Monday 9 October 2023

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Heuer Monaco Calibre 11 'Monaco Boutique' Limited Edition

 

Can you think of a better place to buy your Monaco from than the TAG Heuer boutique in Monaco? Well if you happened to have been there recently then you might just have seen one of these, a grade 5 titanium 'SMQ' with gold subdials, hands and indices. The watch is limited to just 50 individually numbered pieces and comes with 2 straps in a special box... and I should hope so given the asking price is an eye-watering €11,000!


Unfortunately photographs of this watch are few and far between, but this one clearly shows the gold tone subdials and the other gold elements. Aside from that it's fairly unremarkable. The watch looks like steel to my eyes but I am assured it is indeed grade 5 titanium. Lightness aside, if it looks just like steel then I'm not quite sure what the point of it is to be honest... a bit like white gold/silver really. 


One positive is that you can put the watch on the standard steel bracelet and it won't look out of place. In fact I actually think the watch looks a whole lot better on the bracelet. At least this isn't another farcical Monaco Riviera type scenario.

I dunno, I'm just not overly enthused by this and it seems the C.O.C.O. was similarly unfussed as less than half of them bothered to score it! The ones that did didn't think too much of it either and the highest score anyone gave it was a 7.5. Oh dear...





4/10: This colour scheme doesn’t work for me. The subdial colour just looks water damaged or dirty, I just don’t get what they were going for on this one.

6.5/10: It's very nice but it's also very expensive. I would be just as happy with a normal McQueen and a few extra £k in the bank.

6/10: The problem with this Monaco is it's too similar to the C11 McQueen, but it isn't nicer. It's a nice enough Monaco on its own, so it still gets an above average score. However, they really should have made the date the same colour as the subdials.

7.5/10: I'm probably in the minority, but I think this one is cool and will look nice with the strap and colour combinations. Price is obviously high, but 50 pieces is very limited, too.

2/10: I have thought a little bit more about this one. Still laughing but my score is a strong 2/10. 11k for a Sellita and that date disc not even colour matched to the sub-dials. I truly admire TAG Heuer for their business model. Can you believe they can get people to buy this stuff at these prices?

4/10: For me it doesn’t work. Colour scheme looks off & doesn’t suit the blue face.

3.5/10: I just don’t get the attraction. I am giving it a generous 3.5 / 10. The fact it’s a 50 piece LE is cool but not at the expense for 11k for something people wouldn’t look twice at if it wasn’t limited. I rather like the 2 straps and the clasp, in their own right, but they don’t really make the piece itself look any better. 1.5 for the piece and an extra 1 / 10 for each of the straps.

5/10: Another meh / 'nothing special about it' limited edition piece.

6/10: Personally, I've come to terms with vintage lume, but using that tone on the subdials just makes the whole watch look like it’s been with a very heavy smoker for too long…

2.5/10: Yes, of course, 'Camel' strap.. ;) This crosses the line. Too smokey for me! And pricey.

5/10: Just looks ‘dirty’ to me, $11k! 

4.5/10: I know it's got gold on it but it's expensive for what it is. Also it looks dull to me, I thought the gold was a shade of brown! Also should have come with a bracelet rather than another strap.

7/10: The grade 5 titanium partially justifies the price... but at least it’s a properly numbered LE and not the lazy 'One of 50’. Another detail I don’t like is the white date window vs the subdials colour…

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