TAG Heuer first worked with the customization specialists at London-based Bamford Watch Department in 2017, offering some of its customers an opportunity to personalize their favorite TAG Heuer timepiece. This year, at Baselworld 2018, TAG unveiled the first official watch built in collaboration with Bamford ? a bold reinterpretation of the classic Monaco with a solid carbon case and aqua blue highlights.
The TAG Heuer Monaco Bamford Edition
The word “iconic” is thrown around quite a bit in the modern watch industry, but it’s fair to say that the Monaco ? released in 1969 as the first square-cased automatic chronograph with a left-side crown ? fits the description. TAG Heuer has offered numerous variations on it over the years, including the recent Gulf Special Edition, a tribute to the Monaco famously worn by actor Steve McQueen in the 1971 racing film Le Mans, but this dark-coated “stealth” version marks the first time carbon is used for a Monaco case. Like its brethren, this Monaco’s square case measures 39 mm in diameter and features a left-hand crown, here in black PVD steel, the material also used for the chronograph push-buttons on the right side. The carbon used for the case, TAG says, is “incredibly lightweight” yet “highly resistant” and imparts a very high-tech, swirling textured look. The company had to develop a special mold to sculpt the carbon material into the exact dimensions of the Monaco case. A ...