TAG Heuer: Reinventing the Race
The world’s great watchmakers have dreamed up countless variations of the chronograph over the years, from simple steel daily drivers to multi-complication grails in precious metals. The new TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer, however, isn’t quite like any of them. The 42 mm chronograph immediately catches the eye with its bold blue and red markers against a black skeletonized dial, colours that shine even brighter next to a black case made of forged carbon, a lightweight and resistant material imbued with contrasting swirls of grey.
TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer
TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer
TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer
TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer
TAG Heuer Monza Flyback Chronometer
As fresh as the Monza’s design is, however, it’s not entirely new. Introduced at LVMH Watch Week in January 2023, this special edition marks the bold return of one of the most celebrated models in TAG Heuer’s archive. Part historical tribute and part high-tech style statement, the Monza Flyback Chronometer finds TAG Heuer reinventing the racing chronograph for a new generation of motorsports fans.
Motorsports watches have been an essential part of TAG Heuer’s identity since the advent of the Carrera and Monaco, two of the world’s most famous racing timepieces, in the 1960s. The Monza — launched in 1976 to celebrate Ferrari’s historic Formula One championship — represented another game-changing contribution to the genre. With a metal case coated in black chromium and a matching matte black dial with black registers, it was as stylish as it was modern, and a fitting tribute to the Formula 1 cars that inspired it. Fifty years later, thanks to its ongoing partnership with the world-champion Red Bull Formula 1 team, TAG Heuer is gunning for a place at the top of the sports watch podium.
The Monza Flyback Chronometer is far from the only covetable new release added to TAG Heuer’s motorsports lineup lately. While the brand’s reputation for technological innovation goes back decades — TAG stands for Technology Avant-Garde, after all — recent years have seen one groundbreaking release after another, from pitch-perfect vintage re-editions to cutting-edge luxury smartwatches to ultra-modern chronographs crafted from high-tech materials.
Following 2022, a year that saw collectors whipped into a frenzy by limited-edition tributes to the likes of Porsche and Mario Kart, the Monza is just one among several new designs that suggest TAG Heuer has equally big plans for 2023.
Joining the Monza Flyback Chronometer is the new TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 Sport Edition 45 mm, a modern luxury smartwatch designed to keep pace with a range of high-performance activities. Released in January, along with a new 42 mm Black Titanium edition and a new 42 mm Golf Edition, the Sport Edition 45 mm features a sleek sandblasted black DLC case made from grade-2 titanium, along with a dynamic black rubber strap accented with red rubber mesh. Equipped with a heart rate sensor, compass, accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer, it’s designed to provide essential metrics for running, cycling, swimming, golf, hiking, and other active pursuits. With its powerful Snapdragon processor and a wide range of functions, this Connected is as far from a 1960s chronograph as a 1963 Porsche 911 is from an electrified Porsche Taycan. Thanks to a range of watch faces available via the TAG Heuer Connected app, however, wearers can still get the look of a classic motorsports watch, including a high-tech riff on the Monza’s Calibre Heuer 02 and the asphalt-inspired dial of the TAG Heuer x Porsche Carrera.
Also revealed at LVMH Watch Week was the TAG Heuer Carrera 60th Anniversary, a vintage-style “panda” chronograph limited to just 600 pieces. Outfitted in a silver brushed “sunray” dial set with a trio of black subdials — a configuration reminiscent of a panda’s signature mask — this watch draws inspiration from the Heuer Carrera Glassbox 2447 SN, a 1960s model prized by collectors. With its 39 mm dial, vintage Heuer logo, and the raised profile of a ‘glass box’ sapphire crystal, the new edition is a faithful tribute to the original, as well as a reminder of TAG Heuer’s glory days in the 1960s.
Judging by recent releases like the Monza Flyback Chronometer and Connected Sport Edition 45 mm, however — not to mention Red Bull’s domination of the Formula 1 circuit in 2022 — TAG Heuer’s next golden era may have already begun.
