I’m extremely pleased to say that I’ve purchased my first Monaco, a 1533b. And I have some questions for our resident experts.
But first some quick background. I’ve been thinking for the past six months or so of selling my 3 Zodiac “poor man’s Heuer’s” to fund something like a Monaco or maybe a Siffert. But even with all three sold my watch budget would still be a little on the short side for a Monaco or Siffert. So I could never bring myself to putting them up for sale.
Then in January, Andy O puts up on Chronotrader a perfect candidate for me, a Monaco project. And all the better it’s a 1533b my favorite execution of the all the Monaco’s. It’s a project that needs some work, but all the better as I have been honing my watchmaking skills. Long story short I couldn’t get the Zodiacs sold fast enough to get the Monaco from Andy and he had another deal. Although I was disappointed, I understood and it wasn’t a problem. It just made me think about Monaco’s non stop.
In the meantime the Zodiacs sold and I was looking around at other Monacos, Sifferts, Daytonas etc.. all a bit beyond my reach. Then I get an email from Andy saying his other deal fell through and the Monaco was available again if I was still interested. Heck yes, I’m still interested! A deal was struck and the Monaco was on its way.

The Monaco arrived safely on Saturday and is just as described. It’s a little rough around the edges; literally the dial had seal melt, the movement needs an overhaul and to find a correct sub second hand. But overall the watch is in decent condition and should be a within my abilities of repair.

So I have a few questions for the Monaco experts.
It has the 1133 case, which I know is common for the 1533b’s, but what is the serial range that is proper for that? This one is 163xxx.
How long roughly should the crown/split stem be? As I’ve been going over the pieces it appears that the portion of the split stem that is with the crown is too short. Or is the case tube too long? Since this is my first Monaco I don’t have anything else to compare it to. Or maybe I’m not “seeing it”.

I would also would like to find the correct cal 15 running seconds hand if anybody has one that they would like to part with.

Eddie