FIRST QUARTER ROUND UP: New Pieces (Jan/Mar)

 

By this time next week we'll be knee deep in Watches & Wonders and presumably we'll know for sure whether or not those slightly odd looking, left hand crown, TAG Heuer branded Monaco clocks they keep putting up in the Grand Prix paddocks were a massive (hiding in plain sight) leak or just a weird way of advertising a watch that doesn't actually exist. My feeling is (and has been for some time) that it is the former, because why on Earth would you do that otherwise?

Well, soon the truth will be known and doubtless there will be tons of other new models released that need looking at too. But as I have said many times before I simply cannot keep spending all my time looking at new watches and ignoring the rich and varied history of the brand, so I will be very selective about which ones are featured and given C.O.C.O. 'First Impressions' scores... otherwise we'll be reading about nothing else until June!

But obviously I still want to make sure everything is covered, so to combat this overload of 'new release' posts I've decided to do quarterly round ups (rather than just one 'half-year' one) to keep you up to speed. So with that said, let's start by looking at the watches that we haven't previously spoken about...

Firstly, I have to tell you that this one actually came out in the dying days of December 2025, but it was too late to be included in the '2025 COCO Watch of the Year' poll so I'm including it here. First impression for me was that it was much nicer than the limited edition 'Silverstone GP' F1 that came out earlier last year. Switching the dial ring from green to black conveniently negates the problem of colour matching, but also just looks 'better', and the orange second hand really pops against that white dial. However when I saw it in person that rich green bezel looked washed out (again) and I still don't like the case shape or the mottled finish to the steel. 

Next up we have the two tone 41mm day/date Carrera that was launched at LVMH Watch Week back in January. The dial looks silver here, which is slightly misleading. The TAG Heuer website tells me it's actually 'beige' and in person it definitely has a 'warmth' to it that works with the bezel. I'm not going to rag on TAG Heuer for the price of this watch because it has a gold bezel and one ounce of gold now costs almost as much as one ounce of printer ink so what can they do? I did actually cover this one in an 'On the Wrist' post HERE. For me it's just not that interesting, honestly.

Finally we have this new Aquaracer Solargraph, which is clearly taking inspiration from 2024's C.O.C.O. Watch of the Year, the 'Time & Tide' limited edition and is itself a limited edition of 300 pieces for the UK market. Where the 'T&T' Aquaracer was cast in titanium and came on a green textile strap, this one is just normal stainless steel (with a super impractical polished centre link bracelet for you desk divers) but still manages to look quite classy and elegant and is easily my pick out of these three and definitely in my top two for 2026 so far.

There have been two other watches released in the first quarter of the year, but they are already in the process of being scored and a 'First Impressions' post about those will follow very soon, so for now it's just nine pieces in total. 

Which one is your favourite so far?

FORMULA 1

Just the one Solargraph so far, and that was actually released in December... not a very promising start for the Formula 1's 40th anniversary year is it? I wonder if they will actually present a 40th birthday watch for the model at Watches & Wonders? If they do, my money is on a titanium cased Solargraph with a carbon effect dial that costs about £4000. Or maybe a solar chronograph... or a combination of those things? No idea, honestly - I'm just pulling ideas out my ass here, and that seems kind of logical. Think Kirium Ti5. They already stole the grooved strap idea from that one hey... 

WBY111E.BA0042: 38mm Solargraph

AQUARACER

Again, just one piece released so far and one of only two limited editions we've seen this year (well, there are four actually as the other two watches I mentioned are limited edition Carreras). I don't really know what to expect from Watches & Wonders for the Aquaracer, except we did see some blurry images in a 'Time & Tide' video a few weeks back which appeared to show a black Aquaracer with an orange ring around the dial. That definitely sounds interesting, but only if it's 42mm not 36mm.

WBP1119.BA0000: 40mm Solargraph (300 piece UK limited edition)

MONACO

No new Monacos so far this year (no Links, Monzas or Autavias either of course, but you probably weren't expecting any), but I'm pretty sure we'll be getting at least one at Watches & Wonders, so watch this space.

