TAG Heuer Monaco

The first Monaco men’s watch was launched in 1969, honoring the famous motor-racing Grand Prix. Besides the fact that it was the very first timepiece with a water-proof square case and the watch that incorporated the world’s first automatic chronograph movement with a micro rotor (Chronomatic Calibre 11, later Calibre 12), it became the true iconic model only after a Hollywood star, Steve McQueen, had celebrated it in the movie “Le Mans”.

Today, being the central part of Tag Heuer’s range, the Monaco Collection caries the important elements of the brand’s famous past and combines them with the latest technologies. After it had been withdrawn, around 1975, Monaco vintage model was reproduced more than 20 years later, at first, only with a black dial. Since 2003, the original, Steve McQueen’s blue color of its dial has been also available, as well as some other color combinations (mostly equipped with a new Calibre 12 Automatic Chronograph movement).

While the re-editions of the vintage Monaco recalled the brand’s great heritage, two models from the collection announced highly successful future of the Swiss watchmaker. First, it was the Monaco Sixty Nine, the first reversible watch with a traditional dial on one side, and a digital display that counts 1/1000 of a second on the other side.

The same year, in 2003, Tag Heuer made a true revolution in the watchmaking industry with “the first mechanical movement of the third millennium”, the Monaco V4 concept. Six years after, Tag Heuer launched its first limited edition of these extraordinary watches (until today, it has presented three generations of Monaco V4).