Tag Heuer has just unveiled the revved up Tag Heuer Monaco Twenty Four Chronograph to honor the 24 hours of Le Mans. To place the watch in perspective one must know the race. Le Mans is the worlds oldest sports car race in endurance racing. The race has been held annually since 1923, close to the town of Le Mans, Sarthe, France hence the name. The race is known as the Gran Prix of Endurance and is organized by the Automobile Club de l'Quest (ACO). The race is run on a circuit of closed public roads. It is a race to test the agility of the drive, the resilience of the car and the endurance of the highest degree for 24 hours.Tag Heuer is celebrating the Monaco watches 40th birthday with the release of this watch.
Two stripes, one blue and the other orange mark the watch with the color of Gulf Oil. The watch is based on the first square shaped Monaco ,Steve McQueen wore in the 1970 classic hit movie Le Mans. The square chronograph was unveiled the year earlier in 1969. Tag Heuer has released four new Monaco watches. One of the four is the concept watch: Monaco 24.
Inspired by the thrilling adrenaline pumping heart stopping Le Mans race, the Monaco 24 has a few cool features to pride itself. The entire watch is encased in super resilient PVD and is suspended in in an "energy manifold" steel tube housing, similar to the protective cockpit cage of a race car driver. In addition the movement of the watch is insulated with shock absorbing "composite filter" material used in aerospace and racing engineering. The shock absorption ability id incredible, The Advanced Absorption System (ADAS) can protect the watch in case of an impact of 24,000 G equivalent to a 20 meter fall.
The movement is Tag Heuer company Calibre 36 Moving (36,000 beats per hour). The movement is visible via a see-through Sapphire crystal case back. The Monaco 24 is also the first timepiece to utilize a centrifugal system. Three arrows on the annular oscillating weight display its working rotation visible via the case back.
The other three Monaco timepieces unveiled by Tag Heuer in 2009 include the Tag Heuer Monaco Calibre 12, Tag Heuer Gulf and the Tag Heuer 1969 Original Re-Edition.
