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Registry of Black PVD Monaco Chronographs There
has been considerable controversy and
debate about the question of (a) whether
Heuer actually produced Black
PVD Monacos or (b) whether Heuer
might have commenced the project of
producing these watches, but abandoned the
project after encountering difficulties,
leaving some of these watches produced by
Heuer (as pre-production
prototypes) and others to be
assembled from the parts that Heuer had
ordered for the project. Here, we present
both versions of the story, and also
present a Registry of these Black PVD
Monacos. Made
by Heuer In
recent e-mail correspondence, Mr. Jack
Heuer has confirmed that Heuer produced
the Black PVD Monacos. According to
Mr. Heuer, the Caliber 12
(automatic) Monacos, launched in
1969, were not a success in their early
years. The case was too bulky, the avant
garde style appealed to some enthusiasts
but was not widely popular, and the Swiss
chronographs faced difficult competition
from other chronographs (especially the
Seikos), as a result of comparative
exchange rates between the US dollar, the
Swiss franc and the Japanese yen. Heuer's
first change in its line of Monacos was to
offer the Caliber 15 model, deleting the
hour register in favor of a
single-register automatic chronograph and
making other cost-savings changes. As the
Monaco began to find some consumer
acceptance in the mid-1970's, Heuer
introduced three-register manual-wind
models, with dials in either blue or gray.
Mr. Heuer indicates that the Black PVD
Monaco was the final execution of the
Monaco, offered in response to the fashion
trend of the mid-1970's which favored this
"military" look. According to Mr. Heuer,
the Black PVD Monacos were sold through
normal commercial channels, though he does
not believe that they were offered in the
United States. This could explain why
people associated with Heuer in the United
States , during this period, never saw
these watches. Parts
by Heuer Those
who question that Heuer produced the Black
PVD Monacos tell a very different
story. Heuer began the project of
developing Black PVD Monacos, but had
difficulty producing the cases. It was
difficult getting the PVD to stick to
the sharp edges of the cases, and Heuer
abandoned the project. According to this
version of the story, Heuer had the unique
black dials and PVD cases produced;
Heuer assembled a very limited number of
the watches; Heuer then anandoned the
project, having on hand some remaining
dials and cases that had not yet been
assembled into complete watches. Some
speculate that a party other than Heuer
completed assembly of several Black PVD
Monaocs, from these parts that had been
produced for Heuer, and that these are the
watches that have slowly made their way
into the collectors' market in recent
years. The
Current Collectors Market for Black PVD
Monacos Regardless
of whether you are of the view that Heuer
produced the Black PVD Moancos, as a
normal production watch, or that these are
merely Heuer parts that were assembled by
some other person, there can be agreement
on one fact: these are very rare and
higly-valued watches in today's
collectors' market. As of this writing,
the typical price range would be
approximately $5,000 for a project watch
(genuine case and dial, but other parts
not authentic) to approximately $10,000
for the very best watch, in near mint
condition. Characteristics
of Genuine Black
PVD Monacos Whether
the chronographs were made by Heuer, or
only the parts were made by Heuer, through
an examination of the samples included in
the Registry, we can describe the genuine
Black PVD Monacos (and distinguish them
from some recent samples that appear to
have been "put together" from parts of
other watches). The following are the
characteristics of the genuine Black
PVD Monacos: Additional
Samples; Additional
Information Please
contact me with an questions about this
Registry, or if you have photos of a Black
PVD Monaco that should be
included. Jeffrey
M. Stein Copyright
2007, Jeffrey M. Stein
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