TAG Heuer Rolls Out New Monaco Models on 1970s-Inspired Steel Bracelets


TAG Heuer’s Monaco marked its 50th birthday in 2019, but the Swiss watchmaker is carrying on the celebration of its iconic square-cased chronograph into 2020 with the launch of three new models, two of them mounted on steel bracelets designed to evoke the ones used in the 1970s.

The TAG Heuer shield logo is etched onto the fluted crown.

The Monaco Chronograph Heuer 39 mm Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic offers two distinct dial options, one in bold black with a sunray-brushed finish, the other in lustrous, sunray-brushed blue, with red and white details, for a look reminiscent of the original Monaco from 1969. Both these models feature the iconic square subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock (for elapsed hours and minutes), small seconds and date window at 6 o’clock, and a red central chronograph seconds hand, and are presented on the new stainless-steel bracelet. The third model pairs the black dial with with a black leather strap.

Inside the stainless steel, squared 39-mm cases of all three watches is the automatic Heuer 02 movement, beating at a 28,800-vph frequency behind a sapphire caseback and amassing a lengthy power reserve of 80 hours. The movement, which is equipped with a column wheel-driven chronograph mechanism with a vertical clutch, is the first fully in-house caliber to be installed in a Monaco timepiece.

The Heuer 02 caliber is visible through the caseback.

The main talking point here, however, is the stainless-steel bracelet, which is the first to be used on a Monaco in nearly 20 years. This one takes its cue from an H-shaped-link bracelet used on Monaco watches in the early 1970s — particularly one found among the archive pieces at TAG Heuer’s Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds — and has been refurbished to improve comfort for and wearability.

Like its ancestor, the bracelet is wider at the lugs in order to carry the weight of the watch head and tapers where it wraps around the wrist to improve comfort. The three-row bracelet’s horizontal bars connect with smaller horizontal links, and it fastens with a butterfly clasp, engraved with the TAG Heuer shield logo, which is operated by safety push-buttons.

The newly designed bracelet evokes a 1970s predecessor.
The black-dial model is available on an alligator leather strap.

The TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph 39 mm Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic on the new steel bracelets are available now, priced at $6,750; the model on alligator leather, also available now, comes in slightly lower, at $6,350.

For a hands-on review of the first Monaco outfitted with TAG Heuer Calibre 02, click here.

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  1. william pinsky

    Question: I have an earlier Monaco model with the leather watch band. Is it possible to purchase just the new stainless steel band?

    Reply
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