It was presented in two variations: reference 1133B and reference 1133G, where the B stands for a blue dial and G for a dial in dark grey.
This was famously the watch worn by Steve McQueen in the 1971 film Le Mans (one of the actual blue-dial Monacos worn by the actor during production was sold in 2012 for $650,000) but due to its radical design, the model had limited commercial success at the time.
The production run of all the various Monaco references in the 1969-75 period (including the ‘Dark Lord’ – the rare all-black watch that proved the model’s swansong) might not have exceeded 4500 units.
An example of the 1133G appeared for sale at Sterling Vault (20% buyer’s premium) in Farnham on May 28 (below). It was in original condition with what appeared to be the original strap. The hammer price, bid via thesaleroom.com, was £4600.
A Heuer Monaco 1133G sold at Sterling Vault for £4600.
Collaborate to win
Heuer had introduced three automatic chronographs in 1969 – all sharing the Calibre 11 movement created by a coalition with Breitling, Hamilton, Dubois-Depraz and Buren.
The others in a highly collectable trio were the Autavia reference 1163 and the Carrera reference 1153. A good example of the latter, produced from 1969-74 in various dial and hand combinations (above top), comes for sale at Fellows as part of the firm’s Watches timed sale ending on June 22. The estimate is £2200-3200.
