The Heuer Monaco is one of the most iconic designs ever to have come from the Heuer brand. The Monaco is a timepiece that is closely associated with racing, as well as the actor Steve McQueen who wore the Heuer 1133B in the iconic and classic 1971 racing film Le Mans.

The Heuer Monaco reference 1133 was part of a trio of watches that Heuer introduced in the year 1969 to house their then-new line of automatic chronograph movements. Heuer in joint partnership with Hamilton, Breitling, Buren, and Dubois-Depraz created and introduced the caliber 11 movements in 1969 to develop the first automatic chronograph movement. The ref. 1133B Monaco was a completely new line for Heuer and was created more as a design-oriented watch than the Autavia and Carrera watches that also 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). 

Interestingly, the original design of the Monaco was actually not appreciated until much more recent times. The watch had very poor sales results when it was first introduced and was seen as a failure by the Heuer brand, resulting in a small production run from 1969-1975. Today, the Heuer Monaco is revered as being one of the most advanced watches of its time both stylistically and mechanically marking it as an icon of design. 

CASE & BRACELET

The unpolished case is honest and retains strong factory finishing and crisp angles. The original acrylic crystal has two internal cracks on the top left and bottom left corners. The case retains its original fluted pushers and Heuer signed crown. The back of the case retains all of its factory markings in excellent condition. The watch comes supplied on a black 2pc Heuer rally-style strap with a Heuer buckle.

DIAL & HANDS

The original blue dial has achieved one of the most incredible tropical patinas we've ever seen, from deep purples to bright golden speckles, the dial is truly a piece of art and presented beautifully. The dial text remains entirely intact and perfectly legible. The sub-dials have aged to a dark tan coloration exhibit some marks from age. Under U.V. light inspection some of the tritium lume plots remain partially intact. The original tritium lume hands have aged to a dark grey coloration and exhibit no degradation when inspected under U.V. light. 

ACCESSORIES 

None. The watch was recently serviced and is keeping time excellently, backed by a 1-year warranty on accurate timekeeping.