monaco with
: this "type" of dial identical to
: yours, but mine was a 1133b. You'll find
: some detailed pics of it's dial further in
: this message. I also had a 100% NOS manual
: Monaco with an "original" dial and
: matching hands. Also some detailed pics
: visible. Also have a look at the hands of
: the little registers. If you compare the
: quality and finishing of both these dials
: you'll see some manifest differences. The
: Markers are placed not very carefully, you
: have the waffle-markers at 10-2-4 and 8
: o'clock. And also the oblong-markers at
: 11-1-5 and 7 o'clock are different. The type
: and grade of finishing used for the the
: "Monaco" lettering and the
: "Heuer" shield have also less
: detail. A Non-Heuer collector wouldn't see
: this "quality difference"
: immediately but I hardly can imagine a Swiss
: watch company like Heuer would allow to
: produce or use these kind of dials on their
: Monaco's, even if these were
: "after-service-dials".

: This is a picture of your 73633 Monaco:
:

: Here are some pics of my 1133b dial which has
: the same grade of finishing, hour-markers as
: your manual Monaco and which is also using
: the same kind of font for the Heuer-shield
: and Monaco lettering:
:
:
:
:
:

: These are the pictures from which is in my
: eyes a completely original high-quality
: Heuer Monaco 73633:
:
:
:

: Also this comparison between these 1133b dials
: is very interesting. Just have a look:
:
:
:
:

: So, I don't know which conclusion I can take
: to be 100% correct at this moment. Hopefully
: time will tell and some more reactions on
: this topic will follow in the near future
: from some of our fellow-collectors. So
: Stewart, I hope this makes sence clear that
: my opinion was not based on this internet
: article alone but was feeded and supported
: with my experiences and pictures I had these
: last couple of years. Ofcourse I also love
: to stimulate these kinds of
: debates/discussions. Afetr all, we will all
: end up with more knowledge about these great
: Heuer watches!

: Cheers,
: Abel.