The side of the case has a brushed steel finish, while the top-section of the case and lugs are polished to a high-shine. Despite this, the case itself is a masterful design and a great way of modernising the series. As you’ll see below, the case is no lightweight- the issue is not the diameter of the watch, but rather the thickness of the case. The case design is the same as the Monaco V4 and Twenty-Four models- a deep, 40.5mm diameter stainless steel case, with a crystal that wraps around to meet the side of the case. An example of this is the running seconds LS window at 3 o’clock, where the concept watch had “0, 30, 60” markings, the production watch has “0, 15, 30, 30, 45, 60”. The changes do rob the design of some of its original elegance- it seems as though the designers did not know when to stop adding text to the dial. Gone is the sparse “gun-metal Grey” Anthracite face and in its place is a Black dial with additional details. Putting aside the differences in the movement, most of the changes are to the dial design. From Concept to Productionĭespite being well received, the Monaco 360LS never made it into production, mainly because development of the Calibre 360 movement stopped shortly after TAG Heuer launched the Carrera 360 Series.īut, three years after the launch of the 360LS, TAG Heuer developed a production version of the watch, this time with the more prosaic Calibre 12 movement.Īt first glance the 360LS and the LS Calibre 12 look very similar, but placed side-by-side you can see that several small details were changed between the concept and production watches.
CALIBRE 12 SERIES
The Grand Carrera was the first production series to use both the LS and “Rotating Disc” systems, but the idea came from the Monaco 360LS. The Monaco 360 LS was the first TAG Heuer to use the LS system, which explores new ways of displaying timing information that you’d normally get from a traditional dial. At the 6 o’clock position is the 1/ 100th second Chronograph register, with a 30-minute Chronograph register at 9 o’clock, a power-reserve at 12 o’clock and running seconds at 3 o’clock. Let’s take a look at the dial of the 360 LS. The 360 LS brought together three key elements that TAG Heuer was working on- the Calibre 360 movement, the LS system and the “new generation” Monaco case borrowed from the Monaco V4. This was the third model (after the Vanquish and Carrera) to get TAG Heuer’s Calibre 360 movement, the world’s first 1/ 100th second movement. The Monaco Calibre 360 LS Concept watch was first shown at the Basel watch fair in 2006. Combined with a modern case that re-interprets the original square case, the Monaco LS Calibre 12 is one of the more distinctive models in today’s TAG Heuer’s line-up, despite having been on the market since 2009. The LS Calibre 12 is a radical departure from the traditional Monaco look, with a complex, technical dial that uses a variety of sub-dials and TAG Heuer’s innovative “Linear System” (“LS”). The “new generation” Monaco series comprises the V4, the Twenty-Four and this watch- the TAG Heuer Monaco LS Calibre 12. And since 2003, you have been able to buy a modern TAG Heuer version of McQueen’s Monaco, a watch that is very faithful to the 1970s original.īut the Monaco series is more than just a retro-design, because since 2004 TAG Heuer has set about adapting the Monaco shape into something modern…as modern today as the Heuer Monaco 1133B was in 1969. It’s about Steve McQueen and that iconic blue square dial that gives off a 1970s motor racing vibe. For many collectors, the TAG Heuer Monaco is all about heritage.