ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre TH20-00 'Sparks' Chronograph

 

CBL2188.FT6261

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield June 2024

It's odd. This is clearly one of the best TAG Heuers released in 2024 (any fool can see that), so why am I finding it so hard to come up with something to say about it? In person those yellow hands pop much more than the renders suggest and indeed the whole watch has more 'life' to it on the wrist. But I don't know.... somehow it doesn't grab me like the 'Bling Lord' does, or indeed the turquoise model. I'd also perhaps put it behind the 'Monaco Boutique' model released earlier this year. Yes it's a more inventive combination of colours than simply black with red highlights (for the ten millionth time), but there's a reason why those colours get used again and again and again.

This then is clearly aimed at someone who already has a few Monacos and provides something markedly different. With that in mind it's somewhat surprising that this isn't a 'Limited Edition' and indeed it's not even being called a 'Special Edition'. Which is odd, because you'd think TAG would want to continue leveraging the 'limited edition' thing as it seems to have worked well for a good while now.

But then perhaps when times are harder the last thing you want is unsold limited editions cluttering up your stores, even worse is them heading to the outlets. So perhaps it's better to make your 500/750/1000 run and then wait for them to sell out... 

Which might take a while, given the almost £10,000 asking price. And while we're on the subject of the price, these rubber straps really don't get better with subsequent acquaintance. There's nothing terribly wrong with them, they just don't look or feel like they are worthy of being attached to a watch at this price point. I can't help feeling a rubber/leather composite strap might be a better option, something like the ones that came with the Heuer 01 Red Bull Special Edition. 

I must say, this was presented to me alongside the new 42mm Aquaracers and to be honest I had a hard time focussing my attention on this when they were sitting on the tray next to it. I guess that's natural given that I am 100 times more likely to spend £3.5k on an Aquaracer than I am £10k on this Monaco. But even so, I think it says something...