the following is from the official TAG-Heuer website.

Perhaps the most interesting sentence is towards the end - - - that TAG-Heuer is assembling the Monaco Sixty Nine at the brand’s production facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Over recent years, TAG-Heuer has had some detractors, who claim that it is a "brand" rather than a manufacturer. It will be interesting to see how the datractors spin things, as TAG-Heuer regains is position as a leading manufacturer.

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At the fourth “Grand Prix d’Horlogerie”, held in Geneva on 11 November 2004, TAG Heuer was awarded the Grand Prix for its newly created MONACO Sixty Nine in the design category. An international panel of judges comprising journalists, historians, and experts in the field singled out the design of the Monaco Sixty Nine as the most innovative among the new timepieces introduced in 2004 by the major Swiss watchmakers.

TAG Heuer won the design accolade once before, in 2002, for its Micrograph Formula 1, and in October of this year the company was named by A. T. Kearney and the business magazine Bilanz as one of Switzerland’s three most innovative firms.

The Monaco Sixty Nine: symbolizing TAG Heuer’s dual commitment to tradition and the avant-garde, this new chronometer is a fusion of 19th and 21st century watchmaking, housed in a pivoting case inspired by the famous Monaco worn by Steve McQueen.

The major innovation of the MONACO Sixty Nine lies in the extraordinary technical feat that it represents: two timepieces with radically different movements are united in a single case—the invention of 144 years of TAG Heuer expertise and patents in the field of mechanical and digital movement.

The Monaco Sixty Nine is the first watch to offer both mechanical and digital displays merely by pivoting the case. Indeed, TAG Heuer has been awarded a patent for this new pivoting system. The strikingly bold model combines tradition and the avant-garde in a way never before seen. On one side, there’s the mythical, uncompromising look and square case of the initial 1969 Monaco—the model preferred by Steve McQueen; on the other, the unique, ultramodern digital face of the Microtimer, the first Swiss wristwatch accurate to 1/1000th of a second, invented by TAG Heuer just 18 months ago. The two timepieces signify the company’s evolution since 1860: a digital chronograph that features unbeatable precision and contemporary functions presents a vision of the 21st century while the traditional mechanical watch, powered by 19th-century wheel and pinion technology, displays the local time with timeless, understated appeal—all enclosed in a single case boasting exceptional character.

The revolutionary new design, strong and elegant, is first visible on the case, with its four push-buttons located at 2:00, 4:00, 8:00 and 10:00. On the classic Monaco side, the black shade of the leather strap and the dial is discreetly matched by the silvered folding clasp and steel case. The small seconds register at 6:00 is entirely in tune with the harmoniously understated overall effect. This subtle equilibrium contrasts with the other, high-tech side of the case, with its digital display dial and 1/1000th-of-a-second chronograph function as well as a perpetual calendar, GMT function, countdown feature and a timekeeping system that records time to the thousandth of a second—ready for tracking the progress of a Formula 1 race over 99 laps, complete with continuous calculation and storage of the best lap times.

This new design icon was developed entirely by TAG Heuer designers and watchmakers at the firm’s design laboratory in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The highly complex case was produced by Cortech, TAG Heuer’s own ultramodern case manufacturer located in Cornol, Switzerland, while the digital movement is exclusive to TAG Heuer. The timepiece is assembled at the brand’s production facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Monaco Sixty Nine, which is being introduced on the market this autumn, provides TAG Heuer’s strongest evidence to date of its creativity and expertise, as summed up in the company’s motto: “Swiss Avant-Garde since 1860”.