2 - 74033N PVD -- http://www.heuermonaco.co.uk/#/focus-74033n-pvd/4537123058

3 - 1133G/1533G -- http://www.heuermonaco.co.uk/#/focus-1133g/4538589992

[links repaired by Admin]

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: And so to my own Top 3 Monacos. I now feel, having held and worn at
: least 10 of the variants, I am at last able to understand this
: question I have posed to many others this past year…...and the
: winners are!

: 1 - 1133B Chronomatic
: 2 - 74033N PVD
: 3 - 1133G/1533G

: 1 - For me the Holy Grail and my favourite Monaco also happens to
: be the hardest to find. The Chronomatic 1133B, is a beautiful
: watch, sure I am partly drawn to it because of its rarity, but
: in the flesh it’s the special metallic blue dial this variant
: shares with the transitional model and the magical word
: “Chronomatic” that sits where the Monaco appears on the
: later variants. Combined with the Monaco appearing where later
: models see the words “automatic chronograph”, for me it
: makes the dial layout more balanced and after all this watch
: (along with the Chronomatic Carrera and Autavia) tells us it’s
: the very first automatic chronograph in existence. Shortly after
: this watch was produced the Chronomatic name was purchased by
: Brietling and ceased to exist on Heuers, I doubt the watch was
: ever sold as such, like the PVD and so is a prototype. I also
: prefer the chunky simple steel hands this early model has, for
: me it somehow matches the beautiful 2 part chunky steel case,
: and the silver hour markers, for me the later red striped hands
: for me don’t quite fit as well. To round my number 1 off, I
: think the blue lume on the dial and hands matches the blue dial,
: highly unusual and yet right at the same time…

: 2 - Tricky this one as the transitional 1133B would also appear in
: my top 3 but as it’s similar to the Chronomatic, I am going
: for a contrast and the watch I call the Dark Lord. Yes it’s
: the 74033 PVD. I’m not a massive fan of manual wind watches,
: but I like to have one. It brings about a different relationship
: with a watch, winding it every morning, feeling for the
: resistance and hearing it tick at 28800 beats makes me
: appreciate the movement. This watch looks amazing in the right
: conditions and with the right clothing, it’s a great sport
: watch and just so unusual, the flashes of bright orange from the
: chrono and sub register hands jumps out immediately. It also
: wears differently to the fatter cased variants which can be a
: nice change, feels lighter on the wrist...Of course I like the
: mythical nature of it as well and the fact it never appeared in
: a Heuer catalogue and possibly never even for official sale.

: 3 - This was something of a toss up for me between the 1533G and
: the 1133G (grey sub dials, marginally ahead of black ones), I
: may be breaking my own rules here, but they tie for 3rd place.
: In the right conditions the 1533G can be the most beautiful
: watch, up there with the best, but as Ron H pointed out to me
: once it does not look its best under certain circumstances
: indoors under electric lighting and this is true, it invariably
: led me to change the watch every evening! So the 1133G gets my
: joint 3rd vote, it offers me another 2 register variety which is
: firmly my favourite dial configuration and its nice to have a
: change of colour and it can cope with business dress or jeans.
: So these 3 (ok 4!) would get the most wrist time and with a
: blue, a black and a 2 different greys for me they cater for all
: circumstances.

: Am I in danger of turning into a one trick pony?! Probably, but I
: just can’t help it, I’m addicted to Monacos! Will it change
: over the next 12 months? I guess it might, perhaps thats the fun
: of watch collecting, never standing still...

: Rich

: www,heuermonaco.co.uk