Hi - anyone know anything about a Heuer 'Flygraf' triple register chrongraph (twin bezel very lively dial!)- I have been offered one and I'm a thinkin'

Heuer never made a Flygraf... It's a LeJour watch with Heuer painted on the dial and likely some misshapened Heuer stamps on the movement, probably from a seller (or someone who has a source) in South America. We (Jeff, Bruce (I think), myself and some of the regular chronies (Chronograph cronies I commincate with regularly)) discussed one that appeared on eBay back in April/May we all concluded it was a pretty pathetic fake.

I was contacted by the purchaser, who is a bit of a Heuer Collector about my thoughts about it, and even got involved with discussions between him and his seller on the watch. The seller was of the opinion that his source was impeachable and everyone and everything else had to be painted around that, which is not very realistic.

Here is a sample quote from the seller:

"i am 99.999999999999% certain that all of the models we have looked at are genuine heuers. ...

(and some of these pictures he included were amazingly loopy frankenwatches the likes of which have never been seen from Heuer I assure you... Here is a directory of some of the pictures advanced by the seller

... i know the source very well and i also know that he is no rookie. i buy many pieces from this source and have never been disapointed. i have no reason at all to beleive that this piece or any other heuer that i own are less than completely original."

In any case, here is a picture of the "Heuer Flygraf" in question:

And here is the Lejour Flygraf "donor" watch:

The Lejour by the way is mine, paid $200 for it about a year ago However it features a Valjoux 72 and I've seen several LeJour's of this configuration... The purchaser of the Heuer Flygraf pictured paid £550... That's 550 POUNDS not dollars...

And to be blunt, I don't think it's a very convincing fake. First off it doesn't look anything like any other Heuer product. It doesn't even look that close to the Calculator or Pilot's models. It's a frankenwatch true and through. Someone probably decided they could make more money with Heuer on the dial than LeJour and either re-dialed it as a Heuer or ??? I don't know.

I have never seen a Heuer model that looks remotely like the Flygraf, the case is inconsistent, as are the bezel, dial markings, hands, etc. etc. with any known Heuer model or product. And I have never seen one listed in any Heuer catalog, flyer, book, pamphlet, etc. Where there are inconsistencies there follow questions. This watch has a lot of inconsistencies from known and documented Heuers. And I can't flip to a catalog, or click through to a web page and point and say "There it is, page xx in the xxxxxxxx". I can't find it, no one else has been able to that I am aware of.

Here is a "Whiz Wheel" information page that some of you might not be aware of: http://www.biothinking.com/watch/sliderule.htm

My LeJour Flygraf is shown on Edwin D's Slide Rule page, and I passed on purchase of two or three other examples of the same watch prior to purchasing mine, and I've seen 2-4 of the same model watch since I've purchased mine. All have been labeled LeJour except the Heuer previously in question.

Here is a shots of the previous "Heuer Flygraf" for reference:

The buyer did send the watch to TAG-Heuer for evaluation, and here is a scan of the report he received (his name has been obscured for his privacy):

You can decide for yourself what the authenticity, and you are best advised to consider the potential pitfalls for investing in a similar example.

Be very wary!

-- Chuck

P.S. Jeff's had his Fake watch investigation going on, and I've had mine. Hopefully, I'll find the time to gather all the necessary resources to document this one as well as Jeff's done on the Targa Florio's...