Alec Monopoly with Jean Claude Biver
I may well be in the minority, but I for one am a little disappointed that Stephen Bianchi, the new boss of TAG Heuer, has decided to dispense with the 'invaluable' services of Alec Monopoly (and Cara DeLavigne too apparently... although that's no great loss if I'm honest, Cara will sell pretty much anything so her ambassadorship was as transparent as it was - no doubt - expensive). It's a shame because while not a particular fan of his art*, I appreciated the fun element he brought to the table even if the watches were, shall we say... hit and miss.
* Notice that I didn't feel the need to italicise or otherwise here.
To be honest, things didn't get off to the greatest of starts... it was bound to ruffle some feathers when pictures emerged of genuine watch industry legend Jean Claude Biver larking around in a bandana/mask with Alec M; Mr Biver committing the ultimate watch industry sin of 'horsing around' when we all know that watches is 'teh seriouz buziness!'. But then Mr Biver has always been joyfully 'maverick', that's a huge part of his charm and he is the absolute antithesis of say, Aurel Bacs, who speaks in hushed tones as if describing an important ancient Egyptian artefact while holding whatever priceless Patek Phillipe he's peddling this week... actually they are both very 'theatrical', just in vastly differing ways.
Aurel Bacs, watch auctioneer extraordinaire...
So yes, straight away the 'Heuer' set's heckles were well and truly up; who was this young 'fool' and why were TAG Heuer wasting their time associating themselves with him! Casually ignoring the fact that the brand needs someone who appeals to the kids and Max Verstappen can't cover all the bases; after all, surprisingly not every young person has an interest in Formula 1.
Things didn't get any better when pictures emerged of Alec 'customising' some watches in his own 'special' way, and I must confess I could have done without that - especially when he dribbled paint all over a diamond encrusted Heuer 02 Tourbillon piece costing upwards of £50,000!
Oh yes he did. Complete vandalism!
But then his first watch came out and damn me if it wasn't rather cool. Limited to just 200 pieces the watch didn't sell out immediately, but took a couple of days, during which time I seriously pondered pulling the trigger. Sadly, I wasn't sure enough quickly enough and the watch sold out; subsequently it has increased in value by 300-400% so as you can imagine I'm constantly irritated by my decision. Not because of a missed opportunity to make a quick profit you understand, but because the watch is now completely inaccessible for any sensible amount of money; as much as I like the watch I would certainly never pay £3000+ for it... and that irks me.
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Sadly, it was downhill from here. About a year after the release of the WAZ1117 a new Formula 1 arrived and along with it a Heuer 01 Carrera. The Formula 1 was released in greater numbers this time (my local jeweller had 3 or 4 of them at one point!) which definitely made the watch more accessible, but the design just wasn't as compelling and the white background was a disappointment for me. I guess they wanted to make it look distinct from the WAZ1117 but that design would have been better on a black background for my money. It didn't help that Alec made no attempt to avoid the middle of the watch where the hands originate, so Mr Monopoly's hand is permanently obscured. I know it's not easy to design something while avoiding the centre of the page, but it looks like he didn't even try. Then again, I suppose you could say much the same about the WAZ1117!
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All that said, I have warmed to it over the last year... perhaps because I now know it's the only Alec Monopoly F1 that I could potentially end up owning (lottery wins or inheritances not withstanding; I would have to have serious money available to blow £3-4k on a simple quartz Formula 1) and if one of these was to turn up at Bicester Village for say £850, then I might just possibly be persuaded to part with my money... and well, that's not so far fetched as I'm sure there are plenty of these left over and Alec's agreement will have a termination date, so watch this space.
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I wouldn't be surprised if there were plenty of unsold Alec Monopoly Heuer 01 Carreras knocking about as well to be honest. For me this was a mistake; not only was the design compromised by the subdials, date and TAG Heuer shield, but trying to sell a 'fun' piece at over £4000 must have been a very hard sell. This is perhaps one of the worst, if not the worst Heuer 01 Carrera to have been made available - it simply fails on every level and that is a shame, albeit one that should really have been entirely predictable.
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But that's not quite the end of the story, because earlier this year this Aquaracer appeared on Chrono 24. Limited to just 25 pieces (which makes it 8 times rarer than the hideously overvalued original Formula 1 no less...) this quartz Aquaracer was a collaboration with the Beverley Hills Hotel and was sold exclusively through their gift shop.
The dial here is pretty disappointing to be honest, but the strap is magnificent! Styled after the wallpaper of the aforementioned hotel, this one really makes a statement... but I'd definitely be wanting a spare strap, because without it this watch is nothing special.
Alec Monopoly's studio at the TAG Heuer manufacture in La Choux de Fonds
So there we are, Alec's time as a TAG Heuer ambassador has seemingly come and gone, and I notice that back in December Alec posted a video of the Richard Mille he had bought himself. Perhaps then the writing has been on the wall for a little while? And perhaps Alec is angling for a new ambassadorship, on a much higher tier? I'd be surprised if Richard Mille take him on to be honest, though having said that I never thought we'd see a collection of candy RMs either, so at this point maybe anything is possible.
Slightly lunatic pencil pusher Laurie Lipton
Who then stands to replace Alec Monopoly as TAG Heuer's 'Art Provocateur'? Sadly I'm not up to speed on enough youth-appropriate and crucially 'living' artists to suggest a credible replacement, but off the cuff I'd throw Laurie Lipton into the hat as a wild card; although I can't for the life of me imagine what a 'Laurie Lipton' TAG Heuer would look like... probably awful. But then there's nothing to say there would have to be a 'product', after all there's way more ambassadors that don't have actual watches than those that do. But perhaps Laurie would have appealed more to Mr Biver than Mr Bianchi...?
Check out this documentary about the weird and wonderful art of Laurie Lipton
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