I finally acquired an 1133B--still a little hard to believe! I'd been looking for a while and had missed a few opportunities in the past (a couple of which still haunt me) but saw this Transitional last month (thanks to a forum friend) offered by another Heuer enthusiast/collector. Initially, I wasn't sure and was leaning toward the matte blue dial version but found myself constantly going back and looking at this one. I thought it looked cool--imperfections and all! And while the dial is far from perfect, the metallic blue paint is simply captivating! It goes from midnight blue to light blue depending on how the light hits it. I'm very excited to finally own this iconic watch and have it as part of my very small vintage Heuer collection.
Well done. Although I have many Monaco’s I don’t have an original and so I'm envious of your new wrist companion. That face has a story to tell I bet. If only it could speak what a tale it would tell. Congrats my friend.
It's a beautiful watch, congratulations. I am intrigued, though, what caused the paint to come off on the markers in a vertical pattern in that way?
I'm going to guess and say the dial, or a hand or two, came loose at some point in it's life and vibration did the rest - possibly during a rather heated on-track session in something very rattly and noisy, but very very fast?
Congratulations, you've added a nice treasure there! I'm guessing it's simply following the vertical brushed metal pattern that must be underneath the color?
That makes sense. And why only on the hour markers - must be something to do with the degradation of the lume plots perhaps?