This one is on the serial number registry...amazing how many of the McQueens were bought by firstly people in design or the media and/or people wanting to match the colour of their American sports car!

Cheers
Rich
www.heuermonaco.co.uk

: After having email contact with a Heuer Monaco owner from the U.S.
: i have volunteered to tell the story of his watch and present
: his photo's as i think this will interest forum readers. I have
: received his permission to use his photo's and retell his tale.
: Its another paintless Transitional model Monaco (it is wearing
: production hands) owned by the current owner since 1978, at
: which stage its dial was the correct metallic blue.
: At this stage i think i'll just list let a copy of the owners email
: tell the rest of this interesting story. - Darren

: "I am the second owner of the watch; it was originally
: purchased fromMel Clar at Gray's Jewelers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by
: a friend of my familyprobably in 1969? as the watch matched his
: blue Corvette.In 1978, I helped my friend move his household
: furniture, etc. from Redlands to Palm Springs; this entailed
: some 14 round trips over threeweek-ends not including my driving
: the 160 mile round trip each week-endjust to arrive in Redlands.
: Cutting to the chase, after I had him allrelocated in his new
: abode in Palm Springs, he gave me the watch as hesaid he had
: fallen in love with another watch; and he wouldn't be wearing
: this TAG Heuer anymore. Thus, I became the second owner ofserial
: #: 157623. In the past, it has been serviced by a Palm
: Springsjeweler; and a jeweler in Beverly Hills; however, if I
: remember correctly,the Beverly Hills jeweler sent the watch to
: be serviced to TAG Heuer'sUS headquarters in New Jersey. This
: was my everyday watch for 14-15 years in Palm Springs--until it
: stopped running at which time I placed the watch in a sock and
: put itin a drawer where it stayed until a couple months ago;
: when I contactedTAG Heuer in New Jersey this time, they told me
: that they are sending all watches to be serviced now to
: Switzerland and the turnaround timeis 4-6 months. So, that's
: where I am.The loss of paint on the watch-face occurred during
: the time the watchwas in the sock in the drawer--which became a
: shock to me."
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: Thanks to Bill for the opportunity to share this story with our
: readers. This case of long term ownership deepens our knowledge
: of the mysterious paintless effect known to occur in early
: modelled metallic blue Monaco's. Its amazing to read that the
: mottled brassing effect we have labelled "paintless
: wonders" occurred during the period the watch was tucked
: away in the sock draw. It has long been theorized that its
: exposure to sunlight that causes the paint failure but i think
: the facts from this example seem to cotradict that fact.