CARRERA

Seven Carreras so far (nine if we include the two LEs that are 'in progress') which seems par for the course these days, but then since the Carrera name has been completely abused and now means literally anything that isn't a dive watch (from a 27mm ladies three hander to a 45mm skeleton tourbillon) why bother with other names? To be fair, it's not just TAG Heuer doing this, in fact most brands seem to be doing the same thing and the watch enthusiasts aren't helping matters with their attitude to anything 'new' being generally 'dismissive'. So there you go, more Carreras... and six glassboxes (you lucky people). 

CBS2113.BA0053: 41mm Glassbox Automatic Chronograph 

CBS2114.BA0053: 41mm Glassbox Automatic Chronograph

CBS2115.BA0053: 41mm Glassbox Automatic Chronograph

CBS2016.EB0430: 42mm Seafarer Automatic Chronograph

WDA2150.BA0043: 41mm Automatic Day/Date

CDD2180.FT8120: 42mm Glassbox Automatic Rattrapante Chronograph

CBS221G.FC8367: 39mm Automatic Chronograph (Wempe Limited Edition)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS POSTS

CARRERA GLASSBOX WEMPE LIMITED EDITION

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2026/04/first-impressions-tag-heuer-carrera.html

CARRERA GLASSBOX 'RATTRAPANTE' CHRONOGRAPH

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2026/03/first-impressions-tag-heuer-carrera.html

CARRERA GLASSBOX 'SEAFARER' CHRONOGRAPH 

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2026/02/first-impressions-tag-heuer-carrera_01614624660.html

CARRERA GLASSBOX 41MM CHRONOGRAPHS

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2026/02/first-impressions-tag-heuer-carrera.html

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer 41mm Carreras, F1 Solargraph and Day/Date Carrera

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 23rd January 2026

Another visit to my favourite TAG Heuer boutique and, well... as we'll see in a moment it was 'interesting' but hardly what I'd call 'exciting'. And honestly, it was a bit of a turning point for me perhaps. Because standing in that boutique with about £20,000 of watches on the desk in front of me it really made me question (once again) the point of this blog. As I've said before, I am not a rich man. I now own half a (struggling) business but I'm not remotely rich, in fact I'd probably be better off working for someone else. 

So honestly, the chances of me buying a glassbox Carrera for £6700 are quite literally ZERO. I wouldn't buy any watch for £6700. I wouldn't buy a watch for more than £5000 at the absolute max (not unless my financial situation vastly improved) and the most I have ever spent on a watch to date is £3300. Sure I could sell my entire collection and I would be able to buy three or four watches at £6700, but today it feels to me like what you're getting for that money is what TAG Heuer basically consider a run of the mill Carrera chronograph.

Well no, I guess the run of the mill Carrera chronograph would be the Calibre 16, but even so if I was parting with the best part of £7000 I would want to feel like I was picking up something 'special', and sadly I just don't feel that way about these. At the same time, I've recently been speaking to someone who lives in America, who was excited to tell me about the limited edition 'Caribbean' watches she'd been hunting down and it really made me think about how much fun I used to get from this hobby when it was more about chasing old F1s and 90s S/ELs...

VIDEO: Putting the TAG back in TAG Heuer by Monochrome Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports GMT Chrono & Lilac 36mm and 41mm Day/Date Carreras

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 31st October 2025

A few weeks ago I stopped in at the Meadowhall boutique on the way to a concert in Sheffield, it's always nice to visit as the staff are great and there's a surprising amount of pieces in there that you don't find in AD's or most other TAG Heuer boutiques that I've been in! Sometimes things show up ages after you've forgotten they've come out and sometimes they surprise you with something that you only found out about a few days beforehand. One such example being the new Carrera Extreme Sports GMT in green and black pictured below.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Rattrapante 'Air 1' Limited Edition

 

I'll admit I haven't exactly been complimentary about the previous Monaco Rattrapantes. Obviously I haven't seen one in person and it's entirely possible that they are one of those watches that just doesn't photograph well (much like the Grand Carrera), but until now I've found them spectacularly unappealing, despite several different colour combinations being released. But now TAG Heuer have given us this new $150,000 limited edition (30pcs) and if nothing else they've certainly improved it's kerb appeal.

