CAZ201A.BA0641
Towards the end of last year, a little bird told me that TAG Heuer were planning to release a Formula 1 fitted with a Heuer 02 automatic movement and that the price would be in the region of (a rather eye watering) £5000. The source was eminently credible, but I must admit I had my doubts about it... and as the months rolled by with no information forthcoming, I started to wonder if perhaps it had been a misunderstanding somewhere along the line or if maybe the company had changed their mind about the idea.
After all, it's a bit of a hard concept to swallow and really who would be willing to stump up 'Monaco' money for a Formula 1, Heuer 02 movement or not? I mean, it's all very well putting an 'in-house' movement in an 'entry level' case, but what about the finishing, the bracelet and what about the pressed steel clasp? No one was going to stand for that on a £5000 watch, surely?
And then a few weeks ago I saw a photo of this new 'Fragment Design' Formula 1 and realised that my source had been correct all along, they really had put a Heuer 02 movement in a Formula 1 case and it really was £5000 (actually my source was 1% out, the actual price is £5050, but we'll let them off with that as it's probably gone up in the meantime).
This then is the second 'Fragment Design' TAG Heuer collaboration, coming on the heels of last year's very popular 39mm Carrera, a watch I did try on at the Sheffield TAG Heuer boutique, but decided not to review as I really didn't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other. It was a more 'vintage' inspired piece and not really to my tastes, and really it's very hard to review a watch you don't really care about (it's very unusual for me not to write about a watch I've tried on and I did try, but really I had enough of trying to 'force' out reviews of mediocre albums when I wrote for a Metal fanzine years ago, it's no fun for anyone - least of all the reader, I'm sure!)
Personally I'd definitely take this one over that one, although it's a curious beast to say the least. Where the Carrera was 39mm and felt tiny on the wrist, here they've opted for a 44mm case which means this is going to wear big and that empty dial is going to look stark. I'm not too sure about the idea of doing away with numbers and batons completely, we saw that to some extent on the 'Hour Glass' Monaco last year, but this one takes the concept of minimalism even further and while it's striking it also looks rather bare.
They have put some small red squares around the dial to mark the positions of the hours, which I think was a good move... and thankfully the ceramic bezel does have a 'Tachymetre' etched into it, which at least gives us something to look at. And you know, the more that I look at it, and the more that I get used to the hours not being marked out the way you'd expect, the more I actually think I like it.
When I first saw this watch, my first reaction was that it had 'Monaco' hands... I'm sure some of you probably had the same thought. However, it seems that I was 'close but no cigar' there as the general consensus is that these hands are actually taken from a vintage Autavia. Either way, those hands are so particular in their appearance that to my mind they almost look a little bit out of place here - they simply look too much like they've been transplanted from a different watch. I guess over time though it would become 'normal', but that was certainly my first impression, and that is after all what this post is all about.
Something I don't like is the fact that they've done away with the running seconds counter (which should appear at the '6' position). I find it disconcerting when you can't immediately see if a watch is running (particularly an automatic, at least with my Link Searacer you can assume the battery is still working if you've changed it in the last couple of years...) and I thought TAG Heuer did a lovely job with the Monaco Heuer 02, having a running seconds hand but doing without a subdial to keep the dial clean and more in-keeping with what people expect from a Monaco.
We do still get a date wheel (which would have appeared within the running seconds subdial had it been there) and they have thankfully matched it to the dial colour, a white background there would have been a big mistake I think, given the minimal, monotone design concept.
Around the back we find a red sapphire display back, emblazoned with the 'Fragment' lightning bolt design (also found at the top of the dial). I guess this is quite cool and I wonder how long it will be before someone thinks of putting a red crystal on the front of a watch - just like those funky 'push to read' digital watches from the 70s.
They have addressed my concerns about the 'Formula 1' bracelet and clasp by producing a brand new bracelet with a butterfly clasp. This one seems to be a half-way house between a 'Jubilee' style bracelet and the 'Beads of Rice' fitted to the original Heuer 02 Autavias. I doubt very much that this bracelet will be unique to this watch, even though it hasn't been used before, it simply wouldn't make sense from a cost perspective to design a bracelet for a watch that is limited to just 500 pieces. For now though, it can be considered 'unique' in the TAG Heuer range.
The price though, is something that can't be overlooked. Yes this is a limited edition, but it seems slightly over the top. It couldn't be that much less though, since the Heuer 02 movement dictates a certain price bracket, but I would have thought perhaps mid £4000s would have made it a bit easier to swallow.
Overall though, I'd say they've done a good job of putting a fresh spin on a design that originates in the 1970s with the Autavia. It's just that it flies in the face of everything we understand about TAG Heuer price points and I think for some people that might be a problem. Still, as long as 500 people can overlook it, then it's not a problem for TAG Heuer.
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