A Porsche 917 in a shy pastel blue interrupted by large orange stripes identifying the Gulf sponsor and by large round white boards where the race number was used. Steve McQueen’s had the number 20.

A lot of nostalgia, today immortalized by the fake tag heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition. New in Watches & Wonders 2022, the Monaco – a chronograph that many GT drivers in the 1970s never separated from it even in racing – is back, and for the first time it is fitted with the Heuer 02 caliber.

TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition
For this “first mechanic” of the Monaco STAG Heuer chose the legendary Gulf colors that distinguished the official Porsche 917s between the 1960s and 1970s.

Managed by JW Automotive Engineering, renamed Gulf Research Racing Company in 1972, the English team became legendary for its participation in the classic Le Mans, which it won in 1968, 1969 and 1975 with the colors of the American oil company Gulf Oil, from always his most important sponsor.

In 1970, the famous Swiss driver Jo Siffert – a personal friend of Jack Heuer – was the instructor of Steve McQueen, who was also behind the wheel of the legendary Porsche Gulf in the film Le Mans, inevitably also accompanied on his right wrist by a Monaco chronograph.

The first TAG Heuer Monaco commemorative Gulf edition came out in 2007. Today the Maison takes it back but equipping it with an in-house chronograph movement with exceptional performance.

Clock
The design is as always developed on the three iconic Gulf colors, but in this replica watches ukthe color combinations change: now we have a special dark blue, turquoise and orange.

On the face of the watch, the Gulf color mixes with the aesthetics of the unique personality of the Monaco, the first chronograph with a square case, and in 1969 one of the first chronographs powered by an automatic movement.

The three colors also appear on the minute counters at 3 o’clock. The Gulf logo on the all-white dial is another novelty for the Monaco Gulf.

The dial, very neat also in terms of execution, is brushed with opaline sun rays. Another detail, the 12 o’clock index is replaced by the shiny and rhodium-plated number “60”, a reference to the race number on Porsche Gulf racing cars.

Unchanged the steel case which measures 39 mm and is water resistant to 100 meters.

On the caseback of the TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition, TAG Heuer designers worked on a customized version of the oscillating weight and column wheel with a special colored engraving to match the orange Gulf pantone.

Visible from the caseback, the heuer 02 movement is made in Switzerland at the TAG Heuer manufacture in Chevenez. In addition to boasting an 80-hour power reserve, the caliber features a column-wheel sorted chronograph that incorporates the most qualitative vertical clutch, a technical solution usually found in Haute Horlogerie movements.

Price
TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf Special Edition costs 6,700 Euros.

Opinions
The most famous square chronograph in the world raises the bar with the Monaco Gulf Special Edition.

The decision to mount the heuer 02 movement mechanically pushes the Monaco collection much higher. Regardless of the brand and the reputation of the watch – which in this case certainly needs no introduction – as already reported above, it is very difficult to find a proprietary movement with similar mechanical performance sold for less than 7,000 euros.

The watch already appears on the TAG Heuer website but the statement on Watches & Wonders 2022 says it will be available in just over a month in May 2022 and sold all over the world in TAG Heuer boutiques as well as on the brand’s e-commerce site.