FEATURE: My Next Purchase

As the months pass and my savings grow, I'm getting ever nearer to being in the position to buy my next TAG Heuer, but I'm still very undecided about what to get next. As those of you who have read my Personal Top Ten Tag Heuers post will know, I really love the Monaco 24s, but they are about £6-7000 in the outlets (if you can find one) and about the same price pre-owned, and that's a lot of money for me to spend on a watch. Obviously the list prices would put them completely out of the question (£9000+)... again, if you could even find one in an AD. In a way that would make my decision easier!

CAL5113.FC6329     CAL5111.FC6299     CAL5112.FC6298     CAL5110.FC6265

It's a toss up between the CAL5113 and the CAL5110 for me, the other two are probably too far behind to even contemplate justifying their price tag, I've seen and tried on all four of these watches in the TAG outlets at Bicester and Cheshire Oaks over the last few years, but common sense dictates they aren't going to keep turning up forever.

The CAL5113 seems the more available, there was one in store at Bicester Village last time I was there, but I'm not sure if there was a mark on the glass or not. If I was buying it I would want that sorting out straight away, I can imagine a new glass would probably be £150 or more...

The Monaco (standard or 24) is the obvious missing piece from my collection, but I still want one that I really love. I'm not just going to spend £3-7000 on a watch because I need it to make my collection complete. I've gotten over my music completism and I'm not about to start down the same route with watches. I really can't afford to anyway.

So, my options are one of those two Monaco 24s, a normal Monaco, a more 'classic' Carrera or Grand Carrera, or some cheaper possibilities like an Aquaracer or another Formula One. But I would like at least one more 'luxury' piece before I start buying everyday watches, and I've got a chunk of money in the bank that makes a good starting point for a higher end piece but would be pretty much wiped out if I bought something like an automatic Aquaracer right now.

And then of course there's always the worry that as soon as I buy something, TAG will announce something awesome. But then that's always a risk, so I guess all I can do is wait until Baselworld is done and dusted and see how the land lies. After all the really big change was the new style Carrera and I imagine we're going to see a lot of variations on that theme (and unless something is really incredible I don't really want another similar item when I'm on a limited budget).

So as you can imagine I've been looking at the Monacos a lot recently and to be completely honest there's not too many that are my kind of thing. The classic blue dial 'Steve McQueen' type of Monaco is a nice looking watch but it's just not my style. What I really want then is something like the Singapore Grand Prix limited edition or the Gulf limited edition, both of which are going to cost more than I'm probably willing to pay.

CAW2117.FC6271                      CW211A.FC6228

I guess the problem is that I want a cool looking Monaco, but if I'm not buying a 24 then I don't want to pay anywhere near what one costs, because say I could get the CW211A for £4000, well to me that's not a good compromise, I might as well save the other £2000 and get what I really want (whereas if it was say £2800, then that's a good compromise I think), the trouble is that comes back to spending £6000 on a watch, which is pretty crazy for me (my last car cost £4300!)

So then I think maybe a Grand Carrera, but again the ones I really like are £5000+ even in the outlets, so again I might as well get a Monaco 24 for not that much more. So as you can see I'm pretty much going around in circles here.

CAF7013.FT8011                 CAH7011.BA0860

These two are also possible purchases, indeed I could pretty much pick these up now, but I haven't actually seen either of them, and I think I would regret blowing my fund on two everyday watches when I could have built on it for a greater goal.

CV2A1F.FT6033

The other thing I had my eye on which is only slightly more than where my fund currently stands is a Carrera Monaco Grand Prix Limited Edition. I've seen this in Cheshire Oaks a few months ago for less than £3000, and I was tempted at the time, but didn't pull the trigger. I think if it's still there next time I go I will probably buy, that strap really has got my name all over it! But then again...