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Transitional Monacos: A Bit of Their History

I just spoke with our best expert here in the United States, to ask him the question of exactly when production of the "transitional" Monacos began and ended. Here are some of the points that he made:
  • Production of the "transitional" Monacos probably began in late 1969 and he believes that this production may also have ended before the end of 1969. Perhaps a few could have been made in early 1970, but he is doubtful that many were made in 1970, if any at all.

  • This tells us that this was a relatively short production run . . . longer than the Chronomatics, but far shorter than the run of "standard" Monacos [brushed hands, with red trim and triangular tips], which began in early 1970.

  • There were probably only around a dozen of these transitional models sent to the United States, and most of these were probably "salesman's samples", used by the salesmen to show these amazing new watches to the retailers. Of course, when the standard version Monaco was introduced in 1970, these "salesman's samples" were replaced / retired. Still, over time, the transitional samples ended up going to customers or other connected with the company, after they were retired.

  • A conclusion from all this is that very few of these transitional Monacos would have been sold through normal retail channels, at least in the United States. I have to imagine that this same approach / pattern would have applied in other markets . . . but we cannot be certain.
I hope that other readers will be able to add more information to this thread!

Jeff

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