Why This Watch Matters The Monaco is one of the most iconic designs from Heuer and a watch closely associated with racing, as Steve McQueen wore one in the film Le Mans. This one features a non-luminous dial, which is a very rare dial configuration. The Full Story The Monaco reference 1133 was part of the legendary trio of watches Heuer introduced in 1969 to house their line of automatic chronographs; the other watches were the Monaco reference 1133 and the Autavia reference 1163. Heuer was one of the companies seeking to develop the first automatic chronograph and as part of a coalition with Breitling, Hamilton, Dubois-Depraz, and Buren, introduced the caliber 11 in 1969. The Monaco was a completely new line for Heuer and though it was created more as a design-oriented watch than the Autavia and Carrera watches that featured tachymeter scales on them, the Monaco became immortalized as a racing watch when Steve McQueen selected it to use in his film Le Mans. He happened to choose a reference 1133B (“B” for the blue or “bleu” dial) like the present watch and TAG Heuer makes Monaco watches today inspired by this design. An identical model was offered at the recent "Exceptional Heuer Chronographs" thematic auction achieving a spectacular result of CHF 30,000 against its CHF 12,000-18,000 pre-auction estimate. The Fine Print Maker: Heuer Model: MonacoReference: 1133BYear: Circa Early 1970sCase No: 251641Movement No: N/AMaterial: Stainless steelDimensions: 40mm x 38.5mm; 15mm thicknessCrystal: PlexiglassLume: Yes, tritium in hands, no lume on dialCaliber: Heuer self-winding caliber 12Bracelet/Strap: Heuer stainless steel bracelet by NSALug Width: 22mmBox/Papers: N/A What we Love and What You Should Know This watch has an unpolished case and has a beautiful and rare non-luminous dial, meaning the dial does not have any lume plots and appears to never have had luminous plots. The lume in the hands appears to be the original tritium, but the luminous material is a bit dark. The watch was recently purchased from the original owner, who loved vintage Heuer watches and wore it occasionally for a number of years.
