Racing Chronograph Icons

[MiamiGT4]

Like me, both of these were born in the 1960’s. They’re so different from each other but both share a racing history, ties with Hollywood, and both are in-house, vertical clutch, column wheel chronographs with hacking. Plus they play well off each other in a roll.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oRNs8YmGgeQsoMgJA

[MiamiGT4]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oRNs8YmGgeQsoMgJA

[amphr1]

very nice! But I gotta be honest, I personally don't see the appeal of the monaco. Making a watch square shape doesn't seem to me do anything to the function of the watch, and you can say it makes it look better, but the fact that the dial itself clearly outline a circle makes me think that everything outside of the circle is just empty space. thoughts?

[MiamiGT4]

Originally Posted by amphora001

very nice! But I gotta be honest, I personally don't see the appeal of the monaco. Making a watch square shape doesn't seem to me do anything to the function of the watch, and you can say it makes it look better, but the fact that the dial itself clearly outline a circle makes me think that everything outside of the circle is just empty space. thoughts?

I don’t think I’d own a Monaco by itself but I think it works well within a collection, if that makes sense. It’s hard to wear other chronos when you get to also wear 2 Daytonas so I’ve had to sell my Carreras, Autavia, Speedmasters, Navitimer and Tudor Heritage simply because they didn’t get any wrist time. Because the Monaco is square and so different to all the round watches that generally compete against the Daytona, I find myself wearing it when I want a more funky look or wearing blue shirts, which REALLY makes it pop. I understand what you mean about the 2 shapes colliding. The necessarily round dial feature that denotes the sweep of the hands (circular motion) butts heads against a very square outer shape. There’s some disharmony in it, mostly in the open areas you mentioned, but it all looks normal after spending time with it. The caseback is beautiful by itself and as a bonus you also get to see the well-presented movement. So I think it pairs well with a Daytona because they don’t compete in shape and design, each has its own distinct, very different personality as watches, but share a common story as racing icons.