: I'm fortunate in that my eyes are as good as they ever were, but I
: still sometimes have to resort to a big loupe to read some of
: the serials off - and wander round the house and garden trying
: to find where the light is just right to read it! On the watches
: that time has been kind to, it's easy to see (my 1158, for
: instance, is as clear as day) but it seems remarkably easy to
: obscure the number with a few decades of handling and wear - not
: too surprising after all, I suppose.

: Cal 15s have a definite date horizon, at least for their
: introduction. They were first sold in 1972. The end date is a
: bit trickier - they seem to fizzle out in the late 70s after
: having their swansong with the Monzas and were outlived by their
: older brother the Cal 12. The last time I have seen them
: catalogued is in 1977, in Monzas and the Skipper.

: With a 250xxx serial, though, it's more the start date than the end
: date we are concerned with. It looks like numbers in that sort
: of range are from the year of introduction (i.e. 1972). 1972
: also looks to be the year where the numbering system begins to
: settle down and use all the available numbers for watches - in
: earlier years, we see largish jumps in serial numbers year on
: year, but the increase is smaller from circa 1972 on. My gut
: feeling is that the early 70s were good years for Heuer, with
: series watches in full swing and selling well, so I don't think
: the sales were worse than in the mid- to late-60s - that's why I
: presume that all available numbers were being used from 1972,
: but allocated blocks and skipped numbers before that.

: As I write, though, it does occur to me that I don't know much
: about the stopwatches and how (and indeed if) those were
: numbered. We know from the forum members who went to the museum
: visit that Jack Heuer said they were producing 10-20 stopwatches
: for every watch throughout periods of their history, so it's
: possible that there was a shared numbering scheme pre-1972 and
: they diverged at that point - that would also explain why we see
: smaller increases in serials year on year later on. All
: conjecture right now - does anyone have a 60s/70s Heuer
: stopwatch that they could check for a serial?

Once again Mark, thanks a lot and I never ceased to be amazed at the the knowledge you guys have!!

David Howlett