Heuer 1614 Chonograph (French Made)
Heuer 1614 Chronograph, Manual Valjoux 7765, French Made
This retro looking chrono was available in the late 70s alongside a few other French made models. I’m not entirely sure why they were made in France. The first 844 divers were made in France by Monnin at around the same time, so it could be presumed they made these too, but there is no Monnin markings anywhere on this model.
There appears to be several variations of the 1614, among the differences are: ‘Incabloc’ written under the Heuer shield, different hand sets/hand colour and the most obvious version with the Champion Sparkplugs co-branding resulting in a different placement of the Heuer sheild.
It’s powered by the well regarded, and tough Swiss Valjoux 7765, and has a two colour date wheel, the even dates are in black, odd in red. Apart from the dial, they are unsigned, with a blank crown and movement.
The 1614 has two brothers, the 1611 & 1589B that was a similar dial design, same movement & made in France too. The main differences is that they have a rather lovely white dial and more curvaceous case designs. There appears to have been a lot of these (NOS) 1611 cases/dials/handsets floating around and have been used to ‘make up’ NOS models. This isn’t so bad, some are true to the original, some deviate a little. There have also been various outright fakes that are easier to spot – some with PVD finishing, yellow dials etc. Thankfully the 1614 isn’t targeted as much as the ‘cooler’ white dial version, maybe because the fume dial & 70’s-tastic colouring isn’t as popular.
The French made series can be seen here on OTD in the 1979 catalogue and the 1979 French Catalogue on HeuerBoy.
Heuerville 
A very beautiful piece!
Here is a cousin to the 1614, my father’s 3006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctarshus/sets/72157626341437941/with/3590514660/
I haven’t had any luck finding the 3006 in any 1979 catalogue’s, but it is on OTD’s reference table and the movement matches the 7734, even though it has Swiss Made on the face.
Some questions for you; is that an original strap, are the lugs 21mm, and if original does the buckle have a label?
Chris
August 2, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your message. Some may look at your Fathers watch and immediately shout ‘fake’, as it is not very well known, but it is genuine, and very, very rarely seen – in fact it’s the first one I’ve ever seen! I have a picture of it in the catalogue, here it is.. the only difference being the central chrono sweep hand…
Your questions about the strap – are you referring to your Dad’s 3006 or my 1614?
ps. despite what it says in the reference table on OTD, there is no evidence to suggest that your watch was French Made – I think it is an error in the ref. table, and I have mentioned it several times. It even says Swiss Made on the dial.
Heuerville
August 2, 2013 at 6:19 pm
I am speechless! I have been looking to find the 3006 in a catalogue for a decade with no success, and in less than a few hours you pull it together, a million thank yous!
Our 3006 (my father and I share the piece) had the original red central sweep until 2009 when it was sent in to Tag in Switzerland to be restored. Unfortunately they replaced it with a white sweep, but luckily they did send me back all of the original parts including the very faded sweep hand. The next time it goes for service I am going to ask them to either re-install the original or find a true original replacement in red.
So, for years I have been searching to find what I thought was the original bracelet (rally bracelet in the very old picture) and now I realize that was an aftermarket bracelet he bought for the 3006. My father has had the original strap (one that matches the catalogue picture) in his dresser for 35 years now and all this time I was looking for the wrong thing…
Does the 1614 have an unsigned 21mm strap as well?
Thank you a million times for your help. If you have a full page of the catalogue you could email me or send me the link to I would be very grateful.
ctarshus@borgwarner.com
Chris
August 2, 2013 at 7:04 pm
No problem Chris – you sound like a happy man!
That cropped image is all I have.. I found it posted on the OTD forum in 2010, it’s apparently from the back of a German catalogue. It’s possible that these were German market only watches, hence why they aren’t seen in any of the US/UK/French catalogues.. here is the link: http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?md=read;id=39894
I wonder if your Dad bought the watch in Germany/Europe?
