The watch’s sharp, sculpted, and resolute silhouette reflects the pioneering technology behind its construction. Crafted from ultra-light Grade-5 titanium, the case is produced using an advanced technique known as Selective Laser Melting (SLM), an additive process widely employed in aerospace, medical, and automotive industries to achieve complex, high-accuracy components. TAG Heuer’s renowned innovation hub, the TAG Heuer LAB, reimagined SLM for watchmaking, empowering the brand’s designers and engineers to conceive and realize a bold three-dimensional architecture reminiscent of the aerodynamic contours of modern hypercars. This new timepiece sits at the apex of TAG Heuer’s collection of high-performance chronographs and begins a new chapter of limitless innovation. Only 30 numbered pieces will be made of this new limited edition.

TAG Heuer has long embraced a philosophy rooted in functional design: a timepiece must fulfill its purpose, remain legible and intuitive, and deliver uncompromising performance and reliability. Yet, within the traditional boundaries of watchmaking, design could only progress as far as technology would allow. That balance has now shifted, thanks to avant-garde methods like Selective Laser Melting (SLM).

With SLM, TAG Heuer has turned convention on its head, placing technology in service of creativity. This breakthrough liberates designers from the constraints of traditional manufacturing, opening the door to forms and structures previously impossible to achieve. For the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1, the guiding principle was simple: no limits. A true paradigm shift.

Here’s how it works: conventional watch cases are typically carved from solid blocks of material using CNC milling, a subtractive process that shapes by removal. SLM, on the other hand, is entirely additive — akin to 3D printing — building the case layer by layer to realize complex geometries with remarkable precision. The process begins with a layer of metal powder – such as aluminium, steel or, in this case, Grade-5 titanium – which is then blasted with a high-powered laser that selectively melts and fuses sections of the powder, guided by a 3D “CAD” (Computer Aided Design) model.

Initially, as this cools and solidifies, it produces a thin sliver of material, but as the process is repeated, adding layer after layer, an object emerges, taking whatever form the designer intended. A final step follows to remove any roughness from the material and give the case its smooth, skin-like finish. In this way, the once impossible case construction of the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Second Chronograph Air 1 has become a reality.

The 41mm case shape carries all the hallmarks of high-tech, cutting-edge design. Its taut lines and muscular leading edges come together in unique, fluid shapes that echo the air intakes of high-performance cars. Combined, these then act like a complex exoskeleton that cradles a twin-layered honeycomb-motif mesh that was inspired by the latticed engine covers of hypercars, only that here serve as a movement surround. The case is in Grade-5 titanium, as are the lattices that frame the movement on the caseband, while the lattices under the bezel are laser-cut from gleaming solid 2N yellow gold, the perfect marriage of a precious metal and a high-tech, performant material. The Grade-5 titanium bezel is coated in black DLC, creating a deliberate but balanced contrast that enhances the watch’s assertive profile.

While TAG Heuer’s elite rattrapante chronograph Calibre TH81-00 whirrs quietly and reliably away inside it, the timepiece’s pristine, aerodynamic form looks torquey and expectant, as if it might explode into life at any moment with the roar of a V12 internal combustion engine. Achieving the complex shapes of the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 is hugely labor intensive. It takes a specialist engineer around 10 times longer to program the tooling than for other TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph cases, and five times longer for those tools to manufacture it.

Finishing the watch’s high-tech look are a translucent sapphire dial that opens up the movement’s inner workings from above, chronograph pushers and a tapered crown in black-DLC-coated Grade-5 titanium, golden chronograph hands, golden-tipped hour and minute hands, golden hour markers, and front and back sapphire crystals held in place by four visible screws. The split-seconds pusher at 9 o’clock is crafted in solid 2N yellow gold and is a nod to the original left-sided crown of the TAG Heuer Monaco. The watch sits on a sporty black rubber strap topped with alcantara inserts and is fitted with a with a black-DLC-coated Grade-5 titanium buckle.

At the heart of the TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 lies the Calibre TH81-00, a high-frequency automatic movement developed in partnership with the renowned Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. Delivering a 65-hour power reserve and operating at 36,000 vibrations per hour (5 Hz), it embodies both precision and endurance.

Crafted with key components in Grade-5 titanium, the TH81-00 achieves remarkable lightness at just 30 grams, while maintaining uncompromising standards of performance, stability, and reliability even under demanding conditions. Each element is meticulously hand-finished, adorned with refined decorations such as TAG Heuer’s distinctive checkered flag motif, proudly displayed through the full sapphire crystal caseback.

This advanced calibre drives the watch’s hallmark complication — the rattrapante, or split-seconds chronograph — allowing wearers to measure two simultaneous events that conclude separately, such as tracking the lap times of competing Formula 1 cars in the same race. The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 is one of the most technologically advanced watches ever created by TAG Heuer, but with its ergonomic design, high levels of legibility and sporty profile, it is a watch that can be worn and used every day, in keeping with TAG Heuer’s watchmaking and design philosophy. Previously a paradox, this is the result of putting technology at the service of design. For TAG Heuer, the door to the next generation of innovative, avant-garde watch designs is now thrown open.

“The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 is a watchmaking revolution,” said TAG Heuer chief executive Antoine Pin. “Think of it this way: thanks to SLM, a watch engineer has been able to deliver a watch designer’s wildest creation. The SLM manufacturing process, adapted by the TAG Heuer LAB, takes us into a new dimension, rewriting the received laws of case design. And where better to do that than in the avant-garde Monaco, which in 1969 became the world’s first water-resistant square-cased automatic chronograph. The TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph Air 1 marks a new dawn for a true design icon and marks the beginning of a new series of conceptual timepieces involving innovative technologies for the brand.”