The watch made famous by the actor Steve McQueen will get an update this week that its creators are calling a “major revolution” in the history of Swiss mechanical chronographs. TAG Heuer’s Monaco Evergraph continues the story of the 1960s square-cased watch design with a new chronograph movement. The brand’s heritage director, Nicholas Biebuyck, said the watch would “change people’s perceptions of TAG Heuer.”
The special mechanism, which was developed by the TAG Heuer LAB and Swiss movement specialists Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier over five years, removes the wheels, cams, clutches and pinions found in conventional mechanical chronographs. They have been replaced with what the brand called “flexible bistable components,” delivering greater stability and easier activation.
“These are mechanical devices that when loaded have a buckling force,” said Mr. Biebuyck by video call. “It’s like when you put a business card in tension between your fingers, and as you press on it, it pops from one point to another.”
The components are made of an antimagnetic nickel phosphorus alloy using a process called LIGA, a high-precision manufacturing technique for producing components to microscopic tolerances. Mr. Biebuyck said they were “almost impervious to wear and have almost no need for lubrication.”
The watch becomes TAG Heuer’s first nonlimited production piece to carry its TH-Carbonspring balance and escapement, a solution to some of the “ticking” components of a movement announced last fall that it has said also offers high levels of resistance.
Mr. Biebuyck said the company had put the Evergraph’s start, stop and reset function “through a five-figure testing cycle” and that the watch would come with a five-year warranty and 10-year recommended service intervals. He also said that at 23,000 Swiss francs (roughly $29,000), TAG Heuer believed it had priced its 40-millimeter titanium watch very competitively.
“TAG Heuer is the chronograph,” Mr. Biebuyck said. “We feel a sense of responsibility to drive innovation regarding the chronograph mechanism, and we’re a firm believer in offering exceptional value.”
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