Wednesday, 3 July 2024

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer's 2024 Releases (Jan/Jun)


So it's been a 'busy' year for TAG Heuer already, with nearly fifty new watches added to the catalogue since January the 1st. Unfortunately we haven't actually caught up with all of them yet, such is the pace of the recent launches... but I don't want to delay this post in the hope that I catch up because you know exactly what will happen. So, grab a beer (or a coffee, or whatever you like to drink while pondering your next purchase) and join me in reviewing 2024 so far.

What has surprised me this year is how forgettable many of the new releases have been. This is almost certainly partly due to the sheer amount of new products being made available. I mean, not only have we had nearly two watches per week (on average), but we also had a new range of sunglasses - I mean did you even remember that? It just feels like there's always something else on the horizon, and I can't help but think this is counter-productive.


Sure it's good to have choice and unlike some people I am not anti limited editions at all, but there is this growing feeling in the watch community that perhaps buyers are constantly stalling on making purchases just in case something 'better' comes along next week. After all, most people don't have a bottomless pit of money... 

Also, I wonder how many of you could name all the watches that TAG Heuer have brought out this year? Or even half of them? And to be honest it feels like we're already into 'didn't that come out last year' territory. Plus as I mentioned a week or so ago, I am genuinely struggling to keep up with everything and find space (and time) to write about subjects other than this new watch or that new watch. 

Literally as I'm preparing to post this another Carrera just came out FFS!


But we can't completely lay the blame on the sheer volume of releases, as it stands today we've only had one watch that has impressed the 'Council of Considered Opinion' enough to merit a score of 7/10. Bear in mind that every single previous 'COCO Watch of the Year' has scored at least 8/10 and you can see this isn't looking particularly good. 

Are the COCO more critical these days? Probably, yes.

Is it relevant that there hasn't been a 'Heuer' branded Carrera yet this year? Almost certainly!

The thing is, it's not like some watches haven't scored 9's, the new 42mm Aquaracer and the Porsche 963 Carrera (not yet covered, but it's coming) are two watches that have garnered high scores, but for every 9 there's been a 3 to drag it back down again. The simple fact is that with 25+ members now enrolled, a new watch needs to unite the members to get a high score and unfortunately the way to do that is to release some kind of 'heritage Carrera', preferably with a panda dial... and that 39mm glassbox just ain't it.

Oh well, I have a feeling there's something coming later in the year that will rock the Council's boat (though I suspect my own personal 'boat' will be remain perfectly motionless 🤣); as much as I don't really want another 'Heritage' inspired 'COCO Watch of the Year' it will be pretty uncomfortable if the 2024 winner barely scrapes into the 7's. 
 
Okay, enough of my wafflin', let's take another look at what TAG Heuer have given us in 2024 so far, and I guess it goes without saying that so far this year there haven't been any Autavias or Links... so just the main four product lines to cover then.


FORMULA 1

This has been an unexpectedly big year for the Formula 1, with the Kith collaboration spawning a colossal and unprecedented TEN limited edition pieces in one go. Admittedly these scored spectacularly badly with the Council on first acquaintance, but I fully expect the scores to be heavily revised upwards once we get to the end of the year and the whole 'KITH Heuer' logo outrage has settled down. I know my scores will probably go up a couple of points anyway...

Aside from that though, it's been a respectable if undramatic 6 months for the rest of the F1 range so far. Obviously there's the inevitable Indy 500 quartz chronograph (actually quite a good one this year) and a blue quartz chronograph that's slightly more appealing than the previous yellow, red and green models... but actually the highlight for me has been the two Calibre 16 chronographs that sneaked out almost unnoticed in the wake of Watches & Wonders in April. Sure, they're nothing Earth-shattering, but as an entry level chronograph they are pretty much perfect.







AQUARACER

Finally the Aquaracer has been upgraded with a movement that isn't made of (Swiss) cheese, and to the joy of 'some' people the 43mm case size has also been reduced to 42mm. So far so good, but at the same time we've lost the iconic garage door dials in favour of swirly fabric-looking 'waves' and a 'Sprite' that screams 'I can't afford a Rolex'. 

I still kinda like it though. For shame. 🤣

Oh, and there's also been a bunch of 34mm 'ladies' Solargraphs with weird looking bezels. Not a fan of those it must be said. All in all, hardly the 20th Anniversary we were hoping for...
 






MONACO

Over the last few years the Monaco has moved from being 'expensive' to being 'very expensive' and the skeleton versions are 'even more very expensive'. I wouldn't mind a Monaco skeleton, but I might have to wait quite a long time before I can pick one up for what I would deem a 'reasonable' price. We've seen four new ones this year; two of the regular 'even more very expensive' ones' (I liked both of those) and then two eye-wateringly beyond expensive rattrapantes (which I'm not so keen on). I'm sure they are 'technological masterpieces' and all that, but if I had £121,000 to spend on a watch... I'd definitely buy something else. Probably about ten different watches actually. 




CARRERA

As ever, the bulk of the 2024 releases have been Carreras - which is at least in part because the 'Carrera' range includes everything from a 36mm lades watch to a 45mm tourbillon and everything in between. I was going to say a 30mm ladies watch but actually no, the smallest Carrera is now 36mm, which is definitely too big for a lot of ladies, still I guess they have the Links in 32mm and the Aquaracer in 30mm.

I find it bizarre that ladies watches are getting bigger and bigger while men's watches are getting smaller. Are the Swiss aiming for some kind of 'Unisex' future size nirvana? Maybe that's why they are obsessed with persuading women they need a mechanical movement too, when most of them have been perfectly happy with quartz for years?  

Anyway, this year so far we've had three 36mm 'two-tone' (supposedly) unisex Carreras, a new version of the 36mm diamond dial 'Plasma' Carrera, a solid gold 39mm Glassbox Carrera, a 39mm Glassbox Dato, a 39mm Glassbox Panda,  two 41mm limited edition three handers (for Qatar and Kuwait), a 41mm limited edition GMT, a 42mm Glassbox tourbillon (in teal no less), and a 44mm limited edition for ThreeC. There are more, but we just haven't got to them yet... so far two more limited edition 45mm tourbillons (for Australia and Shanghai) and and a limited edition Porsche 963 Carrera!   

And now a 42mm 'European' limited edition... with, wait for it, a green dial. 🤣

I'm guessing the 2024 COCO Watch of the Year will be some kind of Carrera... but perhaps one we haven't seen yet?






Okay, well I hope you enjoyed this little review. Did you remember all of these or had some of them slipped your mind? Which one is your 'Watch of the Year' so far? Let me know in the comments. 

And if you would like to revisit the 'First Impressions' for the watches we've seen so far in 2024, I'll leave links to them all below.


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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3 July 2024 at 07:29

    Batman is best in 2024 (this far).

    As always, TAG Heuer shows that 'Carrera' just means "any type of watch that we think someone might purchase"

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  2. Anonymous4 July 2024 at 05:11

    Do you know any info if the Tag Heur is launching the connected calibre E5 this year?

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