Before I start this post, I just want to apologize in advance to anyone who gets irritated by my use of the words Rally and Rallye... I tried to clarify which means what but it's very confusing. I figured maybe it's 'Rally Straps' but then I found loads of perforated straps called 'Rallye Straps'. Google AI suggests 'Rallye' indicates a motor race rather than a political 'Rally', but then elsewhere it's suggested that 'Rallye' is the plural of 'Rally' or indeed it might just be the French way of spelling 'Rally' (which obviously makes it sound much more luxurious). Anyway, sorry 'bout that...!
Believe it or not, someone on the THF Forum has already backed the Porsche Chronosprint Rallye for the '2025 COCO Watch of the Year'! Quite a statement when we're barely a third of the way through February... but let us not forget that the very first release of 2023 was the Carrera 60th Anniversary Panda, which absolutely annihilated the competition on its way to securing the crown.
But then the 'Panda' was always going to be a sure fire winner, which is precisely why it was the last of the old style 'glassbox' Carreras... and honestly why it was strange that it was one of the first new style 'glassbox' Carreras. After all, the watch industry very much operates on a policy of 'never quite give the people what they want because we might be able to sell them something else in the meantime'.
Once you give them what they want, the theory goes, the customer is satisfied and will stop buying. Well, I don't know about that... most watch collectors will tend to find something 'else' they want regardless, but I suppose the principle is sound.
Anyhoo... following on from my 'Top 10 TAG Heuer x Porsche' watch post a few weeks back, here we have two more to add to the collection... if they are in contention for the WOTY come December I wonder which one will come out on top, or will they split the vote allowing something else to sneak past like some sort of horological Kimi Raikkonnen. 🤣
First up we have the steel version, which is supplied on a steel bracelet and comes in a rather splendid presentation box along with a perforated 'Rallye' strap and a model of the Porsche 911 Rallye that the watch is dedicated to. Just 911 of these have been produced, but judging by last year's 'Hodinkee Seafarer' that's probably enough that you'll be able to get one for at least a few months if you really want one. Indeed I visited the TAG Heuer boutique in Milton Keynes last weekend and they had this watch sitting right there in the cabinet. So it's certainly available...
Now clearly I've stated enough times on this blog that I'm no fan of these glassboxes, and while this does come in the (much preferred) larger 42mm case (which wears like a 40mm at best) this isn't really changing my mind. While the Chronosprint feature is entertaining enough, the movement in this watch seems to be identical to the one found in the previous version, they've just marked the dial differently to reflect the quicker 0-60mph time of the 'Rallye' version of the 911. Which is fair enough, there's no real 'need' to reconfigure the movement after all.
The watch also comes in a solid gold version which retails at £21,450 (versus £8950 for the steel version). This also comes in a similar presentation box, and again with a model of the car which raced in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally, but obviously there is no bracelet. It does however come with a second perforated strap... in brown. Which honestly to me looks pretty dreadful, but probably appeals to the vintage enthusiast this is aimed at.
Just 11 pieces of this one are available, which seems utterly bizarre to me. I mean, okay... there's 911 steel and 11 gold, because '911', but it seems a little odd to pander to this numerical nonsense when that means that countries like 'America' (population 335 million) get one watch. I mean, talk about 'getting the call'... 335 million to 1 is longer odds than winning the lottery and way more 'exclusive' than anything Rolex can offer.
To me it's clear that the gold version works better, seeming more coherent and stylish all round than its steel brethren, so it's even more confusing that there are so few available to buy. Sure they wouldn't want to be producing 911 of them at this price point, but there really is no reason to use the number of the car to determine the number of watches made... I know it gives the sales rep a 'selling point' *, but 11 is surely an unnecessarily small number of pieces.
According to the World Bank the 12th largest economy in 2024 was Australia, so assuming the watches are limited to one per country and distributed by this criteria... that sucks for them. But no, obviously Australia is a big market for TAG Heuer so I'm sure one lucky Aussie will be getting that call, besides Russia won't be needing theirs...
*Albeit a pretty dumb one. 911 pieces is fair enough, as was 963 pieces for the skeleton released last year, but like 968 pieces for the Seafarer (because 1968...) this one is just pretty silly. I guess since they released it with the steel version they painted themselves into a corner and had to come up with something, but maybe just 1000 steel and 50 or 100 gold would have made more sense.
