Retro Racer: Testing the TAG Heuer Monza Calibre 17

2024-03-28

In 1976, TAG Heuer introduced its Monza model, named for the world-famous Italian Formula 1 racetrack. Forty years later, the Monza Calibre 17 recalls the glory days of racing while offering a great deal more than retro design. Read on for an in-depth review from the WatchTime archives, with original photos by OK-Photography.

Good news for fans of the retro look – the Monza is back. Good news for racing fans, too, with a design that’s just as dynamic and full of automotive references as the original version from 1976. It’s also remarkable, since TAG Heuer has experimented over the last 15 years with a more elegant version with no black coating and colorless dial elements.

A glance at the new Monza Calibre 17 might call to mind the familiar roar of Formula 1 engines. After all, the watch was first introduced to celebrate Ferrari’s World Championship title in 1975. On Sept. 7 of that year, Niki Lauda won third place in the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack and secured the title in a Ferrari sporting the Heuer logo. Scuderia Ferrari also won the Constructors’ Prize – a long-sought double victory after an 11-year dry stretch.

The new Monza combines the best features of two historical models – its dial design can be traced back to the original Monza from the year 1976 and its case to a Heuer chronograph from 1933. The cushion-shaped case is a style holdover from the earliest days of the watch. The Monza from the 1970s had an oval case shape that was typical for that time and was available in chrome-plated or black-coated brass. That watch contained Calibre 15, which necessarily placed the crown on the left-hand side. Calibre 15 was the successor model of the Calibre 11 developed in 1969 by Heuer-Leonidas in collaboration with Breitling, Hamilton-Büren and Dubois Dépraz – one of the world’s first automatic chronographs.

Excerpt from watchtime

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