For 2025’s Dubai Watch Week, TAG Heuer has unveiled a brand new version of the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph! This time, the avant-garde timepiece comes in a new package that makes it lighter than ever before.
TAG Heuer’s probably under a lot of pressure at the moment. Not from LVMH or the watch industry or anything, but externally speaking with the Formula One. As it stands, Max Verstappen is one of three racers mathematically able to win the 2025 World Drivers’ Championship alongside McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. While we at Watch Advice certainly are big fans of TAG Heuer, which sponsors Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing Team, our loyalties are split between Verstappen and our hometown hero Piastri for the ‘chip.
That being said, TAG Heuer will want to give as much of an advantage to their golden boy as they can. I suppose that’s why they’ve just unveiled a new timepiece for Dubai Watch Week that plays on one of the most important factors of winning a Formula One race: weight reduction. In that spirit, the Swiss brand has just unveiled a new version of its highly ambitious Monaco Split-Seconds line.
While the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph has been a TAG Heuer staple since last year’s Watches and Wonders, it hasn’t stopped the brand from continually innovating on the design. This year alone, they’ve expanded the haute horlogerie collection from two to four, with a full ceramic Formula One limited edition and a reference in the groundbreaking TH-Titanium.
With each release becoming more audacious than the last, it should be of no surprise that the new Monaco AIR 1 upstages its older siblings. From the outset, not much has changed about the silhouette: It’s still 41mm wide, 47.9mm long, and 15.2mm thick like the others. However, the frame is pretty much where the similarities stop.
The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 looks almost hollowed out, as if it were conceived in the same wind tunnel as the Formula One cars it sponsors. The case is carefully constructed from sandblasted grade 5 titanium and 18k yellow gold, which, despite the latter’s weight, results in a watch that comes in at a mere 85 grams.
This is thanks in large part to the hollowed structure, replaced with lattices in both materials to maintain structural support. Using a state-of-the-art manufacturing technique called Selective Laser Melting (SLM) – a process typically used in the medical, aerospace, and automotive sectors – the TAG Heuer Lab selectively melts and fuses sections of metal powder guided by a 3D CAD model. Layer by layer, the process is repeated until the case takes shape, a feat impossible through traditional methods such as CNC milling.
The unconventional approach continues on the dial, which is openworked with a circular cut-out of transparent sapphire. Inside, the functions of the chronograph and the movement are exposed, with contrasting black, gold, and white accents catching the eye against the grey backdrop of the mechanism.
And if you’re a TAG Heuer fan like us, you may need no introduction to the mechanical monster inside. The TH81-00, developed in collaboration with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, beats at an astonishing 5Hz and offers a 65-hour power reserve. For those unfamiliar, Vaucher’s involvement places the TH81-00 among the upper echelon of watch movements, sharing a manufacturer with Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Parmigiani Fleurier, and many others.
Manufacturing pedigree is only part of the story, though, as the TH81-00 has another trick up its sleeve. Unlike most chronographs in TAG Heuer’s lineup, the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 features a rattrapante complication.
Derived from the French for ‘to catch up,’ a rattrapante allows the wearer to time two events that start simultaneously but finish independently – think the lap times of two F1 cars in the same race. It’s a highly coveted complication in the watch world, as difficult to build as it is prized, but TAG Heuer and Vaucher are never ones to shy away from a challenge.
My Thoughts
The Monaco has long been one of TAG Heuer’s most important icons, alongside the Carrera — and, in my opinion, the Link as well. Its silhouette is unmistakable and has endured for decades, yet its outwardly rebellious nature could have been a double-edged sword. How do you make a watch that’s already unique even more distinctive?
TAG Heuer seems to have risen to that challenge more times than we can count. The LVMH brand has reimagined the Monaco in a variety of flamboyant ways. The Monaco 24, Monaco V4, Monaco 69, and the Monaco Skeleton all immediately come to mind.
With the unveiling of the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1, TAG Heuer has done more than just add another name to the list. They continue down the path set by Frédéric Arnault, Carole Forestier-Kasapi, Nicholas Biebuyck, and the many innovators who have joined since the 2020s.
While it could be said they’ve achieved their goal of repositioning the brand as a high-end watchmaker, they don’t appear to be easing off the gas anytime soon. And with the ultralight Monaco Split-Seconds Air 1 in tow, the weight reduction might just let them pick up a little more speed.
Reference: CBW218B.FT8124
Specifications:
- Dimensions: 41mm case diameter x 47.9mm lug-to-lug x 15.2mm thickness
- Case Material: Sandblasted & brushed grade 5 titanium with 18k yellow gold & titanium lattice
- Dial: Sapphire openworked with black, white, & gold accents
- Movement: Automatic TH81-00 with Split-Seconds/Rattrapante chronograph complication
- Power Reserve: 65 hours (Chrono off) / 55 hours (Chrono on)
- Beat Rate: 5Hz (36,000VpH)
- Water Resistance: 30m (3 Bar)
- Strap: Black rubber/alcantara strap, titanium butterfly folding clasp