

The Calibre Heuer 02 is an eye-catcher with its red column wheel, black rotor and decorative cutouts. Previously at TAG Heuer, “only” the complex Calibre Heuer 02-T was available (with an additional tourbillon) and before that, the Calibre Heuer 01, based on a Seiko movement. The long-awaited in-house base chronograph movement first appeared in 2017 as the Caliber Heuer 02, which was introduced in the retro model Autavia Calibre Heuer 02. Recall that the original Caliber 11 from 1969 was a collaborative project between Heuer, Breitling, and Hamilton-Büren in addition to the module specialist Dubois Dépraz, which contributed the chronograph mechanism. With automatic Caliber Heuer 02, TAG Heuer is now using a fully developed, in-house chronograph movement in its Monaco line.

Including the small seconds display at 6 required moving the “Automatic” lettering upward and placing it between the two registers.Ĭhanges to the dial layout are based on a fundamental innovation. With its use of the new movement, TAG Heuer designed a clear layout of the displays, but this also involved a compromise. The running seconds indication is now placed at 6 o’clock - a clever solution even though every minute the seconds hand sweeps across the date window for a period of several seconds. Here’s another update: the symmetrical arrangement now shows elapsed minutes and hours rather than minutes and seconds. The once-flat registers are now slightly recessed, giving the design more depth and interest. The newest version, the TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre Heuer 02, our test watch, offers these same visual features, all of which TAG Heuer has continued to refine based on the earlier Monaco Calibre 12 model. Fans of the Monaco racing watch – introduced in 1969 as one of the world’s first automatic chronographs – love its blue sunburst dial and contrasting silver counters, red hands, and square shape with its expansive sapphire crystal and faceted edges.
