Heritage

Linked for eternity to the actor Steve McQueen who chose it for his film ‘Le Mans’ in 1969, the Monaco is today one of the watches most popular with collectors and lovers of "different" sports watches. History, anecdotes and analysis ...

TAG HEUER MONACO: creation of a collector’s item

“I wanted something new, different”. Jack Heuer, 89, remembers very well the reasons that led him to create the Monaco watch in 1969. He was, at that time, running the house founded by his great-grandfather. “Since the early 1960s, we had been number one in the field of stopwatch, but I felt that if you really wanted to see our brand break through with the general public, you had to come up with an innovative idea.

So I imagined incorporating a sports counter into an automatic wristwatch. To baptise it, I looked for a name capable of appealing to a prestigious clientele. As Monte-Carlo was already taken, I chose Monaco ".

Simple, right? In fact, the story was much more complicated than that. Until the creation of this famous Monaco, it had proved technically impossible to combine a counter and an automatic movement. However, Jack Heuer considered using a micro-rotor and this daring choice solved the problem, with the Monaco becoming the world's first automatic chronograph with a mini oscillating weight.

A unique shape

However, in the history of the birth of this watch with an exceptional destiny, the most striking fact was undoubtedly the decision to adopt a square case. Wasn't the goal to stand out from the productions of the time? Again, nothing was easy, because this geometric shape posed major sealing problems. Overcoming this new challenge, the Monaco this time claimed the title of first waterproof square watch.

There was one last difficult step to take: in its early days, the watch did not meet with the expected success. Too disruptive, probably. Nevertheless, many artists, architects and motorsport enthusiasts were sensitive to its offbeat temperament.

creation of a legend: STEVE mcQueen wears the monaco

Then Steve McQueen arrived. The American star had embarked on a film project dedicated to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. To better slip into the shoes of a real driver, he asked to be equipped with an outfit identical to that of Jo Siffert, who was famous on all circuits at the time. However, he was the main Heuer Ambassador. “The production had asked us to send them a variety of our different models. The package included an Autavia, a Carrera and several Monacos, because we had a lot of them in stock due to its modest sales”, explained Jack Heuer. Out of a spirit of contradiction, a desire to cultivate a rebellious side or an attraction for its blue dial and its crown on the left, McQueen chose the Monaco and made it a true watchmaking icon. A craze that the actor's death increased tenfold in 1980.

From heuer to tag heuer

From that time forward, Heuer, which became TAG Heuer in 1985, then joined the LVMH fold in 1999, has maintained the legend by presenting the Monaco in several ways. One of the most surprising variations was probably the Monaco Absolute, unveiled in 2002, since it was a jewellery model with a square bezel set with 48 diamonds. The one-off Monaco Mikrograph offered as part of Only Watch 2011 also made an impression, as much for its precision to 1/100th of a second as for its impressive look. Whatever its technical and aesthetic evolutions over time, the Monaco has always known how to preserve its incomparable allure, identifiable at a single glance, making it a must-have piece within a collection.

a collector’s item

Nothing, in fact, excites a collector more than the search for a missing treasure. In the case of the Monaco, there is a real quest for the Holy Grail: to unearth the watch actually used by Steve McQueen during the shooting of his film. For this, there are clues revealed by Jack Heuer himself: “It was a watchmaker from the factory who had been tasked with taking his car and delivering the watches to France as quickly as possible. We didn’t even have time to prepare all the customs documents. Also, after the shoot, when my American product placement manager asked me what to do with the seven Monaco watches, I preferred to give them to him so as not to have any problems with the customs administration. With a good sense of business, he sold them all over the years with the mention “watch worn by Steve McQueen”! ". There it is! We now know that there are seven copies of this watchmaking treasure. All you have to do is find them and try to acquire them. One last useful tip: Last year, one of these watches was auctioned for $ 2.2 million...

Read here our ultimate Heuer Monaco Collector’s guide with watch expert Romain Réa.

Phillips sells Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco 1133B from ‘Le Mans’ for $ 2.2 Million, The Most Expensive Heuer Ever