Feature: The best 25 TAG Heuer watches
TAG Heuer—formerly Heuer—is renowned for its racing chronographs, especially long-standing classics like the Carrera and Monaco. Naturally, several variations of these models make our TAG Heuer all-time top 25, but the brand’s back catalogue and current line-up also boast a wealth of technical masterpieces and curious oddballs. We’ve rounded up its greatest hits.
The incredible Mikrogirder
Watching the chronograph seconds hand revolve on the brand’s incredible Mikro watches is like watching the beating wings of a fly—a mere blur. This pioneering series proves TAG Heuer’s ongoing commitment to chronograph innovation, and we’ve chosen the Mikrogirder as a great example of the series. Its seconds hand spins around at astonishing speed, timing up to 1/2,000th of a second, while the automatic movement is powered by a vibrating linear oscillator instead of a rotor.
The Steve McQueen Monaco
Image courtesy of Bonhams
This cult favourite may be inextricably linked with the late Steve McQueen, but even without the endorsement of Hollywood’s “King of Cool,” the Monaco would still be a brand totem. After all, this was the world’s first ever square-cased water-resistant watch and ran on the first ever chronograph movement with a micro-rotor. Unsurprisingly, one of McQueen’s personal Monacos sold for an incredible $2.2m at auction in 2020.
Solunar, Abercombie & Fitch version
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You know how it is. You turn up at the beach with your bucket and spade, ready to build the mother of all sandcastles, only to find that the tide is in. Such disasters can be avoided however with the Solunar, a watch with a tidal indicator. The models were first made specifically for the retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in the 1940s and were branded with its logo, but by the 1970s Heuer had claimed the watch for itself.
Formula 1 x Mario Kart Chronograph Tourbillon, reference CAZ5080.FC6517
This wasn’t TAG’s first rendezvous with everyone’s favourite animated Italian plumber, Mario, but it is one of its best. This slick limited-edition F1 model was released in 2022. Made of titanium, it boasts a playful tourbillon displaying three moving Mario Kart characters—Mario, Spiny Shell and Bullet Bill—on the skeleton dial. Mario references also extend to the crown and buckle which feature the “M” logo.
The Carrera dress watch, reference WAR215E
The idea of a TAG Heuer dress watch seems as contradictory as an Adidas tuxedo. Yet the brand does occasionally tone down the sporty aesthetic and embrace the elegant with models like this two-tone Carrera in steel and rose gold. With no more than a date window at 3 o’clock and paired with an alligator-grain leather strap, it’s definitely a watch better suited to the red-carpet than the racetrack.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s reference WN5141 in The Wolf of Wall Street
As the tax-dodging stockbroker Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo DiCaprio wore several TAG Heuers. The most ostentatious of them all was this yellow-gold 2000 Exclusive model with a diamond bezel. If you’re thinking Belfort would have more likely worn a flashy Rolex Day-Date, you’re probably right. But the use of a TAG Heuer is probably due to DiCaprio being an ambassador for the brand (he wore a Carrera in the 2010 film Inception).
Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Polychrome Reference CAR5A8AF.FC6415
If some watch dials are a dull provincial pub, then this one is a full-blown rave with lasers and a strobe machine. The PVD-coated titanium case and carbon bezel frame a technicolour orgy that continues on the reverse, with a skeletonised rainbow rotor. The chronograph subdials are a vivid blue while beneath lies the visual treat of the tourbillon. Just 150 pieces of this watch went on sale in 2022, so good luck in finding one.
A Formula One legend’s personal S/EL model
Image courtesy of Bonhams
The S/EL family was introduced in 1987, later becoming the Link series. This first-generation model, a quirky digital-analogue chronograph that was owned by the late Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, now looks laughably dated but its significance as a brand milestone cannot be underestimated. The Link is now one of the most popular styles in the TAG Heuer catalogue and this watch, which Senna gifted to a friend, was sold at auction in 2004 for only £9.9k—about the price of a set of F1 car tyres.