The 1614 of mine didn’t come on the original strap, so I don’t know if it was signed or not – but my educated guess is that the original straps weren’t signed – many aren’t. For the record, if I recall correctly the 1614 had 19mm lugs. (I sold it a while back).
The metal bracelet seen in your photos is a Swiss made NSA type bracelet, NSA bracelets are commonly seen on Swiss watches from this period. They made some bracelets for Heuer, but were signed Heuer on the clasp. It’s possible your Dad got it from a dealer at some point.
Re, the red hand, if it’s badly faded, it’s fairly easy for a decent watchmaker to repaint it – if that’s a route you wanted to take.
Heuerville
August 2, 2013 at 7:30 pm
My dad received it as a gift from work (Corning Inc.) back in 1978-79. His sales department hit some records and as a prize they all had the chance to pick out their favourite Heuer and my dad liked the 3006 so he ended up with that. I am not sure what market the watches were ordered from, but it was received in Corning, NY.
I purchased the NSA bracelet earlier this year, to go along with the Hirsch rally strap I also picked out for it. A month or so ago we found the original black strap in my dad’s dresser and didn’t even realize it was the original until I saw the picture from the catalogue you found today. In a couple weeks when I go to visit my folks I will be switching it over to the strap from the catalogue!
The bracelet I was searching for that I thought was the original is in the very old picture of my father and I linked below:
Thanks again and have a great weekend.
Chris
August 2, 2013 at 8:11 pm
The Heuer US importers/headquarters were based in NY, so maybe there was a wider selection of watches available when your Dad made his choice. Also, the late 70’s was a turbulent time for Heuer, so we see many oddities/strange happenings, this may explain a German market watch in the US. This is of course calculated guesswork.
The bracelet in the photo of your Dad – I’ve seen those before, usually on Heuer ‘Easy Rider’ watches. I’m not sure that they were properly ‘connected’ to Heuer watches, but they were certainly popular in the late 70’s. Maybe the shop that supplied the watch also supplied it as an optional extra – just a guess. You see them from time to time on ebay.
By the way – that pic of your Dad.. it is pure 70’s!! Everything about it encompasses the late 70’s, it’s brilliant!
Have a good weekend Chris.
Heuerville
August 2, 2013 at 8:52 pm
Hi there! I’ve stumbled upon the possibility to aquire a 1589B, but the information is slim and I only got one image. The things that worries me is that the dial (which is said to be damaged) has got a very yellow tone. Don’t know if it has bleeched or if it’s a fake/repaint. Also, the hands doesn’t match in color to any of the ones I’ve seen during my investigations. The only information I’ve got is that it’s a Valjoux 7765 movement, with the case no. 79770. Also, the movement isn’t working – which offcourse would make this seem as a terrible buy overall – but the price is pretty cheap so it might be worth a gamble if it doesn’t turn out to be a fake..
Image of the watch:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f25/fake-busters-thread-ask-about-authenticity-thread-675245-147.html#post7432516
Any ideas?
aSoder
February 26, 2014 at 7:57 am
Hi aSoder..
Hmm.. tough one.. the dial coloration might be from poor storage or the dial itself may have been stored separate from the watch and recently assembled. There are so many question marks over these budget Heuers that I do tend to avoid them if there is any doubt. Yes, it might be cheap, but as you say, it’ll need a service and the overall price starts to add up. My advice is to save your money and put it towards a better quality Heuer (Autavia etc).
Heuerville
February 26, 2014 at 12:01 pm
Hi Heuerville!
Thanks alot for your quick response. I will take your good advise and stay away, hopefully something better will turn out in the future.
I actually also got my eyes on an HEUER, 300 SLR with all papers and boxes – but here we’re talking more around € 2.300 (and not so much “vintage”).. Not completely sure if the watch itself is worth that much money even though it’s limited. Heard both good and bad things about the Caliber 1887 e.g..
aSoder
February 26, 2014 at 3:14 pm