TAG Heuer goes all-in on the Monaco at Watches and Wonders 2026

TAG Heuer has reinvented its most iconic watch. The Swiss brand revealed two new versions of the Monaco at Watches & Wonders 2026.

The first Monaco Chronograph is a ground-up redesign of the classic square watch. The Monaco Evergraph is something else entirely – a technically radical timepiece with a movement that rewrites the rules of the chronograph design.

The original Monaco debuted in 1969. It was the world’s first square, water-resistant automatic chronograph. It was also the watch Steve McQueen wore in the 1971 film Le Mans, which cemented its legend.

The new Monaco Chronograph draws directly on that original. Its 39mm case is made from grade 5 titanium – lighter and stronger than the stainless steel used before. The crystal is closer to a true square and the caseback curves to fit the wrist better.

Inside is the new in-house Calibre TH20-11, a bi-compax automatic movement with an 80-hour power reserve. The layout mirrors the original Calibre 11, with counters at three and nine o’clock and a date window at six.

The crown sits on the left side of the case — the Monaco’s most recognisable signature.

There are three dial colours are available, the blue references McQueen’s watch from Le Mans, a dark green, and a black version with a two-tone titanium / 18K rose gold case. All three are handsome, but I’m a big fan of the two tone version.

Evergraph

The Monaco Evergraph is a different proposition altogether. It carries the Monaco’s shape but uses an entirely new 40mm case and a movement, the Calibre TH80-00.

At the heart of it is something called a compliant chronograph mechanism. Traditional chronographs use levers and springs to start, stop and reset the timer. The Evergraph replaces almost all of them with two flexible bistable components, developed over five years in TAG Heuer’s own laboratory using high-precision LIGA manufacturing technology.

The result is a chronograph that should feel the same on the ten-thousandth press as it does on the first. There is no degradation, no change in sensation over time. That’s genuinely impressive.

The movement also features TAG Heuer’s TH-Carbonspring oscillator, COSC chronometer certification, a 5Hz frequency and a 70-hour power reserve.

The case has a transparent dial, which means you can see the beautiful, symmetrical movement from the front.

The Evergraph comes in two versions. One is titanium with blue accents, referencing the original 1133B Monaco worn by McQueen, and the other has a black DLC coating with red accents.

Neither watch is subtle. Both are exactly what the Monaco should be.

Liked this? Still running with an Apple Watch? Ditch it for one of these traditional watches instead