Carrera Reference 1158CHN
Image courtesy of Bonhams
These 18k yellow-gold Carreras were a favourite of Jack Heuer, scion of the company’s founder, who gifted them to Formula 1 drivers such as Niki Lauda during Heuer’s partnership with Ferrari during the 1970s. TAG Heuer released an almost identical limited-edition series of this model in 2023, switching the crown to the same side as the pushers and adding a subtle small-seconds display at 6 o’clock.
Monza Flyback Chronometer CR5090.FN6001
The Monza got hauled into the 21st century with this high-performance, dynamic-looking flyback chronograph with a skeletonised dial—a current model. Made from ultra-lightweight carbon, this is TAG Heuer at its high-tech, high-precision best and runs on a COSC-certified in-house movement with a huge 80-hour power reserve. It’s limited to just 1,911 pieces.
The military-issue Heuer
Image courtesy of Bonhams
Bundeswehr pilot chronographs were made for German and, to a lesser extent, Italian and Norwegian military forces from the 1960s to the early 1980s and were famously robust. Now among the most collectable Heuer models, they look great when battle-scarred and paired with a distressed-leather bund strap.
The modern Carrera CV2A1R.BA0799
For some people, dials busier than Times Square at Christmas are a huge turn-off. For others, they’re one of the reasons they love watches—and the more functions a timepiece can squeeze in, the better. This all-steel chronograph is fairly typical of the modern branch of the Carrera family, with three subdials, a day-date window, a tachymetre bezel and a 43mm case. Design-wise, it bears little resemblance to early models, but, hey, not everyone wants to revisit the past.
Monaco V4
Image courtesy of Phillips
With the incredible Monaco V4, TAG Heuer showed why technical innovation is still one of the key factors driving the brand. Dispensing with a conventional automatic movement, the V4 uses a belt-driven transmission, with spring barrels charged by a linear mass—a rectangular slab of tungsten sliding side-to-side—rather than the typical swinging rotor. What started as nothing more than a fanciful concept watch now gets released, albeit infrequently, in a variety of limited editions.
Autavia GMT Chrono Pepsi, reference 2446C
Image courtesy of Phillips
Launched in the late 1960s, this is one of the coolest vintage Heuer models around and, along with the aforementioned Bundeswehr, one of the most sought-after. It’s not just the unusual pairing of a GMT and chronograph function that makes it desirable, it’s the faded Pepsi bezel and reverse panda dial—a drool-worthy combination. If you love vintage Rolex Daytonas and GMT Masters but can’t decide which one to go for—or can’t afford them anyway—here’s your compromise.
Monza Calibre 36 Limited Edition
Image courtesy of Phillips
There are numerous Monza models to choose from but few look as good as this limited-edition version released in 2011. It’s a tribute to the early Heuer chronograph wristwatches of the 1920s and 1930s, with bold Art Deco numerals and a cathedral-style hour hand, both of which are coated in a cream-coloured lume for an enhanced vintage vibe. The pre-80s “Heuer” heritage logo beneath 12 o’clock may even convince people that you’re wearing a bonafide vintage watch.
Aquaracer Nightdiver Black Ceramic
The Aquaracer family began in 2005 and was basically a continuation of the 2000 Series of dive watches. TAG Heuer nailed the aesthetic of the first-generation Aquaracer early on and it’s now as easily identifiable as its older collections. Most versions come in steel, with the occasional titanium model thrown in for good measure. But this DLC-coated steel version with a horizontally patterned white dial—which glows in the dark—really grabbed our attention when it was released in 2021. This model revived the 1980s Night Diver (spellings of the collection vary), of which the reference 980.031 is believed to have featured in 1987 Bond film, The Living Daylights, as worn by former-Bond, Timothy Dalton.
