Sometimes, a watch comes along that we are hungry to write about. It does not happen often, but it did happen here for our cover story. The TAG Heuer Monaco is an icon, and it represents an important part of what we love about watches. We could even write the story without a new watch to reference, which thankfully we did not have to do. To understand this, it helps to consider the reality of the Monaco Special Edition here. The case is hardly new and neither is the automatic Heuer 02 movement. By any measure, it is an evolution, not a revolution. By way of contrast, when the Monaco debuted, it was truly revolutionary. But you can discover more about that in the cover story. Here, we sing the praises of this particular model, and the details that make it a handsome piece.

To begin with, we reiterate that this watch is based off the famous Dark Lord model of 1975, but it is not a reissue or even a real tribute. Instead, it is more of a riff on the look. In terms of size and shape, it is no different to the other Monaco offerings, being a square 39mm watch. Where the watch makes its mark is in its sandblasted DLC titanium grade two material, and highly unusual two-tone black-on-black dial (circular brushed within the minute track, and highly grained around the hour markers). These markers themselves are rose gold plated, matching the hour, minute and small second hands (with white SuperLuminova on the hour and minute hands). The effect is striking in pictures, which we hope to convince you of with our own photographic evidence as well as the stock press images.

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In the metal, the effect is even more impressive, with the grained elements standing out. You might gaze upon it and feel that it reminds you of a racetrack, or of racing tyres — the press release mentions these exact examples, yet we thought of them independently after our shoot with the watches. Perhaps we are on the same wavelength as the communications team at TAG Heuer, or there is something organic to this description.

This wealth of visual cues might sound overwhelming, and we have not even mentioned the chronograph hands and the subdials. The Monaco has a proven track record of making such aesthetic touches work, and the Monaco Special Edition is no exception. On that note, the crown and chronograph pushers are also in the same grade 2 DLC titanium. The black alligator strap also sports a folding clasp in the same material, also with DLC. Incidentally, besides adding a degree of surface hardness, DLC has the more practical benefit of making surfaces resistant to visible fingerprint stains. We have tested this out many times and it seems to work as advertised, though it is not 100 per cent effective; TAG Heuer does not make this claim in the press materials.

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A specific claim worth looking into is that this is only the second Monaco to be cased in titanium, after the Titan Limited Edition last year. It follows then that this is the first time the Monaco has been cased in DLC treated titanium. This Special Edition, which we like to call the Dark Sun, is only available at TAG Heuer boutiques and online.

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Perhaps no brand at Watches and Wonders Geneva had so triumphant a return as Cartier. After leading a small group of brands out of BaselWorld in 1991, it now gets to tell a bunch of Swiss watchmaking big boys “I told you so,” which must feel awesome. Nevertheless, it is the first watch show in a long time that Cartier could not dominate by sheer force of will, and an unassailable number of novelties, but the brand had no problem commanding attention. You will no doubt have heard and seen reports on the Tank Chinoise, and we will get there in our upcoming issue of WOW. For now, the temporal delights of the Cartier Masse Mystérieuse beckon because this is not a story about Cartier and watch shows in Geneva.

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I will admit to a bit of bias here because this watch piqued my interest the moment I saw it. Jack Forster of Hodinkee called it wonderfully strange, a fact I noted right after he posted it, in our own daily report from Geneva. By way of introduction, we will reproduce our initial summary, which we think is quite a good one: First of all, it is a mystery watch that shows all its tricks but conceals how it works. The entire movement is contained inside the oscillating mass, otherwise known as the rotor, and seems to be disconnected from the hands entirely. This explains not only the watch but also the name. I cannot tell you how much I love it when it is this easy to explain a watch, yet say absolutely nothing about it.

Now, we love seeing the horological experiments of the past deliver fresh results, which is what the Masse Mystérieuse is. When it works, we think it reminds manufactures that an investment in creating incredible watches today might just pay off decades into the future. We are also gratified that the work of Cartier fine watchmaking remains relevant. There is nothing more haute horlogerie than having to wait while the watchmakers create the future. Eleven years ago, when the Cartier Astroregulateur debuted, it no doubt caused all sorts of confusion — and it was not only about how to spell the name of the watch. Today, Cartier has pivoted from mounting the escapement on the winding rotor to making the rotor the entire movement. As it happens, it has also given us yet another name that we will struggle to spell! Seriously though, for those of us who love shaped movements, this is a real treat. Think about it for a moment: the movement provides the mass to power itself.

