Can anyone identify this "big eyes" variant, or is it a fake?

My father gave me this old watch that belonged to his father, who was a WWII vet. However I don't know much about it. It came to me with a piece of scotch tape holding on a broken remnant of the acrylic crystal. I took it to my jeweler / watchmaker for service and he replaced the crystal and added a little lubrication and the watch is running fine, but he doesn't have replacement parts for the broken chronograph second hand, or the missing pusher cap.

Looking online for comparable models, It resembles 1940s era "big eyes" or pre-Carrera models, except most of those have arabic hour markers. I found a few with batons, but even those were slightly different, and I have found no other watches online where the HEUER logo is without the shield. It very well could be a fake, but if so I it's a very old one. Sorry, I don't have any photos with the back open yet, I will open it carefully when I have a chance.

I'm not interested in selling it, it's sentimental to me, even if it turns out to be fake, it's still a fairly nice watch that belonged to my grandfather. I just
want to learn more about it if I can. Many thanks fellow Heuer fans!

Also, the bracelet is a "Duchess USA" from some decades ago, but it obviously is not a perfect fit for this watch. I will probably replace it with a 19mm leather strap.

The dial seems to have been refinished, which explains the use of the all-type Heuer name, rather than the Heuer shield.
It would be interesting to see the caseback (outside and inside) and the movement.
Jeff

After buying a Bergeon 8-ball, I was able to carefully open the case and take a photo. The movement and case back look quite real. There on the back is the HEUER logo within a shield. I thing you're right about the dial being refinished. I don't know why that would have been done. Is there any way to determine the approximate date based on the movement?

I found some videos with vintage Heuer collector Jeff Stein on YouTube, and then found his web site One The Dash. Based on the models he has listed, the closest match I could find was a Reference 404: http://www.onthedash.com/chronograph/reference-404/

He lists the movement there as Valjoux 23, and the movement pictures look very similar, but mine is a little different. On his you can see the "Seventeen jewels" clearly, but on mine it was printed beneath one of the gears so you can only make it out partially. Maybe mine is a precursor of the Reference 404, but with a refinished dial. Although this begs the question why someone would replace the standard Heuer shield log with the HEUER name is a totally different font.

I wonder if maybe like with Abercrombie & Fitch, Heuer could have produced this watch for some other vendor. Perhaps they were produced without any logo on the dial, and a jeweler or someone would add their own logo, except in this case someone wanted to make it clear that it was actually a Heuer so they asked for HEUER to be printed on the dial, and the jeweler just chose a nice font and did it, possibly in violation of trademark or copyright. I'm going to try to reach out to Jeff to see what he thinks.

Hi Jeff, I don't know why but I didn't put it together that I was already talking to you here. Thanks for your comments!

The more I read On The Dash, the more I learn. It appears the movement is a Valjoux 22. See photo. That makes it seem closer to a ref.3336, but hard to nail it down with the refinished dial. The lugs on mine are 19mm apart, not 18 as listed for the 404. I don't see any lug distance listed for 3336, so I'm not sure if this makes the case for 3336 or not.

I think you are correct that it was refinished as I've noticed several unusual details:
I- plain script HEUER, no shield

• no Made In Switzerland on the bottom
• the font used for the numbers 5 through 60 on the outer edge don't match the numbers in the registers
• lume dots over the numbers on the outer edge. Compare to ref.415 where the dots are NOT on top of the numbers.

In any case, since this is a modified vintage Heuer that I will never sell, I don't think I need to worry about keeping everything 100% original. I will be on the lookout for a suitable pusher and second hand to replace the broken parts. It has been keeping very good time, and I've ordered a few leather straps for it that should be a nice upgrade from the Duchess USA replacement bracelet which doesn't quite fit correctly between the lugs. I'll post an update picture some time in the future.