Of this year’s major watch-world semicentennials ? Omega landing on the moon, Zenith launching the El Primero, etc. ? the one that has yet to be fêted in a major way is the debut of the TAG Heuer Monaco, renowned for, among other notables, being the first self-winding chronograph wristwatch in a square case. That changes in the second half of 2019, as the Swiss brand has announced it will release five limited-edition watches over the coming months, each inspired by the original and each visually representing a different decade. The first made its grand debut, appropriately, at the 2019 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix. Here’s a look at the new Monaco 1969-1979 Limited Edition.
The TAG Heuer Monaco 1969-1979 Limited Edition (left) and its inspiration, the original 1969 Heuer Monaco But first, to those other notables: The Heuer Monaco (TAG would not be added to the company name until the 1980s) was famously introduced at a simultaneous press conference in New York and Geneva on March 3, 1969, as the first watch outfitted with the groundbreaking Caliber 11, one of the very first self-winding chronograph movements (along with Zenith’s El Primero and Seiko’s Caliber 6139, which were both either introduced or on the market that same year). Caliber 11 was the result of a joint effort between Heuer, Breitling, Büren Watch and Dubois Dépraz, but it was the Monaco, which also boasted the watch world’s first water-resistant square case, that became the most...