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Obviously, a watch like this raises questions, most of which we have not yet gotten answers to. In that way, the Masse Mystérieuse makes of time a big mechanical question mark. That is perfect for a mystery watch, which is limited to just 30 pieces.

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For the better part of the nearly three and a half millennia that humankind has measured and recorded time, clocks and other instruments have mostly been large objects, occupying pillars and towers within major town centres. The miniaturisation of timepieces into a more pocketable form, i.e. the pocket watch is a relatively recent occurrence in this regard and the wristwatch later still. In fact, the first recorded pocket watch is attributed to German watchmaker, Peter Henlein in the late 1400s and the first timepiece worn on the arm seems to be one that was made for Queen Elisabeth I in 1571 as a gift from the first Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley. Now it’s important to reiterate the “worn on the arm” aspect once more, because Queen Elisabeth I’s 1571 piece is described to have been a clock full of diamonds suspended by a bracelet that could be worn on the arm, not quite the wrist.

It would appear that from the 1500s right up into the early 1900s, watches being worn on some sort of a bracelet and, therein some part of your arm, was already a thing. It was considered appropriate only for women and these timepieces were, for the most part, ornate and effeminate, and not necessarily worn because time was of the essence. Amongst contemporary watchmaking firms, Breguet makes among the first claims to a landmark moment. Followed by Patek Philippe with their 1868 rectangular clock mounted on a three-part bracelet for Hungarian Countess, Kosewitz.

Utilitarian Ubiquity

How the wristwatch became an object of utilitarian ubiquity can, really only be attributed to the following singular event. In 1904, Louis Cartier made the wish of famous Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont come true: “to be able to tell time whilst flying.” And so, Louis Cartier gave the world the unmistakable, Santos Dumont. What is important to point out here is Louis Cartier’s solution for securing a strap to the Santos Dumont case. Here is possibly the first instance of the usage of this integrated horn-like feature on a watch case, onto which a strap could be secured and therein, worn on the wrist. Horn-like, as in horns or lugs as they are more commonly referred to, and one of the prime horological inventions that really made it possible for timepieces to be worn on the wrist today.

Alberto Santos Dumont and Louis Cartier, however, did not manage to kick off a worldwide phenomenon. It was not until World War I that people started to warm to the idea of wearing timepieces on their wrists. Wristwatches proved to be the more efficient means of wearing a watch and checking time, when on the battlefield, rather than having to fish a pocket watch out from – well, a pocket. Initially, watch producers were essentially modifying pocket watch cases such that they could be worn on the wrist. Some early implementations included thick wires being welded on to the back, or sides, of watch cases, which then allowed for straps to be stitched and secured to the timepiece. Today we know of these as the wire lugs and can still be seen on watches such as some of Panerais Radiomir models.

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Integrated Designs

Watchmakers then progressed to experiment with the idea of welding horn-like structures on the top and bottom of the watch case, which then allowed for straps to be screwed onto the watch and worn securely. There were also instances of these horns being affixed to cases using a hinge mechanism, such that they could articulate and allow for a better fit around the wrist. It is easy to assume from here that case horns slowly became the preferred means for securing straps to wristwatches, so much so that watch cases were soon designed with their horns already integrated, ala Santos Dumont.

Just ahead of the Roaring Twenties, it was Cartier again who gave the world its next immortal wristwatch, the Tank. The manner in which the brancards of the Tank lead effortlessly into its lugs is perhaps one of the earliest examples of how lugs soon became an elemental part of a watch. More and more watchmakers and case producers started to include lugs as a design aspect of the case rather than an afterthought. When Vacheron Constantin designed the American 1921, its case included lugs that were of a very progressive mindset. When Patek Philippe produced the world’s first perpetual calendar wristwatch in 1925, reference 97975, it not only had lugs but it had ones that were decorated with an engraved motif. When Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel in 1927, the water-resistant Rolex Oyster on her had wire lugs integrated into its case and was made to be worn on the wrist. And again, in 1931 when René-Alfred Chavot designed by Reverso, he did so with lugs already on his patent drawings.

