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Tuesday, 27 December 2022

FEATURE: The C.O.C.O. Council Watch of the Year 2022


Firstly I hope all of my readers had a great Christmas, and thank you again for spending your precious free time here at the TAG Heuer Enthusiast Blogspot. In case you are wondering I am still working on the History of the Carrera, and hopefully that will be up on the site in the next couple of months at the latest. After that I still have a few models to cover including the 1000 Series and the Titanium, and I might re-do the History of the Grand Carrera as well. Needless to say, all those are in the pipeline and will arrive sooner or later. 

Also I am putting together a post about the various 'Senna' watches TAG Heuer have made over the years, in fact as I type this I have literally just sent out emails to the COCO Council asking them to vote for their favourites. So look out for that post soon..

Okay, well, it's finally time to reveal the winner of the 2022 C.O.C.O. Watch of the Year. But first lets have a look at the scores for the top ten models of 2022 and also where they sit in the overall leaderboard. And let's keep in mind that while in 2020 the Silver 160th Carrera easily outscored everything else, last years WOTY winner was narrowly beaten in the scoring by the Monaco Titan... 

2021 Scores Winner the Monaco Titan CAW218B.FC6496

This year however the result was rather more clear cut, with the Watches of Switzerland Panda Carrera pulling a full 0.3 points lead over the blue and white 'Porsche 2.7' Carrera.


A fairly convincing win for the Watches of Switzerland Carrera Elegant Panda on the strap then, but did that translate into votes? We'll find out in a minute, but first let's see where the top watches of 2022 placed in the overall leaderboard...


A decent showing, with the WOS Panda edging just ahead of last year's WOTY and equalling last years points winner, but still some way short of both the JH88 and Silver 160th Anniversary Carrera.

You can find the full list by clicking HERE, or visiting the tab at the top of the page.


You know, going into December I felt I had a pretty good handle on this year's vote. I saw it as an obvious three way fight between the red Heritage Carrera, the Monaco Dark Lord and perhaps the gold Carrera Panda, with the orange dial Aquaracer as a potential spoiler. But really I thought the red Carrera was probably the one, after all, both 2020 and 2021 produced victories for the Heritage Carrera so it seemed kinda obvious.

But then, the red dial wasn't really quite in keeping with the conservative 39mm Carrera and so I had my doubts. And then in early December the Watches of Switzerland Carrera Elegant Panda arrived and I thought... ah, well there you go. Game over.

But then the votes started to come in and the expected landslide of votes for the Panda didn't materialize. The last two years there had been a crushing inevitability about the voting, with the 160th Silver Carrera and the Hodinkee Dato45 both racking up an impressive number of votes. This year, with even more votes, 6 might not be enough... albeit with 64 watches to choose from the voting 'could' be spread a little thinner.

After twelve votes had been cast we had four watches on two votes apiece, with another four watches sporting one each and it looked like anyone's game, indeed I was fully prepared to arrange a re-vote for however many watches tied for first place. But of course, eventually the tide turned and a few watches started to break away from the pack, with one proving the eventual winner.



So yes, those scores did indeed turn into votes. And as the scoring suggested the strap version picked up the majority of them (5) with the bracelet securing just one.

Illustration courtesy of Jim Dollares Graphic Solutions (Aktiebolag)

Looking back, in 2020, the Silver 160th Carrera won with 7 votes (which accounted for 35% of the votes) and in 2021 the Hodinkee Dato 45 won with 6 votes, but that was only 29% of the vote. This year's winner also got 6 votes but took just 20% of the overall total. Do we think that's a reflection on the watch itself, or does it suggest that TAG Heuer's 2022 offerings were stronger all round? As we can see, this year twelve watches garnered votes from the Council, the most of any vote to date.

Either way a win is a win is a win... and maybe the watch would have scored a few more votes if five seconds after it was announced we didn't start to hear rumours that there was another 'Panda dial' watch on the horizon. Did that sway some potential votes away from the Watches of Switzerland L/E? I don't know... on the other hand, was the fact that the WOS Panda was the last watch released in 2022 and therefore still riding the hype wave when it came time to vote a factor? I don't know that either... but it's certainly something to think about.

Okay, well, that's it for another year. Once again thanks to everyone who visits the blog and continued thanks to all the members of the Council of Considered Opinion for their collective participation, it is much appreciated.

Next post up will be my now traditional (but perhaps final?) 'Crazy Year of Watch Buying' post. This will be up on the 30th of December, see you then. 


LINK TO BEST & WORST OF TAG HEUER 2022 Post

LINK TO 2021 COCO Watch of the Year Post

LINK TO BEST & WORST OF TAG HEUER 2021 Post

LINK TO 2020 COCO Watch of the Year Post

LINK TO BEST & WORST OF TAG HEUER 2020 Post

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