For the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, TAG Heuer presents three new Monaco chronographs. All three new watches feature TAG Heuer’s take on contemporary frame dial chronographs, or more precisely semi-frame dial sports watches. Given that this is a TAG Heuer, where legibility is king, the watch fully open, even removing the dial, is quite a challenge as this type of watch imparts a certain look and feel where reading the actual time is not the point. This is one reason why the 2023 TAG Heuer Monaco chronograph marks the first time the collection has an open dial of any kind.
As you can see, the manufacturer of La Chaux-de-Fonds has managed to put its best foot forward, with each of the three chronographs offering a different feel that is easy to read. Given that neither of these watches are true skeleton watches, the movement here is a regular Heuer 02 automatic. This is perhaps the best presentation of the chronograph movement ever in a TAG Heuer Monaco case, with key mechanical features including the date wheel and elements of the working movement visible for the first time. The date is noteworthy here, with SuperLuminova applied to the date path itself, it seems.
To be fair, the Heuer 02 has been on display before, in an era when TAG Heuer was really trying to show off its mechanical chops, but that was mainly in the old Carrera collection. We haven’t seen the watch in metal yet so we’ll refrain from making comparisons, but it’s nice to see the Heuer 02 again.
All three Monaco chronographs are class 2 titanium-coated 39mm watches, with one model for the Prince of Darkness look, with a sandblasted black DLC treatment. The latter also features a black (called turquoise) dial with turquoise indices and highlights, along with an opaline turquoise chronograph counter track. The blue dial version (Original Blue) features white accents, indices and chronograph counters, although the blue SuperLuminova here makes things look a bit blue-blue but it’s best to judge this kind of effect on the metal. Finally, the black dial version (Racing Red) also features white accents, indices and chronograph counter track. All versions feature calfskin and rubber straps, in matching colors (black and blue). Water resistance is 100 meters.
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