Tag Heuer Launch Monaco Gulf, Stopwatch and TH-Titanium Editions

Over the past year Tag Heuer have steadily increased their involvement in the top echelon of motorsport, Formula One. It’s a strategy that has clearly worked well for them as they’ve remained one of the most stable brands in the industry during a tumultuous time according to financial reports from Morgan Stanley. One of Tag Heuer’s biggest investments in F1 this year is becoming the title sponsor for the Grand Prix de Monaco, which is due to take place this weekend, May 24-25. As is tradition, the brand has released a new suite of their flagship Monaco Chronographs just in time for the event. There are three of them this year, so let’s get right into it.

Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph x Gulf

Kicking things off is a new version of an absolute classic, the Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph x Gulf. The Monaco Gulf has been a staple of the horology and motorsport worlds ever since Steve McQueen wore the Monaco during the 1971 film Le Mans in which he raced for the Gulf team. Since then, there have been many iterations of the design, including a few years ago with the 2022 edition.

Typically, it features a blue dial with the Gulf stripes down one side but for 2025 they’re mixing up that formula by giving it a white dial. It gives the watch the look of the racing suit worn by McQueen that was also white with the Gulf stripes across one of his shoulders, which is also replicated on the Monaco Chronograph’s dial. Paired with black chronograph subdials, it’s almost as if a panda has a very colourful face tattoo.

The case is inspired by the 1969 edition of the Monaco, the version worn in the film. That means it measures a vintage appropriate 39mm in diameter with the crown mounted at 9 o’clock. However, it uses modern materials, crafted from Grade 2 titanium. Inside the case is the Calibre 11 automatic chronograph movement with 40-hour power reserve. It’s based on the Sellita SW 300-1 a. It’s priced at £8,300, putting in the same ballpark as other Monaco special editions.

Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Stopwatch

Calling a watch a chronograph stopwatch is taxonomically redundant as all chronographs are stopwatches – they are functionally identical. However, the Tag Heuer Monaco Chronograph Stopwatch does it anyway because it’s inspired by a historic Heuer Stopwatch, a pocket watch style timepiece that could be mounted on the dashboard of a car to serve as a timer for motorsports.

The new watch takes the core aesthetic components of that heritage timepiece and presents them in the signature square design of the Monaco. That means a central black disc surrounded by a cream perimeter with a red scale and chronograph seconds hand. It’s a relatively simple display compared to the striped pattern of the Gulf, but it still has a lot of visual impact and look great.

To complete the appearance, the 39mm titanium case has been given a black DLC coating. It’s otherwise mechanically identical to the Gulf edition above even down to being powered by the Calibre 11. Though with that additional DLC coating the price is £8,600, an extra £300.

Tag Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph TH-Titanium

In addition to the two vintage inspired Monaco Chronograph, Tag Heuer is launching a futuristic one as well. It’s the Tag Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph TH-Titanium, based on their haute horology rattrapante model. It debuts a new form of titanium, which Tag Heuer are calling TH-Titanium, because what’s more original than adding your own initials?

TH-Titanium is produced by taking another titanium alloy and subjecting it to a very specific series of thermal treatments. The result is that that very atoms in the metal re-organise themselves creating a different metallic structure. Which in turn results in a fractal, uneven texture across the surface of the material similar in some ways to the organic shapes seen in some carbon composites though with a much more rigid geometric feel. Yet it’s still titanium. Like those carbon watches, each TH-titanium case is utterly unique.

For the display, they’ve paired this new TH-titanium case with a brushed dial in a structured, layered design with black subdials and a combination of yellow and white accents. As a split-seconds chronograph there are two central chronograph hands that can be started simultaneously and stopped independently. The movement is the calibre TH81-00 with 65-hour power reserve when the chronograph is not running and 55-hours with it activated. Like all the previous Monaco Split-Seconds Chronographs, it’s price on request.

More details at Tag Heuer.

​Oracle Time 

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