TAG Heuer Monaco - Collection Overview

Porsche has made the continual refinement of the 911 an art form, while Ray-Ban will still sell you a pair of aviators that have barely changed since the height of their popularity in post-war America. And in the watch world there is the TAG Heuer Monaco, the radical square-case Chronograph born in the late 1960s.

Heuer, as TAG Heuer was then known, introduced the Monaco at the Basel watch show in 1969 to highlight Heuer’s new Calibre 11 movement, the world’s first automatic Chronograph movement. And when Steve McQueen chose to wear the blue Monaco Chronograph in the 1971 movie Le Mans, the Monaco’s iconic status was assured.

After a hiatus of almost 15 years, TAG Heuer re-introduced the Monaco in 1997 as part of the company’s re-connection with its past and ever since, the Monaco has been the hero watch for TAG Heuer.

The current TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph is the first re-design of the classic Monaco shape since 1997. The current series has a slightly larger case than the pre-2010 model (39mm vs. 38mm), a sapphire crystal replacing the plexi-glass and a see-through case back to admire the upgraded Calibre 12 movement.

In addition to the classic Monaco Chronograph, TAG Heuer has also updated the Monaco design for the 21st century with the Monaco LS and Monaco Twenty-Four. Where the classic Monaco is two-dimensional and square, the Monaco LS and Twenty-Four Chronographs are all about angles and depth- like looking at the original design through a pair of 3-D glasses.

And for those who prefer to live in an analogue rather than digital world, TAG Heuer has brought back a Limited Edition of the 1969 original, the Monaco Vintage Calibre 11 Chronograph. The Grey re-edition replicates the original design, down to the crown appearing on the left-hand side of the case, a quirk of the original design.

What makes the Monaco truly great is that it pays homage to the past, but without being a retro pastiche of the original- the very definition of an iconic design.

See TAG Heuer watches for more styles.