But it's more than just a new colour combo (and black and gold is almost always a winner), because this one has been redesigned to mimic the look of an imaginary supercar, taking design cues from said car including all the grilles and shapes you'd expect to find on a Lamborghini cum Ferrari cum Aston Martin.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Twin Time by Brent Miller Time

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Day/Date Watches by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer 41mm Day/Date Carreras & GMT

 

Let's be honest, this year's 'Watches and Wonders' was all about the Formula 1 for TAG Heuer. Sure they released a 10 piece limited edition Monaco that barely anyone can afford, even if they actually wanted a white ceramic cased rattrapante that looks like a fight in a candy store... but all eyes were on the worst kept secret in modern watch history, and rightly so.

But while everyone was looking the other way TAG Heuer quietly released a bevy of new 41mm day/date Carreras that while honestly not inspiring that much reaction from me are, of course, still worthy of inspection by the Council. It's a funny thing, the 41mm day/date Carrera, it's kind of seen as a 'lesser' Carrera because historically a Carrera 'should be' a chronograph. Mind you, the same people that say this also generally say at 41mm it's too big and should be 39mm, but... whatever. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Rattrapante 'Formula 1 75th Anniversary' Limited Edition

 

When TAG Heuer launched the Monaco Rattrapante last year the media was all over it, meanwhile in the real world all I heard was people grumbling and throwing out comments like... why would I pay £121,000 for that when I could buy an IWC Rattrapante for a tenth of the price. Well, you have to admit it's a good question. After all, the rattrapante complication is nothing genuinely new in the watch world and while the construction of the Monaco may be impressive and high tech, it let itself down in one incredibly important respect. Yes kids, the truth is it's ugly as all hell.

This (alongside the astronomically high asking price) was reflected in the end of year scoring and the Council of Considered Opinion eventually handed the pair of them an embarrassing 4.4/10 (blue) and 4.7/10 (red) respectively, making them the second and third least liked Monacos since the C.O.C.O. began back in 2020 (only the truly hideous Monaco Riviera rated worse!).

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer's New £3500 Bracelet...

 

Well Watches & Wonders has arrived, and with it an absolute avalanche of new TAG Heuer releases (18 in total, can you believe that?) and understandably most of the attention has fallen on the new 38mm Formula 1 Solargraphs, but there were other releases... a bevvy of new 'in-house' Carrera Day/Dates, a rather odd looking teal-dialed Carrera GMT and a very limited edition white ceramic Monaco Rattrapante (which you almost certainly won't be able to afford even if you really wanted one).

As usual, we'll be getting to all these in due course (the Council of Considered Opinion has already begun musing over the non-limited edition Formula 1s), but something caught my eye while perusing the new releases on the TAG Heuer website. 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S Regatta Chronograph

 

While it's a noble endeavour of mine to try to turn my rather large collection of (mostly) cheaper TAG Heuers into a smaller collection of 'less cheaper' TAG Heuers, it does rather take the fun out of the experience. Sure I was a little slow to cotton on to the fact that watches are not inanimate objects and they are liable to break and need repairing, but sometimes I really miss those heady days of 2019-2022 when every other month brought at least one new Ebay bargain to my door. Sigh...

Now, having sold approximately half of my collection, I have used most of that money to buy some nicer watches like my Grand Carrera Caliper Calibre 36, my Grand Carrera Chronograph Calibre 17, my SLR Calibre S and my Aquaracer Solargraph and I don't regret doing that, however I still get the urge to buy 'something cheaper' now and again. Truthfully, spending big money* on watches is still not something I am really comfortable doing, and since I only really like one watch brand most of the things I end up looking at are usually variations of things I already own or things that are still a bit out of my comfort-zone price-wise, even when pre-owned.

*My idea of 'big money' being anything over £2000 honestly...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - 2024' Limited Editions

 

We've already seen limited edition Carreras for both Kuwait and Qatar this year and now it's time for an update to last years 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia' Carrera. Last year's model featured a silver dial with a green outline and the KSA emblem in green on the dial. Only 100 were produced and the watch came in a special green presentation box with both a bracelet and a green alligator strap.

