Hi Gianluca,

Great - thanks a lot for the info! I appreciate it very much.

1970 production would be fantastic as I was born in 1970 :-)

Thanks also for the links to the tools on ebay. Will buy one immediately.

best regards
Christoph

: Hello Christoph,

: first of all congrats for your very nice and minty Monaco.

: As far as I know, the Monaco 73633B appeared, for the first time,
: into the 1971-72 brochure (see third page):

: http://www.onthedash.com/document/1971-72-brochure/

: To determine its production year, consider that the first
: Transitional automatic Monacos (1133B, automatic early Calibre11
: movement) have serial number into the range 157xxx and have been
: released in March 1969.
: The manual Autavias 73663 with Valjoux 7736 movement (as yours
: Monaco) are all in the serial range 200xxx and 201xxx and are
: from 1971-1972, i.e. the manual Autavia 73663 MH in
: "Viceroy colour" is pictured in same brochure (see
: above, second page).

: So, in my opinion (but could be wrong), your Monaco #1659xx (that
: is only 8000 or 9000 serial numbers far away from 1969) should
: have been released by Heuer Factory (=produced, but not sold,
: that is another story...) in 1970 (or 1971 as worst case), as
: you already know from Rich's Monaco book.
: I think is impossible to determine when EXACTLY has been produced
: (and honestly in my opinion is not so important).

: To shorten the bracelet, you need a bracelet pin remover like this:

:
: https://www.ebay.it/itm/Metal-Link-Pin-Remover-Adjuster-Watch-Band-Bracelet-Strap-Repair-Tool-w-3-Pins/123472564389?hash=item1cbf89d0a5:g:mcgAAOSwWhVbqhpZ:rk:7:pf:0

: or better, like this:

:
: https://www.ebay.it/itm/Hammer-Remover-Set-8inch-Strap-Band-With-Punch-Pin-Bracelet-Kit-Watch-Link-Tool/173625612078?hash=item286ce4972e:g:zlwAAOSw3fpau44Y:rk:14:pf:0

: My 2 cents.

: Best.

: Gianluca