I keep trying to estimate (a) how many garden variety Viceroys we see over the course of a month or year, versus (b) how many 1163 MH Autavias we see over this same period, (c) versus how many 1163 T (Sifferts) we see over this same period. Taking this information and looking back at the early 1970s, the only variable that is known is the approximate number of Viceroys sold in the cigarette company promotion (5,000), and then we need to add on the overstock / surplus of Viceroys that Heuer produced, but did not sell to Viceroy customers.

Would be interesting to know -- in the dark days before the Viceroy promotion -- how well the black ones were selling compared with the white ones.

At the end of the exercise, I have a headache, rather than an estimate. I am confident that others will be able to reach some conclusion other than this same headache!!

Jeff

++++++++++++++++++++++

: Well, there are a couple of things we do know that might add to the
: discussion.

: Heuer made a lot of watches in 1970, it was their record production
: year pre-TAG in fact.

: Production decreased for 1971, but it was still their second
: highest year.

: Production continued to decrease, though less steeply, throughout
: the remainder of the 70s.

: Now, given that 1970/71 are probably the two years where most of
: the Sifferts would have been manufactured, the answer could well
: be "Not as few as people might be inclined to think".
: Or "More than expected" for a less subtle take on the
: same answer.

: I'd need to give more thought to a more precise answer. But my
: immediate instinctual (and researched) feel would be in the
: thousands, not in the hundreds, which is where I think some
: people might want to go. Not many thousands, certainly, but more
: than 1000.