After a flurry of activity at the end of 2009 and into January 2010 availability of stock has become lower than usual. Whether for sale on Ebay, forums or in the open market there is very little on offer. On the Monaco front 1133B variants are the most evident although still hardly plentiful, but 1533 and 73633B variants are very thin on the ground. On the rarity side of things some interesting watches have come to market including a PVD, Transitional and a Chronomatic variant. Most unusual for these to become available in such a small timeframe, this has however been a useful benchmark for values and the updated price guide shows the levels achieved for these pieces when in mint condition. Apart from these super rare Monacos there is no doubt that the other big movers in the past year have been Calibre 15 Monaco variants and if you refer to the OTD price guide from several years back this becomes evident. Mint dial Calibre 15 variants have changed hands of late at the same price point as a 73633B and are consistently ahead of 73633G models. Certainly they are thinner on the ground and although i have seen several mint dialed 1533G's recently i have only seen one 1533B with mint dial in the past year...

On the Silverstone side of things the same scenario is true with less being offered for sale, with only a few Bordeaux and Fume variants coming to market in the past 3-4 months. The relative lack of supply should not be a surprise as although we do not know production numbers there must be significantly less than the already low Monaco run as they were sold for such a small timeframe. Prices are stable and perhaps have edged up slightly since summer last year but only for the best examples. Whether the re-edition of the Silverstone see's a major increase in values certainly remains to be seen and my hunch is that we will only see a mild inflation on these by the year end. Interestingly enquiry levels seem to indicate the Bordeaux and Blue variants are the most desired, perhaps the lack of a red variant in the re-edition line up will see even more demand for it on the vintage market, time will tell, It's certainly the stand out model in terms of look. As always condition remains paramount on both Monacos and Silverstones and my advice continues to be not to consider watches with anything other than minor dial degradation, I suspect going forward the price gap between the mint and poor/average example will continue to grow.

Overall there is no doubt that this year will be another tough year for vintage watch values, with the economic climate continuing to be a challenge, especially so in the EU. I suspect at best we will see only small appreciation in values for all but the rarest and most desired M and SS variants, however in the Heuer world the supply demand equation is better balanced than for most. Volume has certainly dried up on the collectable pieces and interest levels are slowly increasing with more collectors "finding" Heuer as a brand and with the introduction of several websites in the past 6 months and more to come in 2010 and beyond still more interest is likely to be generated. At the end of the day stagnation or small price movements should be viewed as a tremendous result for the brand and for collectors, as previously mentioned some brands are suffering not insignificant price deflation on vintage watches and stability (especially after rises in recent years) is often good for the market and for future price appreciation...

Rich

http://www.heuermonaco.co.uk/#/monaco-price-guide/4535761048