CAW211X.FC6468
In the internet age, there's always a race to be first, and I must admit I did ponder writing my 'First Impressions' post on Wednesday night based on the poor quality render that's been floating about courtesy of a certain Czech website for several months... but in the end I decided against it. If these Monacos have taught us anything, it's that the renders we saw before are not entirely representative of the final product, and so it is with this particular model.
Truthfully, I thought this one was going to be the dud of the bunch, so it's interesting to see the reaction on the Calibre 11 forum this morning which seems to be overwhelmingly positive and also seeing some of the real-life photographs that have now appeared on the major websites which create quite a different impression from the picture above.
The most striking thing about this watch is surely the textured dial, which nobody was ever going to pick up on in a 250x250 jpeg render. I do quite like it, although it does slightly remind me of wet concrete. I'm not 100% sure if that's a good thing or not as yet, I think I need to mull it over a while.
The colour scheme is certainly bold, though I'm not sure it screams the 90s to me, but then I'm not sure what would, it would be interesting to know what the exact inspiration behind it was (please let it be a duvet cover...*). The red square is an interesting design choice, it does seem to clutter the dial slightly but it works here because it echoes the shape of the case and besides, too much blank 'concrete' might not have worked quite so well.
*Apparently I wasn't wide of the mark, the dial is inspired by concrete and video games are also mentioned in the press material.
It's when you catch sight of a photo like this that you start to see the appeal of the watch, and it also shows off the synergy between the watch and the strap, which works very well indeed. While brown was probably the right choice, I didn't think the particular brown strap they chose really worked on the first (green) Monaco, and the second (red) Monaco just had a standard black strap, but this one looks like it was actually designed to be on this watch.
The blue looks lighter here than on the dial shot, which is good because the left hand subdial in particular looks almost black there (an optical illusion caused by the second markings, clearly) and that really works. This is going to be a very 'cool' Monaco, one to be worn with a T-shirt and jeans no doubt.
Another point of note is the change in the font, which is a shame as I rather liked the older font used on the first two watches and it would be nice if all five watches matched for the lucky fifty people who will be taking delivery of the full set. But still, I get that it's supposed to mark the change from the old to the more recent, and let's not get bogged down in the detail that actually the Monaco was barely produced during this particular decade... ahem!
It has to be said, with each release the general consensus on the Calibre 11 Forum has changed markedly from disappointment to excitement (which is surely the right way around!) and as each watch has emerged in real life pictures the initial and overwhelming indifference has turned to admiration and envy. There's still two more of these to go of course, but on the whole it seems like TAG Heuer have done a really good job with these limited edition Monacos.
My only gripe really is that because they are so incredibly limited, the chances of even getting to see one of these is negligible at best. So this post is not so much a 'First Impressions' post as the beginning. middle and end, since there will not be an 'On the Wrist' for this or any of the other four 50th Anniversary Monacos.
I've seen it said that TAG Heuer shouldn't dilute these LEs by making them regular models, and obviously to remake them directly would be a kick in the teeth to those who have invested their money into these pieces. But at the same time, I hope TAG Heuer continue to give us more of these exciting and interesting pieces, using unusual colours and textures across the whole range of watches.
It's a double edged sword no doubt, that the limited nature of these pieces allows the company to take more risks with colours etc, but it's so frustrating to visit a jeweller and see a sea of black dial watches on steel bracelets. The jewellers have told me before that they only stock the top 50 sellers, but it's a self-perpetuating cycle isn't it? You only stock what 'sells' but it only sells because it's all you stock. Maybe it would be better if watch companies did take the majority of their sales in house and maybe then the options available would be a little more exciting?
That's an argument for another day, for now I think we can agree that this one is another (surprise) winner, and I will be interested to see how the next Monaco pulls it out of the bag, because on the face of it, it now seems like the least interesting one...!
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