ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre 12 v Heuer Monaco Calibre 11

CAW211P.FC6356                        CAW2111.FC6183

Selfridges / London, 9th March 2019

I realise of course that this post is likely to prove controversial. Pitching the classic blue-dial Heuer Monaco up against the later TAG Heuer version is just asking for trouble and while I can’t help but have my own predilections, I honestly approached this as openly and fairly as I could… and actually you might be slightly surprised by my conclusions.

On the face of it these two watches are quite similar, at least until you get them in your hands. Once you are close up with them you realise that there are distinct differences in the dials. For a start the Heuer has a very flat blue dial, while the TAG Heuer has a somewhat brighter, metallic dial which I personally prefer. No doubt some might argue the flat blue dial makes for greater legibility and that’s probably true, but for me that electric blue wins every time.

I also much prefer the red subdial hands on the TAG Heuer to the black ones found on the Heuer, and I find the red on the minute and hour hands on the Calibre 11 a bit much to be honest. On the other hand I do like the small red markers around the dial on the CAW211P and I also think the older model’s applied hour markers are much more interesting and well thought out. I can see the logic of the radial design on the CAW2111, but because the dial is square they end up getting cut off at odd angles which looks pretty unappealing actually.

I also think the Heuer wins out when it comes to the positioning of the logo. It seems to fit better with the dial and because it’s wide and flat it leaves room for the marker at the 12 position which is notable by its absence on the TAG Heuer version. I can’t help thinking it might look better if they moved the TAG Heuer shield lower and moved the ‘Monaco’ text to the bottom part of the dial, which would then allow room for the missing marker. Also the Monaco text looks a bit odd on top of the TAG Heuer shield, but somehow it works with the old Heuer logo.

So now we come to my biggest issue with the Calibre 11, that being the positioning of the crown on the ‘wrong’ side of the case. My friend Rich has a Tudor Pelagos LHD that has the crown on the left, and I don’t mind that at all. In fact, I think it’s quite a good idea as it stops the crown digging in to your wrist. The problem is, the Pelagos doesn’t have a chronograph so there aren’t any pushers on the case, unlike the CAW211P. I know this is a unique selling point of the Calibre 11, but unfortunately I find it very strange to see the gap inbetween the pushers where the crown should be, and I really don’t like it.

There’s not a great deal to choose between the supplied leather straps, but I think I would give the nod to the perforated version found on the Heuer. As you would expect at the mid-to-high £4000 mark, both are supplied with push-button deployment clasps and for me it’s the TAG that wins out here. The TAG shield buckle is just a touch more refined and subtle, while the Heuer logo is huge and unnecessarily in your face.

As far as prices go, there is a 10% difference with the Heuer Calibre 11 attracting a £400 premium over the TAG Heuer Calibre 12. Anyone who knows watches will understand how this works, a premium is paid for historical importance and for having the ‘correct’ logo on the dial and the crown on the left hand side of the case. After all, his Royal Heuerness Steve McQueen wore a Calibre 11 not a Calibre 12 and that extra authenticity costs. No one should criticise TAG for this as this sort of thing is the norm in the industry and doubtless we could come up with some much more extreme and unjustifiable examples of price leveraging if we wanted to.

Youtube 'Watch Guru' Archie Luxury would advise you to take the Heuer every time, because ‘when you come to sell it’ it will have retained its value better and will be easier to sell. I’m itching to write a post about Archie, Rolex and the whole watch collecting thing, but as I’m a bit snowed under with posts just now it’s going to have to wait. It’s likely to be one that’s going to take quite a bit of writing, but there’s a lot of stuff I want to get off my chest at some point…

In this instance I would agree with Archie, I’m sure the Calibre 11 will be easier to liquidate should you want/need to, but personally I never take into account resale values when I buy watches as I have no intention of selling anything I buy. Admittedly I have lost fairly big chunks of money on the two watches I have sold in the last couple of years, but I just can’t go down that route and people who do generally end up buying the same watches as everyone else (Speedmaster, Submariner, etc) and that’s not me at all.

So, inevitably you are going to expect me to choose between these two… and you’re probably expecting me to pick the CAW2111 because my preference for the TAG Heuer logo is well established. However, while I really don’t like the left side crown and I really do like the metallic blue dial on the TAG, the more I look at those radial hour markers the more I find they REALLY annoy me.

So, as it stands, I really don’t think I could commit myself to either model. However all is not completely lost because if you click the link below you’ll find a list of my top 6 favourite Monacos, and maybe one day one of those will find its way onto my wrist instead!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/04/feature-my-top-five-monacos.html

Looking at these, I notice that five out of the six also have the radial hour markers, but for some reason they've never bothered me - so it's clearly the combination of blue dial and radial markers that annoys me... :)