Interesting theory Jeff, and one that would make sense.
One thing that is of not, is that all the old Viceroy adverts appear to be in dollars, and with the Heuer Time US address in the small print.
This might be relevant or not, but I wonder how other markets were treated. The '72 catalogue you refer to is also a US catalogue.. it would be interesting to see if any other 72 catalogues from around the world come to light in the future.

On the whole, your theory could well be an answer.. on the other hand, there was a huge range of models at this time, seems odd that the Orange Boy was dropped over any others, when it was a different colourway.

Stewart

: If, in fact, this is the "Orange Boy" in the 1972
: catalog, here's an explanation as to why it's there (and why we
: don't see many of them): Heuer planned for the "Orange
: Boy", with its orange accents, to be the standard
: production model of the 1163 MH (black dial automatic Autavia)
: for 1972, so it appears in the 1972 catalog This may why the
: racer is wearing it in the Viceroy advertisement; it wasn't the
: art department playing with a photo, it was the racer wearing
: the current model of the Autavia when orders for the Viceroy,
: from the promotion, overwhelmed the company, Heuer dropped the
: "Orange Boy". The Viceroy execution, with red accents
: and the MH bezel, became the standard production 1163 MH for
: 1972 (and after), rather than the "Orange Boy". I
: believe that the serial numbers support this theory, with the
: limited number of Orange Boys that we have seen having serial
: numbers in the 242xxx range, the same as the first Viceroys. So
: the huge success of the Viceroy "killed" the Orange
: Boy.

: Who agrees or disagrees? Who can offer a better explanation? Can we
: find more serial numbers for the Orange Boys?

: Jeff

: +++++++++++++++++++++++++

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