CAW211U.FC6356
I'm sure nobody was expecting another Limited Edition Monaco before the next 50th Anniversary piece (the CAW211Y, expected in October at the Japanese Grand Prix), but this one has sneaked out when you were least expecting it! Limited to just 50 pieces, this model has been produced to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of 'The Hour Glass' which is a luxury retailer with (co-incidentally) 40 boutiques in the Asian Pacific region, and what a stunner it is.
I must admit on first viewing I was a bit unsure, but the more I look at it the more I kinda like it. It would be interesting to see it first hand, just to get a better idea of what colour that dial really is, but since I live on the wrong side of the world and considering the very limited number available I don't think that's likely to happen. It's definitely one of the most unusual Monacos I've ever seen, and not just because of the dial colour. For a start it has done away with the usual polished hour markers and I can't ever remember seeing a Monaco with a '12' numeral like that... in fact the only Monaco I can think of with any numerals on the dial is the Monaco 24 (which had a '24' instead of a '12').
While I really like the polished '12' I'm not sure if it will sit well with the purists, somehow it makes this watch look more 'TAG Heuer' than 'Heuer', but with a Calibre 11 movement.... actually, I think this is probably the only Calibre 11 I would want to own as I generally find the gap between the pushers looks a bit odd, but I would be willing to put up with it for the sake of wearing that very unusual face.
The dial colour sets up a fantastic contrast with both the red painted hour markers, chrono hands and the PVD coated case, and I'm so glad they didn't put the 'faux' aged lume on this - it really wouldn't have worked at all. I think keeping the sub-dials the same colour was a masterstroke as well, I guess they could have done them white, and that would have looked fine, but for me I generally prefer it when the subdials are marked out rather than coloured in. For example on the Kirium quartz chronographs or the original S/ELs before they added the outer rings.
The watch comes on a black perforated strap and features a PVD coated deployment clasp, which is nice to see. A pet hate of mine is black PVD coated watches with silver clasps (as on that ill fated CAU2012 Formula 1 I bought a couple of years ago), it always just strikes me as being poor attention to detail, so I'm glad they've made sure to fit this very special Monaco out properly.
TAG Heuer have dropped some fantastically different and interesting Monacos this year, and I'm sure this one won't hang around very long at all. Priced at AUD8900 (approx £4700) this is a fantastic opportunity to pick up something really striking at a reasonable price. Wonder how long it'll take for them to appear on Chrono 24 at £6-7000 though...?
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