73443

Photo credit: rarebirds.de

As with other Camaro models at the time, the Dato model 7843 was upgraded with the new Valjoux 7734 movement, lending it a new designation the Camaro 73443 (734 taken from Valjoux 7734). Although the first designs of this model were of the same as it's predecessor, these are few and far between and most we see are of the exotic style, mostly with colourful Tachymeter rings and matching sub-dial hands, which were now typical of these later Camaros.

The 'S' that never was

The 1970 Heuer brochure entitled 'CARRERA, AUTAVIA AND CAMARO' (source: onthedash.com) has a lot to answer for in connection with Heuer research. While it provides exciting illustrations of the various (and numerous) Heuers available at the time, it seems there was an amount of artistic licence in terms of the specifics of the models shown and descriptions attached. We have already touched on the 73343 T 'non-exotic' that is so elusive it has never been seen. In this case we see an illustration and a description of the Camaro 73443 S (with date, without Tachymeter) which appears to be a direct successor to the Camaro 7843 S, having a white dial and black sub-dials. Through all the research achieved so far however, one has not been discovered. Considering the very few 73443 N models which seem to have been made, it leads to reasonable speculation the white dial non-Tachymeter model never made it to production. Instead, a Tachymeter version was released in it's place-which is logical and not totally surprising as it was a standard feature on all Camaros thereafter.

Image credit: onthedash.com

The last of the Camaros

Assuming the Heuer serial numbering system is broadly chronological (i.e. the higher the serial number, the later the production date) the 73443 was the last Camaro case off the production line, finishing with a serial high in the 232xxx range. While most of the second execution 73443 NTs had a red sweep hand, Heuer seems to have switched this to an orange sweep for the very last models. Furthermore, each of these NT models seem to have featured a white Tachymeter ring and not the typical exotic orange font, which is peculiar given they are the very latest models at the end of the 'exotic' Camaro era.

The latest serial number on record is a co-branded 'Champion' dial 73443 NT, with an orange sweep hand.

73443 serial number range:

212-213xxx, 231-232xxx

Estimated number of watches manufactured: 2000

73443 Executions

(click the images for model info)

73443 N

73443 T (First)

73443 NT (First)

73443 T (Second)

73443 NT (Second)