LeJour Posted By: Jamie Stewart Date: 7/29/05 06:12 GMT

First off, hello. I'm new to the forum and I'd like to say how impressed I am with the amount of info you provide.

Well, on the behalf of Jeff Stein, and the other participants of this forum, thank you for saying so!

Secondly, I have a couple of questions about Le Jour passadena's. Does anyone know much about them?

I'm not sure anyone does, or they would have added to what we know already.

I can't seem to find much info on them and 80% of what I have found is on here.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. One of the things that kind of bothers me about many "watch forum" sites is that they only cater to the popular brands, and many interesting useful smaller brands are forgotten and no information gets developed about them.

What I'd like to find out is, is the Le Jour the same watch as the Heuer?

No, not really.

I know they were made by Heuer but what about the build quality?

I wouldn't even go so far to say that they were made by Heuer. Certainly the LeJour was a similar watch, same movement, similar styling to the case, dial, hands, etc. But I don't _know_ that Heuer made them... There are more than enough detail differences to lead me to believe that they were not made on the same production line. Unlike Tourneau, Leaderer, and some Intercity models which even have the same or similar caseback markings.

I've just impulse bought one of ebay in new old stock condition because it reminded me of my brothers Olive green heuer 1000 series which he had in the 80's.

PVD watches were very popular in the 1980's. I know I lusted after the 510.501's, 510.502's and 510.503's offered in the Paralax Army Surplus catalog, but I couldn't afford one (and my other interests) at that time.

I had no idea that Lejours were built by Heuer so it's a total bonus.

Again, I'm not personally certain that they were. It's possible that Heuer assembled them on contract for LeJour, but that is not even a given. There were case manufacturers at the time and companies could order: dials, hands, cases, bracelets, by going from manufacturer to manufacturer and assemble them on their own or contract out to another firm to assemble them. That too is a possibility.

As the watch is 30 odd years old, is there anything I need to do to it to keep it healthy. It's described as perfect working order. Should it be serviced because of its age?

I would wind it, set it, and wear it for a week or so and see how it runs. If it keeps good time, operates as you would expect, there is probably no need for you to sent it away for service immediately. But it would be wise to get it cleaned, lubed and serviced in the next year or so, just for it's continued good health.

If on the other hand there are problems. Get it serviced.

And lastly, is it possible to get spares like extra links in black or arethey a hens teeth type object?

Hen's teeth are plentyful compared to PVD bracelets and links. If you need an extention to the bracelet's length, the quickest, easiest and cheapest method is to order a Citizen Bracelet clasp w/extention and adapt it to the existing bracelet. With such an extention you can easily get 1" to 1 1/2" of additional usable bracelet length.

Many thanks for your time

Jamie.

Not that I answered many questions (and raised a few), but I hope my reply was useful!