The history of one of the world’s most recognisable watches, the TAG Heuer Monaco, reveals how it became a true icon of modern design
It was the unlikely icon that landed on the wrist of a superstar and ended up becoming a timeless example of avant-garde design. Originally launched with simultaneous press conferences in both New York and Geneva in March 1969, the TAG Heuer Monaco was greeted less than enthusiastically when it was first unveiled. Its square case, metallic blue dial, eye-catching red hands, and left-handed crown placement were the subject of much debate among the cognoscenti at the time.
But when Jack Heuer, great-grandson of the brand’s founder and TAG Heuer’s then-CEO, first spotted the Monaco’s unusual styling, he immediately recognised it as something special.
‘Until then, square cases were only used for dress watches because it was not possible to make them water resistant. We went forward with this unconventional design and negotiated the exclusive use of this revolutionary case for the Monaco wrist chronograph,’ he has said.
In an era of round sports watches in sober shades of black or silvery steel, the Monaco’s edgy good looks (literally) set it apart. And the fact that its oversized (39 x 39mm) case had been developed by Swiss case manufacturer Piquerez to be water-resistant to a depth of 100 metres made it the perfect attention-grabbing timepiece for Heuer’s first automatic chronograph movement, the Calibre 11, which launched on the same day.
TAG Heuer Monaco x Gulf, £5,850
But disrupting the watch industry alone wasn’t enough to elevate the Monaco to iconic design status. That moment came the following year, when Jack Heuer was contacted by the Hollywood prop master Don Nunley to furnish him with watches for an upcoming film called Le Mans, about the legendary 24-hour motor race. The film starred Steve McQueen, dubbed the “King of Cool” following his roles in Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair and a bona fide racing driver in his own right. As a company, TAG Heuer already had a long-established relationship with the automotive industry (it introduced dashboard chronographs in 1911, and the Autavia dashboard counter for race cars and aircraft in 1933). What’s more, the professional Swiss driver Jo Siffert, who was appointed McQueen’s driving coach for Le Mans, was a brand ambassador, so Jack Heuer lost no time sending a selection of motor timers to Nunley – along with six Monaco watches. Out of a line-up of several different timepieces, McQueen elected to wear the Monaco to match the Heuer labels on his character’s racing uniform and helped to seal its fate as arguably one of the most famous timepieces in history.
TAG Heuer Monaco x Gulf, £5,850
After being retired in the late 1970s, the TAG Heuer Monaco was brought back as a limited “re-edition” in 1998. Despite a few small changes – its pushers and crown were moved to the right-hand side and a sleek black dial was introduced – this new Monaco retained the geometric case and square sub-dials with slightly rounded corners of the 1969 edition. It was such a success that the model was returned to production in 1999. Since then, despite occasional additions, such as the floating dial of the Monaco 24 or the linear second display of the Monaco LS, every subsequent generation of Monacos has inherited the same style codes as the ground-breaking original.
The very latest iteration, the TAG Heuer Monaco x Gulf, may possess a new in-house movement, the Heuer 02, plus the vivid orange and blue livery of the Gulf brand, but it maintains the same refined aesthetic which has endured for over half a century. It even boasts a leather strap perforated with two sizes of holes, as a nod to those originally fitted to Monaco models of the 1970s. It all goes to show that, for a design as pioneering as the Monaco’s, going from revolutionary to modern classic is only a matter of time.
