Re: There is no Heuer equivilent for this case... Posted By: David Alstott Date: 5/24/05 19:56 GMT

In Response To: There is no Heuer equivilent for this case... (Chicagoland Chuck Maddox)

There is no Heuer equivilent for this case... There are "poor-man's" equivelents that have a similar case design: LeJour and Gallet both have similar case styles, but not Heuer.

-- Chuck

Chuck,

Thanks so much for the reply. I think there is some mystery here but need your help to rectify, so here is the story.

That's a tall order David... But I'll try...

I purchased this watch new from The Timing Stand http://onthedash.com/docs/LeJour.shtml in 1979 or 80 for $300.00 and it came with Heuer Papers and instructions.

I think I scanned some of those you lent me.... Sounds familiar (thanks again!)...

Until I saw your article titled Heuer / TAG-Heuer & Tourneau Lemania 5100 & Valjoux 7750 Chronographs* I had no idea that Pasadenas looked any different. The watch was serviced by Heuer in 1990 (cost $200.00) with no comment from them regarding authenticity.

Here is a complete description. with picture reference to the article*

Black PVD finish on watch and bracelet

Back - outside numbers 750.501 and nothing else

- inside signature Heuer Leonidas SA Suisse

Internal Signatures Movement -17 jewel seventeen unadjusted and 7750

Rotor - Heuer Leonidas SA Suisse

Hands - like those of the pictured Pasadena 750-50 280SL watch (red second faded to pink)

Dial - almost identical to the pictured Pasadena 750-50 280SL watch except for the subdials which have the style of those on the 501.502 and 750.501 Non Pasadena watches.

If this watch were offered for sale today there would be unanimous agreement on something not right. However in consideration the year it was bought new and the fact it has remained with the original owner makes the question of real or not more difficult.

Certainly a reason to use Wiggle Words when making such comments....

and you are probably right, there would likely be consensus that it was probably a franken of some stripe.

Using the Timing Stand price list http://onthedash.com/docs/LeJour.shtml I wonder if someone would redial and rerotor a new LeJour 7203 to sell as a Heuer Pasadena for $35 difference in price.

While $35 was worth a lot more back in the day, I find it hard to believe that someone would go to that amount of trouble for so little gain.

Or perhaps Heuer ran short of Pasadena cases and made a batch of Genuine Heuer poor man's Heuers.

I suspect that by the time these models were in production, Heuer was in dire enough financial state that Heuer was happy to be making watches for others. Remember that Lenamia owned Heuer for a while before TAG bought them out. Usually your suppliers don't own your firm unless you've fallen behind in Accounts payable.

Does any of this make sense to you? If you would like to look this piece over I would be happy to ship and return at no expense to you.

The hour is late, and I wanted to get back to you before I rested. Let me look over your URLS you provided (and I made into links) in the morning when I'm fresher and we'll decide on a course of action. I'all also see how far buried my LeJour's are.

Thanks, David

Cheers