Heuer Monaco: How the watch found its way onto Steve McQueen’s wrist
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He was a global star, a legendary womanizer, and a style icon. The fact that actor Steve McQueen, who died in 1980, wore a Heuer Monaco chronograph on his wrist is thanks to Grand Seigneur Jack W. Heuer and a brilliant move.
This year
Steve McQueen's journey to Heuer began in 1969. Heuer, a family-run watch brand then led by Jack Heuer, launched its first self-winding chronographs. This made the company one of the true pioneers of self-winding chronographs.
The late 1960s were, overall, a period of great change for Heuer, although the advent of quartz watches cast a shadow over the company's results. However, the merger with the TAG (Techniques d'Avant Garde) group to form TAG Heuer didn't occur until 1985. The company was listed on the stock exchange in 1996 and finally sold to the LVMH Group in 1999.
But back to Heuer. That same year, the TAG Heuer Monaco chronograph debuted the micro-rotor Caliber 11, developed over four long years in collaboration with Breitling, Büren, and Dubrois & Depraz. Its development cost a whopping 500,000 Swiss francs, an enormous sum for the time. Accordingly, the investment had to be recouped with the successful launch of new models.
At Heuer, the most important timepieces equipped with the new automatic caliber were called the Heuer Autavia , the Heuer Carrera, and the Heuer Monaco. For the latter , Jack W. Heuer had a square yet waterproof watch case developed for the first time ever. "Because our marketing budget was almost exhausted after the enormous development effort, we had to look for intelligent, less expensive methods of sales promotion," said Heuer. And the owner found them for his Heuer Monaco on the golf course.
Entry into motorsport
There, a friend casually told him that Joseph "Jo" Siffert was looking for a sponsor. Soon after, the clever entrepreneur visited the Porsche dealer at his car dealership. There, the new, very distinctive Heuer Monaco certainly made an impression. The offer to support the Swiss Formula 1 driver to the best of his ability and to purchase one of his Swabian cars was completely convincing.
From then on, the new partner called a Monaco his own, placed the Heuer logo prominently on his racing overalls, and stuck another one prominently on his legendary Porsche 908. "It was certainly an amateurish entry into the Formula 1 business," Jack W. Heuer admits in retrospect, "but we were the first brand from outside the industry to get involved in this fast-paced, high-performance sport, and we did quite well."
Steve McQueen
The deal paid off in 1970, when Lee H. Katzin filmed "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen. Jack W. Heuer had provided the film's designer, Don Nunley, then known as the Property Master, with plenty of stickers, on-board clocks, and chronographs. After many test laps at Le Mans, the producer asked Steve McQueen to finally decide on his film outfit. The actor chose the outfit of Jo Siffert, who was standing next to him, whom he would ultimately portray on screen.
As part of this selection, the racing driver quickly pinned a Heuer Chronomatic fabric badge to his overalls. The actor Steve McQueen also boldly reached into the box of Heuer chronographs – and chose the exact Heuer Monaco that the racing driver was looking at and that can be seen in the still photos.
In July 2012, this legendary timepiece fetched a whopping $650,000 at auction. "I believe," said Jack W. Heuer , "that more has never been paid for a Heuer watch." Those familiar with recent auction results know that this wasn't the end of the story.
It may have been a chain of lucky coincidences that connected the film idol with the Heuer Monaco. But for many people, Steve McQueen is still inextricably linked to the TAG Heuer Monaco.
The TAG Heuer Monaco is a true style icon in the watch world. It was one of the first self-winding chronographs when it was introduced in 1969 and achieved film fame on the wrist of Steve McQueen in the Hollywood classic Le Mans . It was also the world's first waterproof chronograph with a square case.
It is precisely this case that makes it unmistakable to this day. Designed by Jack Heuer, it is square. Another distinctive feature is the position of the crown, which in many models is located on the left side of the case at 9 o'clock. The chronograph pushers, however, are located at 2 and 4 o'clock, i.e., on the right side of the case. The Caliber 11 used at the time—also known as the Chronomatic—made this unusual arrangement necessary.
In Monaco models produced by TAG Heuer between 1997 and 2019, modified calibers from ETA or Sellita, the movement suppliers, mostly set the pace. Since 2019, the brand has used these movements, known as Calibre 11, only for versions with a left-hand crown. The in-house caliber Heuer 02, however, has since been used for versions of the Monaco with a right-hand crown.
In 2024, TAG Heuer introduced the Split-Seconds Chronograph, a variant of the Monaco that allows its wearer to measure two separate time intervals simultaneously thanks to its rattrapante function. These EUR 135,000 watches are powered by the in-house caliber TH81-00.
Source: uhrencosmos.com, Boris Hächler, chrono24.com