Thanks for the info Jeff, it makes sense that manufacturers that want to add a specialty line, like a chronograph, but either don't have the production capacity or specialized staff, would contract out that assembly to someone else. Heuer itself did the same thing, it seems, when they were dipping their toes in the dive watch market with the ref. 844 Monnin. The rest is, of course, history as Heuer saw that a market existed and then made the investment to produce dive watches in-house.

It was early out-sourcing, 1960s/70s style.

I find it very fascinating that competitors who have divergent interests can come together for a project like the creation of the Caliber 11/12 or cross-branding to pool their resources together in a strategic interest and then fairly compete against each other. It's very practical.

: I believe that several of us have discussed this with Jack Heuer
: and others who were associated with Heuer during the relevant
: period. The three Zodiacs that Mark shows were made by Heuer,
: "no ifs, ands or buts".

: Here's the way I believe it went: In the 1960s / 70s, producing
: chronographs was far more difficult than producing simple
: watches, even the automatics. Each chronograph movement was
: received from the maker (say, Valjoux), but had to be adjusted
: and fitted, etc. This took a lot of know-how and was labor
: intensive. There were numerous watch brands in the 1960s, but
: relatively few companies actually producing chronographs. I have
: heard estimates of the Swiss companies actually making
: chronographs . . . around one dozen (12) / maybe 15 or 20. Heuer
: was one of these companies producing chronographs. So when a
: company like Zodiac, Dugena, Bulova or Hamilton wanted to add
: some chronographs to it line of watches, it would go to a
: company like Heuer to arrange for the production. These
: "Poor Man's" Heuers were produced by Heuer, just like
: the Heuer chronographs. Many of the components were identical;
: of course, some brands used their own designs. It is sometimes
: difficult to determine which manufacturer produced a specific
: model, but we have identified some of the Zodiac chronographs as
: made-by-Heuer, while other Zodiac chronographs must have been
: made by some other factory.

: Jeff

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

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