Not 100% sure Alex. As we get later in the 1970s, there does seem to be more regional variation, with some models only sold in certain markets. These French Heuers almost certainly come from the Besançon area (certainly the early 1000 series is from there), which is less than 100kms from the "Watch Valley" in Switzerland.
My guess is that in the late 70s Heuer was scrambling to do everything it could to survive, and so trying out lower cost models like these made sense.