So, before I turn these over to the Porsche loving Council of Considered Opinion there's just one more thing I would like to address... and that concerns the text above, found on the TAG Heuer website. Since the only motorsport I follow is Formula 1 I had no idea whether this car actually won the 1965 Monte Carlo rally or not, but I was pretty sure that I had read somewhere that it came second; strange then that TAG Heuer should be calling it a 'victory'.
Okay I thought, but rallying isn't like Formula 1, there's different classes of cars competing together so maybe it finished second overall but won its class? That would still be a 'victory' right enough. But no, car number 147 finished fifth overall and second in its class. Now I don't know about you but I don't see how anyone can describe that as a 'victory' and they certainly haven't explained themselves in any detail, so it seems like they just want to hoodwink people into believing it. Sure second is a great result for a car making its debut, but you can't justifiably call it a 'victory' when that clearly implies it won.
Perhaps they're hoping if they say it enough times then AI will 'learn' it and write it into history, just like the inventor of the electric toaster... anyway, lets ignore that for the moment and see what the Council had to say about these.
Gold 7.5/10, Steel 8.5/10: I don’t like the new glass box design with bezel under the glass very much, but I like these Chronosprint versions, so it’s a 8.5/10 for the steel version and 7.5/10 for the gold one. Coming with bracelet and a rally strap in the set is a bonus. 👍🏼
Gold 9/10, Steel 9/10: This watch looked like a knockout when I saw it in person. The fauxtina and red accents work well against the black dial. The box set is a super nice bonus and adds half a point. The price is too expensive, but that can be said about every TAG release these days.
Gold 7.5/10, Steel 7/10: They look good but the small red accents on the dial are just for enthusiasts, most would not know or care about their meaning, prices increasing meaning not for me to sit in a box with occasional/rotational use, gold version just 11 available, hardly worth the effort of casting them but the better looking of the two. For Porsche fans more than watch fans?
Gold 9/10, Steel 9/10: Both are absolutely killer! Stunning dial details, and I really love the modern glass box.
Gold 8/10, Steel 6/10: I like the gold one very much, but since there are only 11 pieces it's a pity that they will only be available to special customers. However, it is not good that the price is higher than the model released before. The mechanism of Chrono Sprint is interesting, so I hope that more watches are equipped with it.
Gold 8/10, Steel 8/10: It's a nice watch with some good detail work. But the 6 o'clock subdial should have the same treatment as the other two, instead the watch looks a little unbalanced and unfinished. Considering this watch crosses the $10,000 USD price mark, its competition is noticeably more cohesive in design. The box set is very nice though.
Gold 8/10, Steel 8/10: The steel version would have been better with silver/white fonts.
Gold 8/10, Steel 7/10: I still think the bracelet on these is the least cohesive design aspect. None of them need a bracelet IMO, too clunky for a detailed watch.
Gold 6/10, Steel 6/10: It's OK. Quite nice. I prefer the last iteration, however. My preference is usually for steel but the gold works equally well here.
Gold 7/10, Steel 7/10: Think these are the best of the new glassboxes so far, but I’m still not convinced by the bezel thing.
Gold 6/10, Steel 6/10: Gold does work on this one. Still not a fan of this style of glassbox.
Gold 7.5/10, Steel 5/10: The combination of black, red and gold makes me excited😘
Gold 8.5/10, Steel 9.0: Gold bracelet and it would be a 9.5 almost perfect.👌
Gold 8/10, Steel 8/10: I really like the watches, but the "chronosprint" chronometer is a bit of a gimmick and the prices are definitely up there.
Gold 8, Steel 9: I've seen a lot of this one on the Instagram (the steel one) I kinda like it.
Gold 8/10, Steel 9/10: The limitation of the gold version is extreme, which might make the price a little more bearable. Personally, I would prefer a leather strap on the steel version. On the TAG Heuer website, a blue or brown leather strap can be chosen as an additional band. It looks good, but why not black? It seems to me that TAG Heuer is very close to the perfect Carrera with these watches.
Gold 9.5/10, Steel 9/10: The only sticking point is the cost of both.
Gold 6.5/10, Steel 5.5/10: I like the gold accents on the subdials but can't get over the price!
Gold 9/10, Steel 7/10: I love the gold…it looks stunning on the wrist.
No comments:
Post a Comment