The special version of Monaco with the famous blue and orange Gulfa stripes is one of the novelties prepared by Fake Tag Heuer for 2022. In addition to the redesigned dial, the watch received an in-house movement.
Monaco is without a doubt one of the most recognizable watches in the industry. Steve McQueen played an extremely important role in the interesting history of this square model (read HERE). The Caliber 11 Ref. 1133B version with a blue dial can be seen on the actor’s wrist in the movie “Le Mans” about the legendary 24 Hours race. In addition, on the McQueen suit, apart from the Heuer logo (still without TAG in the name at that time), you can see the logo and stripes of the Gulf brand, i.e. a company producing engine oils.
These colors also adorned the Porsche 917 Delaney and over time became clearly associated with racing. And since the world of motorization and watches permeates strongly, it was only a matter of time before they hit the clock face. Fake Tag Heuer first used the Gulfa logo and stripes on the 2005 Monaco model, followed by the great left-hand lace variant from 2017, which we reviewed in detail HERE. The Watches & Wonders fair brought another version of the watch.
The new Monaco Gulf is based on the case of the Monaco Heuer 02 (you can read about the differences between the Caliber 12 and Heuer 02 versions HERE). This means that the steel case is 39 x 39 mm, and it is closed at the top and bottom by a pair of sapphire glasses. As a result, integrated into the caseback, you can see the Heuer 02 mechanism driving the watch, i.e. an in-house structure clocked at 4 Hz, capable of accumulating the energy necessary to provide a reserve of 80 hours. In this watch, the rotor is covered with a black PVD coating, and the inscriptions engraved on it are filled with orange varnish. The orange also found its way to the inside of the navy blue perforated racing strap.
On the other hand, from the front we deal with a blue (intense) shield decorated with sunburst. The distribution of indications visible on it does not differ from those of the serial Monaco. But there are many details that distinguish this version from the “classic” version. First, there are two Gulfa colored stripes running through the right side of the dial from top to bottom. They are much narrower than the previous Monaco Gulf version, and therefore more discreet. In addition, at 12 is applied to the number 60, which is a reference to the number that Porsche Gulf racing cars used to have in the past. The colors of the oil producer also appeared on the rim of the 30-minute counter at 3. And the whole design is completed with white prints of the name Monaco, and the Fake Tag Heuer and Gulfa logos.
The previous version – with a matte navy blue dial, wide Gulf stripes and a lace on the left side – suited my taste perfectly. The new Monaco is a watch for people who like a much more vivid color of the dial, more subtle blue and orange stripes and in-house mechanics.
TAG Heuer priced the Monaco Gulf model from 2022 at PLN 31,000. The watch will be available for sale from May.