This year TAG Heuer have produced two models, a 41mm day/date Carrera in steel and a 29mm version with a rose gold bezel and crown and a two tone bracelet.  The dials are inscribed with the words 'Saudi' (male) and 'Saudia' (female) on their respective dials.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Chronograph by Birth Year Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'SLR300' Calibre 1887 Chronograph by FN Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 5 Watch by Shah Lusso

 

VIDEO: Up Close With The 2024 TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph by Hodinkee

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Twin Time by Random Rob

 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Two-Tone' Calibre 5 Watch by Jim Dollares

WBD2120.BB0930

Today we are joined by Sweden's number one Aquaracer enthusiast - Jim Dollares; a man who now counts two Aquaracers in his allegedly 'three-piece' watch collection... alongside his 160th Anniversary Carrera, his original Formula 1 Red Bull quartz, his Breitling Colt and several other less exotic pieces. But never mind all that, today Jim's here to tell you about his latest (and greatest?) purchase, the long anticipated WBD2120.

JIM: I've always had a soft spot for yellow gold two-tone watches with a blue dial and my first proper watch love was the TAG Heuer Aquaracer. It is no wonder why the WBD2120 turned into an obsession of mine after its release in 2020. For various reasons, mainly money, it took approximately four years for it to finally find a home in my three piece watch collection.

"It looks so douchebaggy. In a good way!"

Yes, this was what I told the sales person in London last year, when I was able to try it on. Afterwards I regretted deeply that I hadn't purchased it then and there but budget wise I had not calculated to spend that amount at that point. Plus, a couple of months prior I had just bought another Aquaracer, the Ice Diver (WBP201C).

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre TH81-00 'Rattrapante' Split Seconds Chronograph

 

Okay, hands up who else spat out their coffee when they read that the latest Monaco from TAG Heuer had a price tag of from* £121,000? I mean, we knew something was coming based off last year's 'Only Watch' Monaco Rattrapante so it wasn't exactly a 'surprise' (especially as TAG Heuer had been dropping hints left, right and centre), but I don't think anyone was really prepared for the jaw-dropping price tag the brand attached to this new model... even when you take into account the £3000 premium TAG are already charging for their current skeletonised Monacos over the solid dial variants.

*Depending on the level of customisation required, in case you were wondering....

I mean, had I been asked to guess the price I might have plucked £25,000-30,000 out of the air (especially since before this I wasn't terribly au fait with what the going rate for a rattrapante was), but I would never in my wildest estimates have gone over £100,000! And I wasn't alone, both 'A Blog to Watch' and (ex Watchfinder 'hands' guy) Andrew Morgan absolutely ridiculed the brand in their 'Watches & Wonders' YouTube round ups (though with their combined knowledge and industry savvy they should perhaps have been a little more 'informed'). 

But initially I too did not get it, especially when rattrapante chronographs are readily available from other brands such as Breitling at under £10,000 and from 'better' brands like IWC for not that much more. So there has to be more to it, doesn't there. It can't simply be that TAG Heuer are applying a Monaco premium the likes of which we've never seen before just because? 

Well yes, of course there is... 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Twin Time 'GMT Watch Club' Limited Edition

 

WBN201B.BA0640

We're still only part way through the 'Watches & Wonders' releases, but for reasons far too tedious too explain (let's call it 'technical reasons') today we will be looking at something else. But don't worry, I'm still going to cover the 36mm 'unisex' Carreras, the Calibre 16 F1 Chronos and of course the Monaco Rattrapantes. I'm sure you're looking forward to that one... 

Okay, so this one is quite a special watch that's limited to just 24 pieces. Yes, you read that right, just 24 of these are available, which the 'Fine-Watch-Club' website claims is the smallest batch of 'limited editions' TAG Heuer has ever made. This isn't actually true, because off the top of my head I can think of at least two models made in much smaller runs (Jimmy Butler Carrera tourbillon - 5pcs and the LE Carbon Bullhead - 10pcs). But whatever...