Nicholas Biebuyck cried when he got the news. In January, TAG Heuer announced it was taking over as Formula 1’s official timekeeper in 2025, a role it last held from 1992 to 2003. (Tech giants Siemens and LG followed, before Rolex took over the honors for the past 12 seasons.) Biebuyck, TAG Heuer’s heritage director, grew up an F1 junkie in the ’90s and vividly remembers scenes from that era’s most dramatic races: Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen battling it out while the lap times popped on the screen bearing TAG’s green-and-red shield. His tears flowed from a sense that everything was neatly back in its proper place, with TAG firmly entrenched at the top tier of motorsport. “It’s legitimately where the brand belongs,” Biebuyck said. “This is our home.”

TAG Heuer laid the foundation for that claim decades before the races of Biebuyck’s childhood. In the ’70s, Heuer (as the brand was known prior to its 1985 acquisition by TAG) was a familiar sight in the paddock. Everyone from motorsport legends like Jean Campiche to fans in the bleachers would use its stopwatches to accurately time laps. Now, a new edition of TAG’s legendary Monaco model—best known as Steve McQueen’s wristwear of choice in the 1971 racing classic Le Mans—pays homage to those once–essential tools. The black inner dial and contrasting outer track are borrowed directly from the archival stopwatches, with zippy red accents further boosting the piece’s racing energy. Even the logo remains faithful to those throwback pieces, dropping the TAG in favor of Heuer’s original wordmark. More than just a coveted new release, the fresh variation of the iconic blocky watch is a signal of TAG’s ambitions to keep its already leaden foot on the gas in the high-stakes world of motorsport.

Over the past couple of years, TAG has flirted with multiple identities. It has released super-complicated $100,000-plus watches, dipped a toe in the fashion world through a collaboration with streetwear brand Kith, and even turned back the clock with elegant, vintage-inspired Carreras. Now, however, it feels like the storied maker is focused on shifting back into its original lane. “Everyone’s got to own a territory. Omega’s got space, Breitling’s got aviation, Rolex has success,” Biebuyck explained. “For us, motorsport is the central part of who we are as a brand.”

Naturally, the new Monaco arrives in May, on the weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix. Several other reimagined Monacos are due to speed into stores in 2025, and earlier this year the brand unveiled a major overhaul to its aptly named Formula 1 collection of entry-level watches. TAG, however, has grander designs than simply putting a watch on the wrist of every gearhead. Formula 1 is a great platform to enlist new customers, but the long-term plan is to keep those collectors around and slowly guide them up the ladder toward TAG’s higher-end items. As far as bait goes, it’s hard to imagine a more enticing worm for racing lovers than a stopwatch–inspired Monaco from F1’s newly minted timekeepers.

A version of this story originally appeared in the June/July 2025 issue of GQ with the title “TAG Heuer Is Back in the Driver’s Seat”