The Hour Glass Monaco Replica is yet another “almost” attempt to recreate the white whale of the vintage Heuer world, the famous black Heuer Monaco 740303N. Just like the French Edition from 2017, this Monaco replaces the usual applied steel markers with lume stick markers and features a titanium-carbide coated steel case- just like the 1970s PVD Monaco.

It’s a fascinating product choice from Tag Heuer Replica Watch that we’ve never seen a true re-edition of the PVD Monaco, even as they continue to launch commemorative watches that get close to replicating the look of the 740303N, but never close enough to be described as a re-edition. Maybe one day.

The boldest choice made for this Popular Replica watch is the colour of the dial- a lovely colour that veers between “champagne”, beige and off-white, depending on the light. While there has never been a historic Monaco model with this dial colour, the colours work well together, especially when contrasted to the all-black case.

The contrasting colours are red and black- bright red for the strip hour markers, central Chronograph hands and lacquered sub-dial hands, and black for the minuterie scale and text. We also like the use of black on the steel hands, with black on the tips and a filled-in black on the lower half of the hands, below the white lume.

The second brave choice was the modern, over-sized applied “12” at the 12 o’clock position, a feature we often see on modern TAG Heuer Fake watches, but rarely on vintage models. And result? Looks great to our eyes.

The black coating is applied on top of a 39mm steel case, and unlike the ACM Monaco edition, the pushers and crown here have also been coated in black titanium carbide.

Flip the Replica Watches Ebay over and you’ll see a sapphire caseback, with the silver metal of the rotor and movement standing out prominently against the polished black case. There’s a subtle red Heuer logo on the rotor- an understated choice that we like, with Hour Glass branding kept to a tasteful minimum.