FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco 'Sparks' Calibre TH20-00 Chronograph

CBL2188.FT6261

Well the releases really are coming thick and fast now aren't they? I'll be doing a half year review soon and that's going to take a little while to pull together given we're already up to nearly fifty watches so far this year! Apologies for the lateness of this post, it should have been up first thing this morning but I'm a bit snowed under with decorating my house and last night I ended up going out and buying a watch - which seems like the best possible excuse I could ever have for not writing my post on time, haha. 

More on that anon, but today we are looking at the new Monaco 'Sparks' edition, which you may be slightly surprised to hear isn't a limited edition, or even a special edition - which definitely seems like a change of approach from TAG Heuer. Maybe the whole 'limited edition' thing has run its course now... though I'm sure you won't find these in every high street jeweller, more likely these will be reserved for the boutiques and possibly some of the higher end authorised distributors.

It's nice to see TAG Heuer coming up with something genuinely 'different' for this Monaco. I mean black and red looks great (of course), but it's been done to death. And if you're trying to get repeat business from people who probably already have a Monaco or two then I guess you've got to offer something fresh.... and this certainly fits the bill. Blue and yellow is usually a staple of the Aquaracer line (yellow is often used in dive watches as it is one of the last colours to remain visible at depth) but it works well here and provides a nice contrast with the dark blue and gray skeletonised dial.

As ever the render does not do this watch justice, there's a video on YouTube which shows the watch off to much better effect and instantly upped my score by two points. I really don't know why the watch companies persist with these 'images', I guess it's because they want something to illustrate the watches before they are ready to be photographed, but really they often don't show the watches well (or particularly accurately) and it's certainly the case here.

In case you're wondering why I called this one the 'Sparks' edition... well, you know how much I adore watch company nonsense and TAG Heuer really knocked it out of the park with their Instagram marketing for this one; 'The yellow highlights are reminiscent of the sparks racing cars make when they hit the ground' they said. Oh yeah. Sure. So are the yellow highlights on last year's 'Racing Blue' Heuer Monaco LE reminiscent of sparks too... I guess not.

I like this one, but if I'm honest I'd still take the electric torquoise one that came out last year... but this is probably my second favourite Monaco skeleton so far, just pipping that 'Monaco Boutique' version that came out a couple of weeks ago.

But now it's time to unleash the hounds... will they rip it to pieces or will they hoist it aloft and hail it as the new Monaco King? Well I doubt that, but I definitely get some positive vibes for this one - let's find out if this one can be the first watch of 2024 to break into the 7s...

 

6/10: "Although I like the design of these skeleton Monacos, this one is not my favourite. The dark blue is too close to the black parts, so it gets all blurred up a bit."

8.5/10: "I actually like this. Possibly the first TAG Heuer release in years that I have, although I can't be sure of that since I'm not really keeping tabs them."

8/10: "I like it, too - and could imagine that the titanium (lighter) and the PVD/DLC (visually smaller) make this one very wearable. Probably my fav' of the “New Gen Skeletons” so far…"

7/10: "Good colour palette, works a lot better than the others that have been released so far."

6.5/10: "A bit uninspired."

7/10: "Definitely the pick of the bunch of the ‘RM style Monacos’ TH seem to be producing. Guess they want a piece of the pie. Least it’s legible unlike most skeletons/ open works. Let down by the rubber strap which looks cheap. 7/10 on looks, but could change if I get to try one on."

8/10: "I like this one."

4.5/10: "Nice enough colours, but the skeleton Monacos don't do anything for me. In fact, the more I see of these skeleton Monacos and the Monaco Split-Seconds Chronographs, the more I realize my score of the Dark Lord tribute a couple of years ago was far too harsh. It has started to look better to my eyes in comparison to these."

8/10: "The colours all work well together and it seems like a more cohesive design. This is futuristic/modern Monaco to me where Cal11 is vintage and H02 is current day."

7/10: "I like this a lot, much better than the very imbalanced ratatouille."

6.5/10: "I will never be a Monaco fan. But if they are black, I will like them. Not that I'm putting on my shoes now to run to the boutique..."

5/10: "It's ok but I'm not wow'd. The blue and yellow are not working well together for me. I like the yellow hands but not in this combination I'm afraid."

7/10: "This is one of the better Monaco’s."

6.5/10: "I gave 6/10 to the 'Original Blue' and I prefer this one, so it’s a 6.5/10. The Turquoise (7/10) is still my favourite of these skeleton Monacos."

7/10: "I really like this color combo, but I always prefer steel, and I’m not a huge fan of PVD. Skeleton Monacos look funky to me because of the dead space in the corners. I know that it’s the nature of the game, but it looks off to me."

5/10: "Nope, just can’t like these, colours better here but just something wrong."

6.5/10: "This one is starting to grow on me more. But it doesn't excite me the way the Night Driver did last year. I'd still rather have a good old C11 McQueen or Gulf model over any of these skeletons."

6/10: "I can not accept the high price."