In the late 1960s, Heuer (as it was known back then) was in a race to develop and launch the very first automatic chronograph. With a little bit of help from their friends (Breitling, Hamilton, Buren and Dubois-Depraz), they presented working prototypes in March of 1969 – a very important year in the history of watches (and human kind it seems). They were up against Zenith (which presented the El Primero movement – an integrated chronograph with 36,000vph) and Seiko. 

To be one of the first to make such a technological leap wasn’t enough for Jack Heuer. He worked with Swiss case manufacture Erwin Piquerez, who developed Monaco’s water-resistant square case; a first for the industry. Looking back now, it might not seem like a big deal, but the key term here is “water-resistant”. It is very difficult already to make a chronograph watch water-resistant, due to the chronograph pushers, but the square case compounds the issues further. 

In 1969 the Monaco was born. Named after the F1 Monaco street circuit, a track that is notorious technical and difficult to master. It was fitting that this new square-cased chronograph was given the Monaco name considering the technical prowess of their innovative automatic chronograph, the Calibre 11. And it was presented alongside the Carrera and the Autavia.

The Monaco has remained true over the years, keeping the same classic design, albeit with upgrades and updates. It has seen various applications, from time only movements to the highly innovative V4 calibre, a belt-driven movement that uses ball bearings rather than the traditional wheels and pinions. There was even a “Reverso” version of the Monaco, with a mechanical watch on the front and a quartz watch on the back! Possibly the very first hybrid watch… However, it is the chronograph that held the legendary status. Even the chronograph movement has been updated over Monaco’s illustrious life, and today, we see it fitted with Tag Heuer’s latest in-house movement, the Heuer 02.