TAG Heuer Monaco watches

The TAG Heuer Monaco is the brand's square-cased watch, best known as a chronograph. Heuer introduced it in 1969 and named it after the Monaco Grand Prix, and it was the first square-cased, water-resistant chronograph. The original used the Calibre 11, or Chronomatic, an automatic chronograph movement, with its crown at 9 o'clock. Steve McQueen wore a Monaco in the 1971 film Le Mans, and the watch has been linked with him since.

A version with an improved Calibre 12 followed soon after production began. The vintage 1133B and 1133G, under acrylic crystals, are Calibre 12 Monacos, and the 1533B and 1533G are their Calibre 15 counterparts. TAG Heuer reissued the Monaco as a limited edition in 1998 and reintroduced it in 2003. The Monaco 24 name comes from a concept watch shown at Baselworld in 2009 and named for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Among modern Monacos, the calibre in the name is the main divider. The Calibre 11, Calibre 12 and Calibre Heuer 02 chronographs are 39 mm steel watches under sapphire. The Calibre 17 is 38 mm and keeps an acrylic crystal, as do most of the 37 and 38 mm Calibre 6 models. The Monaco 24 and Monaco LS step up to 40.5 mm, and the Monaco Quartz comes at 37 mm or as a 38 mm Big Date. The Monaco Titan has a titanium case, and two Heuer 02 models come in black DLC titanium.

Special editions run through the line: Gulf versions of the Calibre 11, 12, 17 and Monaco 24, five Calibre 11 editions named for the decades since 1969 at 169 pieces each, a Bamford edition of 500, The Hour Glass edition of 50, and a Heuer 02 for the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco limited to 1,000.