Hi Cookie, Mark, Richard,

regarding this subject please let me quote from an email that I received from Severine Guenat at TAG Heuer Chaux de Fonds, dated June 11th 2004. It was her answer after I sent a photo of an identical version asking for identification. By the way, this watch -which I sold in 2006- can be found back on the OTD Gallery.

Here's the answer which I received:

Dear Ron,

I have just discussed with our senior watchmaker who confirmed that the dial fitted on your Monaco caliber 7736 is original. We have effectively produced ( mid 70) this model with a dial on which the markers are printed. We would like to take this opportunity to inform you that due to the age of this timepiece, some parts such as dial, hands are definitely out of stock.

Best regards
Severine

The watchmaker involved was Mr Rousseau who has retired since but was present during the first Heuer Meeting in Chaux de Fonds in 2008.
My assumption is that this watch was made at the end of the Monaco lifetime, trying to bring a cheaper version in the market and see what would happen with sales.

Hope this makes you happy Cooky. I can send a copy of the email to you directly should you ever need it. I have it in hard copy here.

Cheers

Ron