Greetings dear readers, can you believe we're half way through this wonderful year already? And so of course it's time for a brief look back at our favourite Swiss watch brand's 2023 output so far. I'm not going to lie, it's been a very busy start and there are no less than FIVE June releases that haven't even been covered yet; as such I'm afraid I won't be including the ladies green dial Aquaracer, the steel Solargraph, the French limited edition Carrera, the 'Year of the Tiger' limited edition Chronograph or the Japanese limited edition mother of pearl dial Carreras in this round-up - but rest assured 'First Impressions' posts for all those are coming very soon!
In fact I might have to switch things up and fire out a few posts in double-quick time, because as it stands I'm scheduled to catch up on the June releases at the start of August, which is frankly ridiculous... (never mind the Monaco Rattrapante for Only Watch and the striking Chronotempvs Collectors Club Carrera which have both emerged in the last few days).
Okay, with all that out of the way, let's crack on
CBK221H.FC8317
JANUARY
TAG Heuer pretty much dropped the mic with their first release of 2023, and pretty much ruined the whole 'COCO Watch of the Year' thing in the process. Because let me tell you now, unless something absolutely unbelievable comes out in the latter half of the year, the 39mm Carrera Glassbox Panda is going to be the 'C.O.C.O. Watch of the Year' when we vote in December. For sure it's not my WOTY and I won't be voting for it, but the C.O.C.O. Council has a lot of vintage Heuer enthusiasts enrolled and so I'm afraid the outcome is as inevitable as Max Verstappen becoming the 2023 F1 WDC.
WBN2451.BD0567
Also in January emerged a pretty spectacular looking ladies Carrera with a fully iced out bracelet. Very cool, but probably not a big seller given its £44,000 (now £47,000!) price tag. On the 'cheaper end' TAG Heuer released a new Aquaracer quartz chronograph in the 40mm case size. This came in three dial variants, the obvious - black and silver, and the not so obvious - pale blue. This was intriguing, but on closer inspection it turned out to be less pale blue and more lilac. Hmmm...
CR5090.FN6001
After gifting one to Red Bull's Christian Horner last year, TAG Heuer finally released the carbon Monza and after a bit of commotion it promptly fell off the radar. It was certainly avant garde in its execution, with an almost 'modern art' style dial treatment, but the reaction in the C.O.C.O. was very mixed, especially among those 'old school conservationist' types I mentioned earlier. To be honest, even as someone who prefers to look forward rather than back when it comes to watch design, it didn't tickle my fancy much either - although of course I haven't seen one in person.
WBP1180.BF0000
Finally in January we had the Titanium version of the Solargraph, released just about the same time as last year's carbon version was finally hitting the stores. This meant I got to try on both for the first time at the same time and while I liked both of them I slightly preferred the carbon, but it just felt a little small on the wrist and I wasn't 100% sure about the baby blue second hand. I came extremely close to buying one though, I must have sat in that boutique for half an hour trying to decide!
CBN2A1M.FC6526
FEBRUARY
February brought perhaps my favourite watch of the year, though I didn't fully appreciate quite how cool it really was until I finally got to see it in the Oxford Street boutique in May. I am, of course, talking about the stunning 44mm Carrera Porsche 'Orange Lava' Special Edition H02 Chrono. What a watch! So many watches I experience simply don't live up to their price tag, but this one looks every bit a £6100 timepiece and I'm still tempted to buy one. It's just that I'm not really that big of a Porsche fan... plus to me that's a LOT of money.
CBE511A.FC8279
Also in February came the slightly boring Autavia H02 Flyback in steel. I don't really have anything bad to say about the watch, it's just that having already tried on the very cool black DLC version it felt a bit meh, honestly. A less boring release was the 36mm Aquaracer with the turquoise dial (a.k.a. Tiffany blue); this is a real stunner and my wife is still fuming that her wrists are too small to carry it off. Let's hope for a 30mm alternative sometime soon...
WBN2015.EB0283
Finally the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia got their very own silver dial 41mm day/date Carrera. This featured green detailing on the dial and also came in a fancy green box with both the bracelet and a funky green strap included. This was the first 'geo-specific' TAG Heuer of 2023, but it wouldn't be the last, more on that shortly.
CBS2210.FC6534
MARCH
Watches & Wonders came in March and of course that meant an absolute slew of new watches from TAG Heuer. The new 39mm Glassbox Carreras grabbed most of the headlines, much to my bemusement. Leaving aside my aesthetic reservations, these watches wear hilariously small and I can't really understand the watch community's collective excitement. But, you know, it's not the first time I've been out of step with general opinion and if I'm honest I kinda like it that way!
WBP2150.FT6210
For me the standout releases of Watches & Wonders were the two-tone Aquaracers (of which there were four). I will admit that I had my reservations about them at first, but when I finally got to see them in the flesh I was super impressed and so was my wife who immediately amended her 'First Impression' score from 3 all the way up to 9. Boom!
