CAW218C.FC6548
Way back in May 2021 TAG Heuer launched their first titanium cased Calibre 11 Monaco (nicknamed the 'Titan') with what seemed like, at the time, quite an eye-watering price tag (if only we knew!). This was debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix (naturally) and World Champion in waiting Max Verstappen was presented with a special one-off 'Titan' that had the Monaco circuit printed on the display-back along with his race number of 33, and of course throughout that year Max could be seen regularly wearing the Titan on the podium.
I liked the Titan, although I couldn't really understand why a titanium cased Monaco would carry the 'Heuer' badge and the Calibre 11 movement; it seemed more logical to me that it would be powered by TAG Heuer's in-house Heuer 02 motor. But I guess the brand was of the opinion that the 'collectors' favour the crown on the left and so that's what we got. Fast forward to 2023 and there's a new 'Titan' in town, only this time it's a lot more colourful.
Now, I had to laugh... when TAG Heuer put this up on their Instagram the first comment I saw said 'IKEA Edition' and like it or not, that combination of yellow and blue does kinda bring IKEA to mind (albeit perhaps in reality this 'yellow' is more limey than purely yellow). I'm also told by people who have actually seen the watch in person that the watch doesn't look anything like as 'pre-school' as the render suggests. This can only be a good thing, because on the face of it this combination of colours doesn't exactly scream 'luxury timepiece' does it? I'm sure the strap can't look as plasticky as the render suggests either and thankfully we still have that stunning silver dial as a back-drop.
Apparently the blue is meant to celebrate the 'Racing Blue' worn by French racing drivers in the 'good old days'. I'm not sure that this is factually correct; I thought the cars were painted blue (hence British Racing Green) but I am happy to be corrected on this point as I can't say with any conviction since I didn't start watching motor racing until 1981 (by which time the cars were already painted whatever colours suited the sponsors). Don't ask me what the yellow/lime is all about - there was a school of thought that it represented the colour of the brake calipers on the Porsche Formula E team at one point, but I think we can disregard that one now (I'm quite pleased honestly, because that would be hella stupid).
So the question you're probably asking yourself is how much has the 'Titan' gone up over the last 27 months? Well, the original silver Titan was launched at an asking price of £6550, this one comes in at £8050 - so a tidy increase of £1500. Which kind of suggests that if you wanted to buy the Titan in 2021 and thought you'd save up for it, you'd have been far better off getting a loan and paying the interest. Interestingly though, in my Titan 'First Impressions' post, I mentioned that the standard CAW211P was priced at £5250 and that's now a frankly astonishing £6800, meaning that the premium for this new 'Titan' over the SMQ is pretty much the same (...in fact £50 less - woo!).
Okay, well you may have noticed I have kept my opinions pretty neutral throughout this post, and that's largely because I'm not crazy keen on the left hand crown version of the Monaco to start with. Far better to seek guidance from those who start from a place of positivity to judge this new 1000 piece limited edition methinks, and, this time we had nearly a full turn out with 26 out of 28 judges returning a score.
6/10: "It sort of works but for me there's too much silver on the dial. Very 70's looking which is not a bad thing. I want to like it more but there's just something not right about this. The blue Sub dials and strap are lovely and the yellow on the hand and marker is a great touch."
9/10: "Wow really like it. Blue/Silver combo is a winner for me."
7/10: "The more I look at real-life photos the more I like it. Renders make the colours clash but the reality is a much nicer muted pastel on the subdials and chrono hand. Still love the sandblasted titanium especially on the Monaco. The price is just ridiculous though unfortunately."
8/10: "I love Ikea and Monaco is primarily an architect watch."
8/10: "Despite being a fan of the brand for 35 years, I never wanted a Monaco. Square, too big and bulky. Now that this variant is available, I'm going to doubt it. Modest appearance and a nice matte finish. Love the silver and blue dial. Be sure to try this one on. Unfortunately, a purchase will not come about because of the price. Shame."
7/10: "Saw it in person, nice watch but colour choices are not my thing."
6/10: "I’m filing this one under 'missed opportunity'… 6/10 (admittedly, that takes into account its pricing)."
9/10: "I got the chance to try it on a couple of days ago. The colours are defiantly me and I traditionally like the sand blasted case. I like it, it’s go everything I like in a Monaco but didn’t buy it... Why not? The price!! I think I know the strategy.I was told that this may be the last Heuer branded watch for quite some time. so, I guess they have made an LE run of a number which is enough to not just disappear from the shelves overnight. This will be the premium Monaco that boutiques can have “Just one left” and demand a premium price for the next 12 months. I will wait until they come on the second hand market I suppose. 9/10 for me, just can’t afford that price tag - TAG."
8/10: "Although I prefer the Monaco Titan which I scored quite high last time, this is also an 8/10 for me. Not really the colour combo that I like but nonetheless, looks good embedded with its racing pedigree."
7.5/10: "I used to have Air Max with that colourway in ‘92!"
5/10: "Yes to the colour scheme. No to the finish, execution and price."
5/10: "Being a proud Viking blooded Swede from the north I suppose I should love this one. But I don't. Don't get me wrong, the silver dial is amazing and is guaranteed to make its wearer feel a sense of calm blessings of happiness. My main issue is with the cheap looking, cheap feeling, toy like sand blasted scratch magnet grade 2 titanium. If I pay this sort of money for a watch I want it to look and feel luxurious, so 5/10 (which includes an added point for the silver dial)."
6.5/10: "Lazy effort to recycle the Titan from a few years ago."
8/10: "It's a Monaco, which gives it a base value of 7. And I like the lime and blue colour (1 extra point)."
5/10: "I rather like the colour scheme, but not the finish and certainly not deserved of the price."
6/10: "This one is a missed opportunity. The dial and case material are repeats of the Titan from just two years ago. I realize that they made a historical connection, but the lime/yellow accent colour is not to my liking. To end on a positive, I really like the blue accents on the dial, and would have liked that colour extend to the chrono seconds hand and baton.
Well, the Council have spoken. 6.9 isn't a great score for a Calibre 11 Monaco and it's a solid 1.2 points behind it's 2021 sibling. It's slightly odd to think that this is only the second Calibre 11 Monaco released this decade... and with that in mind it seems even odder that they should go with such a bold design when there must be plenty of older designs they could have plundered to appease the Heuer fanbois.
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