FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre TH81-00 'Rattrapante' Split Seconds Chronograph

 

Okay, hands up who else spat out their coffee when they read that the latest Monaco from TAG Heuer had a price tag of from* £121,000? I mean, we knew something was coming based off last year's 'Only Watch' Monaco Rattrapante so it wasn't exactly a 'surprise' (especially as TAG Heuer had been dropping hints left, right and centre), but I don't think anyone was really prepared for the jaw-dropping price tag the brand attached to this new model... even when you take into account the £3000 premium TAG are already charging for their current skeletonised Monacos over the solid dial variants.

*Depending on the level of customisation required, in case you were wondering....

I mean, had I been asked to guess the price I might have plucked £25,000-30,000 out of the air (especially since before this I wasn't terribly au fait with what the going rate for a rattrapante was), but I would never in my wildest estimates have gone over £100,000! And I wasn't alone, both 'A Blog to Watch' and (ex Watchfinder 'hands' guy) Andrew Morgan absolutely ridiculed the brand in their 'Watches & Wonders' YouTube round ups (though with their combined knowledge and industry savvy they should perhaps have been a little more 'informed'). 

But initially I too did not get it, especially when rattrapante chronographs are readily available from other brands such as Breitling at under £10,000 and from 'better' brands like IWC for not that much more. So there has to be more to it, doesn't there. It can't simply be that TAG Heuer are applying a Monaco premium the likes of which we've never seen before just because? 

Well yes, of course there is... 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Monaco Skeleton 'Rattrapante' Chronograph for Only Watch 2023

Fair play to TAG Heuer, when they commit to providing a 'unique' watch for the Only Watch charity auction (a biennial event to raise funds for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) they certainly don't muck about. No sir. For the 2021 auction we saw the first ever skeleton-dial carbon Monaco and this year they've pushed the boat out even further with the first ever TAG Heuer rattrapante (split time) chronograph, and in a 41mm skeleton-dialed, texturised titanium cased Monaco no less! 

Which is great, but while I whole-heartedly applaud the company for its charitable intentions; the effort expended and resulting technical achievement... I'm afraid I can't overlook the fact that the watch has one major Achilles heel. Umm, how can I put this delicately? Let's just say it has a 'face' only a mother could love - right? 

In fact, presented with yet another skeleton dial TAG Heuer that I don't like I'm actually starting to wonder if my belief that I like skeleton dial watches was solely based on the devilishly handsome Heuer 01 Carrera, because honestly I can't think of a single skeleton dial that's come out since that I've actually liked!