WBP5152.FT6210
There were also two solid gold Aquaracers announced, though I'm yet to see either of those in the flesh. Overall they looked nice, however I had to take issue with the black coated crowns which look completely wrong, especially when the two tone models have gold crowns. A truly bizarre decision that one, especially given the prices.
WBN2310.BA0001 WBN2313.BA0001 WBN2312.BA0001
But again the press pretty much ignored those in favour of the new 'Unisex' 36mm Carreras, available in blue, silver, pale mint green and an impactful pink. TAG Heuer may wish us to think these were 'Unisex' models, and sure some guys might wear them, but realistically they look like oversized ladies watches and I can't imagine too many finding their way onto the wrists of any man who weighs more than 100 pounds.
CBN201C.FC6543
Watches & Wonders was also the launch pad for two new 42mm Carrera Heuer 02 Chronographs, one with a blue dial and one black, both sporting a new graphic flourish that faded from orangey/red to orangey/yellow as at circumnavigated the beautifully brushed dial. Very nice, but apparently not that popular, which is a shame.
WBN2340.BC0005
Finally at Watches & Wonders we saw the reprise of the Plasma Carreras, this time we had a cool 36mm piece with a pink diamond TAG Heuer logo on the dial and also a pink diamond crown. We also saw the new updated version of the 44mm Plasma Tourbillon Chronograph, which now featured a bracelet splattered with abstract diamonds to match those found studded into the aluminium case. All very clever, but quite challenging when it came to aesthetics.... and the $500,000 price tag raised more than a few eyebrows. In fact there was a rather amusing moment on an 'About Effing Time' video on You Tube where they thought the watch was actually $90,000... check it out HERE.
WBN2115.BA0627
With Watches & Wonders over and done with, TAG Heuer finally got around to the serious business of releasing the green dial Aquaracer 200 Professional. What can I say about this watch? I bought one straight away and it looks awesome. Yes, it isn't perfect; for reasons best known to TAG Heuer unlike the 36mm and 43mm variants the bracelet has no on-the-fly adjustment... and the clasp is polished (why???). But that aside it was a no brainer to put my hand in my pocket for this one.
CAZ101AT.BA0842
As if all that wasn't enough, March also saw the release of the updated Gulf branded Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph (yes, the one I wrote about the other day!).
CAZ101AU.BA0842
APRIL
Okay so we're half way through this round-up and thankfully after the avalanche of new pieces in March, April was considerably quieter... in fact only two watches revealed themselves. Firstly the latest iteration of the 'Indy 500' branded Formula 1 quartz chronograph, which was unusually blingy and to be honest a little forgettable for those of us on the European side of the Atlantic...
WBP201G,BA0632
And secondly a limited edition 43mm Aquaracer only available from the newly opened TAG Heuer boutique in Hawaii. Just 50 pieces were made of this watch, making it one of the rarest Aquaracers ever produced. The dark blue bezel looked great, but the yellow hands (understandably) divided opinion when it came to C.O.C.O. time.
CBL2184.FT6236
MAY
The big news in May was of course the new Monaco Skeleton collection, and... well to be honest in pictures (and in person) two out of the three left me a little cold. I'd still like to see the black and turquoise model as it looks the most dramatic, but even that one doesn't seem to have the impact I'd hoped for in photographs. And the prices... well, I think it's fair to say that most of us are still picking our jaws up off the floor. Yes it's the first time a mainstream Monaco has been available with a skeletonised dial, but does that really merit a 50% premium over the price of the regular Heuer 02 Monaco? Not in my book.
CBN2046.FC8320
TAG Heuer also teamed up with Harrods for another new solid gold Carrera, this time with a stunning green dial and strap. Available only from Harrods and costing £19,950 this one is even more exclusive than the Hawaii Aquaracer with only 20 pieces available.
CBN2A1N.FT6238
Last but not least, TAG Heuer quietly replaced the olive green / steel bezel 44mm Carrera with a new ceramic bezel model. This had a slight blue tint to its green dial and came on either a bracelet or a brand new green rubber strap that mimics the look of a bracelet. As yet I haven't come across one of these on the rubber, but I'm somewhat intrigued as to how it will look in person.
WBP208D.BF0631
JUNE
If you're still here, well done. It's June, at last... and so most of these are probably still relatively fresh in your mind. Aside from the new mother-of-pearl-dial 30mm quartz Aquaracer with the polished bezel (which you almost certainly don't remember or care too much about, but which will no doubt sell well in the high streets) June brought us quite a few new pieces, but as I mentioned at the start of this post most of those are as yet still to be fully appraised by the Council.
But there were a couple of watches that have already been 'rated and slated', those being the Watches of Switzerland Limited Edition Aquaracer - a very Tudoresque looking titanium 43mm 300 Pro with the dreaded fauxtina and the very recently reviewed red dial Aquaracer. Needless to say I haven't changed my mind about that one, I just don't like it and that's all there is to it.
Okay, well that's it for the half-year round up... I'll see what I can do about getting caught up, so look out for multiple posts coming your way!
No comments:
Post a Comment