FEATURE: The Day I ALMOST Bought a Monaco 24...

I wouldn't normally visit Bicester Village twice in a week, I went with my friend Rich last Monday only to be informed by my wife that she wanted to go this Saturday. Not a problem, I certainly won't ever pass up the opportunity to look at expensive watches after all...

Seriously, it's a Handbag!!!

So we skipped through Swarovski and Kate Spade (awesome handbags, if I was a woman I would definitely shop here!), before heading down the main drag towards the 'good stuff'.

Nothing much had changed in L'Atelier since Monday, so I headed off to the TAG shop while my wife looked in some other shops. I'd seen a great photo of the Carrera Calibre 36 Racing Chrono on the Calibre 11 Forum and wanted to take another look to see if it appealed to me more than it had before. 

CAR2B11.BA0799

When I got to the window I saw the CAR2B11.BA0799 Carrera Calibre 36 Chrono Flyback which was priced at £3500. Which I thought odd, seeing as less than a week ago I was sure it was for sale for £3950. I went inside and headed straight for the cupboard where the Flyback Carreras live and sure enough the prices had been dropped. And the same goes for the Racing version, which was now £3800 instead of the £4500 it had been on Monday.

Oddly, not only had the sale prices fallen, but also the list prices. Whereas the list price on the racing version had been £7500, it was now shown as £6000*, and the list on the non racing version had also dropped to £5500*. I can't really see the logic for doing this, except perhaps it's a legal requirement if TAG themselves are still holding stock of these watches in 'non-outlet' stores?

CAR2B80.FC6325

Strangely, every time I go in the TAG store there seems to be completely different staff, and for once we had the 'A' team in the house. I was served by a very knowledgeable guy who was a pleasure to talk to, and I asked to see the two models above.

I must admit, as soon as I saw the watches I felt a mild tinge of disappointment. The face on the CAR2B10 (I picked the black faced version in the end) was nice, but the bracelet wasn't really to my liking, at least not on this watch. I picked up the racing chrono and it felt a bit insubstantial somehow. And as I remembered, when turning the watch the reflective numerals seem to disappear completely. It's such a shame because the pictures make it look gorgeous and sadly it doesn't live up to the promise in the flesh.

As I looked at the watches we talked and then the guy dropped a massive bombshell. We were discussing the El Primero movement and he said, "Did you notice that the Monaco 24's have been reduced as well?"

Suddenly, any lingering interest I had in the two Carreras in front of me went South. FAST.

The Monaco 24 is now £4900 in the TAG outlet, and it's list price has been reduced to £7000!

Suddenly the Monaco 24 wasn't an impossible, very long term goal anymore, it was a stretch, but not totally offensive to my wallet. They knocked £1200 off the price in a week. This was crazy. These are on Watchfinder second hand for £6500, making this a total no brainer, right?

CAL5111.FC6299

Two pieces were available, the CAL5111.FC6299 shown above, and the CAL5112.FC6298 shown below. 

CAL5112.FC6298

Truth be told I've never been totally sold on the blue version, not least because I really don't like the blue strap it comes on. The silvery grey is nice, especially with the orange shock absorbers, so inevitably I was gravitating towards that one. 

It was about now that my wife turned up to find me with the Monaco on my wrist, and we decided I needed to go away and have a think. There began a very stressful half an hour or so, as we walked around various other shops (including a new watch place I hadn't seen before with sells Ullysse Nardin and Girard Perregaux watches), while I tried to decide what to do.

Lest we forget, this may be a bargain, but it's still nearly five grand we're talking about here, and that's a lot of money for me to spend on a watch. My most expensive watch is my Carrera Heuer 01 and I only paid £3200 for that, and that was after six months of serious thinking it through.

But this was a special kind of situation. Clearly at these prices, the Monaco 24s are not going to be here next time we come, so this was probably my one chance to own a 24, and given the second hand prices... I eventually came to the conclusion that I should take the plunge.

We returned to the shop and found it empty of customers, my guy was obviously pleased to see me and brought the watch out again for me. But somehow, as soon as I put it on I began to lose confidence and then I noticed there was a couple of scratches on the high polish case.

I was then offered a further 5% discount on the watch bringing the price down to £4655, which made my decision even harder.

CAL5113.FC6329

Make no mistake, I was serious about buying this watch, but the price couldn't negate one small detail. This wasn't the CAL5113 that I've been wanting for so long. If they'd had the black version I have no doubt that I would have gone for it with no regrets, but as I stood there staring at the watch on my wrist I began to realise that it may be a fantastic deal, but it would always be a 'second choice', and as such I just couldn't justify the price.

I thought I would leave with serious regrets at turning down such an amazing opportunity, but after a few moments I felt fine and the thought of my savings remaining intact for another day gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. I thought I would get home kicking myself, but in the end I got home feeling like I dodged making a huge mistake. I do love the Monaco 24's and I would jump at the chance to own the CAL5113 or the fantastic CAL5110 for a sensible price.

CAL5110.FC6265

Unfortunately, I suspect the CAL5110 will never drop to what I would consider a sensible price, and the CAL5113 is probably going to be hard to come by for less than £6000 either. 

Indeed, I'm beginning to wonder if rather than adding one more higher end piece to my collection, perhaps I should consider adding (slowly) several more affordable pieces that I can alternate with my current Formula One for everyday use?

On thing I do know for sure, someone is going to get a phenomenal deal on those remaining two Monaco 24's, but it's not going to be me.

Oh, as an aside, there were also (smaller) reductions on the Grand Carreras they had in stock, but not on the caliper models as being seven years old they are no longer stocked anywhere else.