Creative Expressions

The decade of the Great Depression slowed things down for horology, like it did for everything else through the 1930s. And then came World War 2. However, as it was with World War 1, the second global conflict ended up proliferating the wristwatch as the choice method for wearing a timepiece. Once the Allied Forces had secured victory and people could live life again on their own terms, watchmakers and case designers seemed to look at lugs not just as a functional component for cases, but another element for creative expression. Patek Philippe’s contemporary perpetual calendar reference 5320, for instance, with the triple-stepped lugs was inspired by the lugs of the Calatrava reference 2405 from the 1940s. Patek Philippe used many other famed lugs designed within this timeframe including the “cornes de vache” and the bean-shaped Fagiolino lugs, just to name a few. Vacheron Constantin in the same period sported lugs the likes of the tear-drop, Crab Claw and one of Christian Selmoni, Vacheron Constantin’s style and heritage director’s favourites, the Batman.

It was not just watch and case makers who were in this exuberant mode through the mid-century. Humankind, in general, was in a state of joy and started to engage in adventure and exploration, which in turn provided watchmaking its next chapter: the rise of tool watches. Leisure diving, for example, is an activity that grew in popularity in this period and required wristwatches that could be used underwater to time dives. On top of making water-resistance watches, watchmakers also had to design more robust lugs and straps to secure wristwatches, often over dive suits. Such extreme conditions necessitated the use of hardier metal bracelets that could be fitted onto lugs. But that is not to say that designers gave up their right to lugs. On the contrary, they started using shaped facets, with alternating brushed and polished surfaces, and lines that formed a continuous silhouette from the case to their accompanying metal bracelets. Which then provides us the perfect segue into the 1970s and the advent of the integrated bracelet, and the sports chic watch that went with it.

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Fit For Purpose

Watches such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Rolex Oysterquartz, are some of the pioneering timepieces designed to truly integrate the case, lug and bracelet into a seamless form. This approach did not just provide for a brand-new aesthetic, it also provided for insights into how lugs can affect a wristwatch’s wearability. For instance, shorter, more claw-like, discreet lugs on integrated bracelet watches allowed for their bracelets to drape over the wrist without gaps, making for a snug, comfortable fit. These lessons would come in handy at the end of the Quartz Crisis when watchmakers generally took to larger sized timepieces through the 1990s and the 2000s. Lug design, in terms of length and curvature, had to be given particular attention in this period to make watches 45mm and beyond, ergonomically sound. There are also a few watchmakers that took to more innovative lug designs to make these large watches wearable. Master watchmaker Denis Flageollet, for example, invented futuristic articulating lugs that make the otherwise substantial case of the De Bethune DB28, easy to wear.

From its simple beginnings as a practical implement that made it possible to wear a watch on the wrist, to becoming an essential part of the watch case itself, to then being elevated to an aspect for creative expression, the story of the lugs – or horns, if you prefer – is a short but, undoubtedly impactful one. You might even say that while it was war that necessitated the wristwatch, without the invention of the lugs, strapping a watch on a wrist could have never become this convenient. Sure, straps and bracelets play a huge part towards being able to strap a watch on your wrist, but the way in which lugs allowed for wristwatches to be industrialised and become the preferred method by which to carry a timepiece on your person, is nothing short of remarkable. Today, while the wristwatch stands more as an object of self-expression, rather than utility, watchmakers have managed to re-engineer and update lugs to ones that allow for straps and bracelets to be swapped out without any tools, to fit the day and occasion. So, the next time you have one of those moments when you are lost gawking at your mechanical watch, ticking away on your wrist – beyond the complications, the sweeping seconds hand, the overall beauty of the dial and case design – take time to also appreciate the lugs. Because what you are looking at is a pioneering innovation, barely out of its infancy, in the larger tradition of horology. It was invented no more than a century ago and it is one of the prime reasons why you are able to wear your watch, this easily and conveniently, on your wrist.

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