TAG Heuer Introduces the Monaco Night Driver, a Moody, Fully Lumed Interpretation of the Classic Monaco Aesthetic

I have a friend in the local watch collecting community – let’s call him “Eric,” because that’s his name – and in the ongoing group chat between us and a handful of (sometimes) like-minded watch enthusiasts, a concept has emerged that we like to refer to as the “Eric Watch.” Eric has a very particular taste. He likes big watches, lots of lume, and is almost always drawn to the unusual. His collection, if you grouped all the watches he’s over owned together in a lineup, would be a real Island of Misfit Toys scenario. Watches go in and out of his collection at a rapid clip (instead of saying “congrats” when he posts a new acquisition, we like to say “good luck with sale”) but at various times he’s owned at least four different quartz Speedmasters, the Mario Kart Carrera, a black coated Cartier Santos, and a whole bunch of Breitlings made from materials ranging from “Breitlight” to gold. His ultimate grail watch is Grand Seiko’s “Godzilla” anniversary piece. You get the idea. 

When I saw the press release for the new Monaco Night Driver from TAG Heuer, I thought to myself, “This might be the ultimate Eric Watch,” and in fact wondered if it was designed by an artificial intelligence that had somehow downloaded his consciousness. First of all, it’s a Monaco. I’ve lost count of the number of Monaco pics he’s sent to the group chat over the years – let’s just stipulate that he’s a fan. Also, the titanium case is coated in black DLC. Again, Eric would approve. But the real draw here is the dial, which is fully lumed, inspired, says TAG, by the magic of driving at night, sans distractions, alone with your car. OK, fine. But the dial also just looks awesome, with a gray circular section providing contrast with a lumed outer portion that appears light gray in daylight but glows bright blue when fully charged. The chronograph registers at 3:00 and 9:00 match this outer section. 

TAG says that the color scheme was inspired by vintage Monaco references, which commonly used tones of blue and gray (the very first Monaco, worn by Steve McQueen in Le Mans, had a midnight blue dial). But this watch really feels like a spiritual successor to the Aquaracer “Nightdiver,” which, yes, was a certified Eric Watch, part of his revolving door collection for a brief period of time in 2021. The new Night Driver seems to combine many of the things that have made TAG compelling over these last few years, namely a rethinking of the brand’s heritage through a modern lens, striking contemporary design, and picking just the right elements from those designs to link their collections. They have tapped into something with these “Night” versions of their sports watches, and it will be fun to see if they have more to come along these lines. 

In terms of specs, we have the standard 39mm Monaco case in the classic square shape with a lug-to-lug measurement of 47.4mm and a 14.7mm case height. It’s water resistant to 100 meters, and the watch is powered by TAG’s Heuer 02 chronograph movement. A nice design detail that’s a little over the top but also functional: the applied hour markers and the hour and minute hands are black-gold plated, helping with contrast in both daytime situations and those times when the dial is at full brightness. 

The retail price is CHF 9,300, and the Monaco Night Driver is a limited edition of just 600 pieces. TAG Heuer