Carrera, reference 1153 BN
Image courtesy of Phillips
This rare 1970s Carrera with its unusual and colourful dial variation was never shown in the Heuer catalogues and is therefore extremely sought-after by collectors. Enhancing its desirability is the beads of rice bracelet by Gay Freres, a company later bought by Rolex. And if at this point you’re wondering what the difference is between Carreras and Autavias, whose dials can sometimes be almost identical, the answer is that Autavias have a rotating divers-style bezel.
Regatta, reference 134.500
Image courtesy of Bonhams
Never mind the Royal Oak, here’s the Heuer Oak. With its port-hole-style fixed bezel, this early 1980s model looks like Gerald Genta’s famous masterpiece—albeit featuring twelve screwheads instead of eight. Five circular apertures on a watch dial usually mean one thing: it’s a regatta countdown timer, used for yacht races. When the timer is activated, the circles—each representing a minute—change from red to blue. A later model had a unidirectional, screwless bezel with a 60-second scale.
TAG Heuer 1000 Series
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These Submariner-style watches were available just before Heuer was acquired by TAG in the mid-1980s and, in the midst of the quartz era, were self-winding. The 1000 Series, Heuer’s first entry into the dive-watch genre, can be considered a forerunner to the contemporary Aquaracer line. Today, these don’t command the prices of vintage Submariners but they are rarer and will always be a conversation starter among collectors. We love the three-link, Jubilee-style bracelet it comes on.
The first-ever Connected
Unveiled in 2015, the Connected was the first Swiss luxury smartwatch. TAG enlisted tech giants Google and Intel to assist them with the technology behind this momentous release which, like many smartwatches, allows wearers to track things besides the time—from health to fitness levels. It featured a Carrera-inspired case, and TAG even allowed purchasers to exchange their Connected for a mechanical Carrera—meaning customers could experience the best of both worlds.
Monaco Skeleton Reference CBL2184.FT6236
The iconic Monaco underwent a makeover in 2023 when a small collection of playful stripped-back models was unveiled to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the legendary Monaco Grand Prix. Our favourite boasts turquoise accents on the subdials and indices as well as red hands, giving the black skeleton dial a welcome pop of colour. Turn its black DLC-coated titanium case over and you’ll find the Heuer 02 calibre on full display through the open caseback.
Kirium, reference WL5111
The Kirium was introduced in 1997 and was designed by one of the all-time great watch designers, Jorg Hysek. It had a decent stint of 10 years in TAG’s catalogue before being discontinued in 2007 and remains a collectable model among the brand’s fanbase. The Kirium’s notched bezel is its most distinctive feature, one that remained prominent throughout its production. Hysek used the concept of liquid metal to sculpt the case and bracelet together and continued the “six features” tradition popularised by TAG Heuer during the 1990s.
Carrera MikrotourbillonS 100, reference CAR5A51.FC6323
This rose-gold and titanium number is one of TAG Heuer’s most expensive watches ever at £240,000. Remarkably, this piece houses two completely separate tourbillons, one of which powers the chronograph, accurate to 1/100th of a second. The anthracite-grey Côtes de Genève dial is split in two with a skeletonised section featuring the tourbillons on one side and the chronograph counters and power reserve indicator on the other. It was the first tourbillon chronograph with certification-level precision.
Carrera GMT, reference WV2113
Offering great value on the pre-owned market, this self-winding neo-vintage Carrera GMT 1964 Re-edition was introduced in the late 1990s and produced until around 2010. In addition to the second time zone, tracked by the arrow-tipped GMT hand reading off the outer 24-hour scale, it has a date window at 3 o’clock. The plexiglass crystal adds to the charm of this unsung, affordable classic which comes in a modest 36mm case.
And finally… The quartz-powered coffin
Image courtesy of Bonhams
If you’re familiar with the Chronosplit Manhattan GMT, consider yourself one of the hardcore Heuer cognoscenti, because real-life sightings of this dual-dial quartz model are rarer than igloos in Arabia. Produced from 1977 to 1982, it was the world's first quartz wrist chronograph boasting both an analogue and digital display. Still, much as we love the unusual case, we can’t help thinking that coffin-shaped things should be reserved for, well… coffins.
