The last century brought a lot of watches regarded by watch-enthusiasts as the "icons". In some cases that was because of design, history and quality, and in others by all of these factors flavoured with a large dose of marketing. For me this group of watches, in addition to watches like Rolex Submariner,Audemars Piguet Royal Oak,IWC Big Pilot's and Patek Philippe Nautilus, also includes TAG Heuer Monaco.
The reviewed model’s reference number is CAW2111.FC6183. Steel, 39mm
casing in the shape of a square with a rounded edges. The Calibre 12
ticks with a standard frequency of 4Hz (28,000 A/h) and, unfortunately,
has a very poor power reserve – only 40 hours. The watch is water
resistant to 100 meters and completed with a blue alligator leather
strap (that is a perfect match to the dial – more on this later).
Visually, many people think that the
TAG Heuer Monaco is identical to
the original Heuer Monaco. To debunk this myth, just combine the two
models side by side. At first glance you may notice differences in the
location and shape of indices, colour of the subdial hands, their
applications or the date window “frame”. Subdials in the original model
were 30-minute and 12-hour counters – the subsequent Monaco has a
30-minute counter and small seconds dial. Chronograph buttons were
originally round, and the re-edition received rectangular ones. The case
contour is not the same as well – the version from the past is more
“rounded” on the sides, which is why the modern TAG Heuer Monaco seems
to be a true, firm square.
“Le Mans” and Steve McQueen
Often success comes unexpectedly and is changing our lives – like the
touch of the invisible magic wand. Heuer Monaco had such luck. In this
case, you can even name it – Steve McQueen. The well-known actor decided
to wear this exact model in the quite a popular film “Le Mans”,
screened in 1971 (the picture tells the story of the famous 24-hour race
on the France’s most famous racing track). McQueen’s watch, and in fact
one of his watches (the production of “Le Mans” reportedly used 4
pieces) comes up from time to time at auction arousing emotions and
achieving very high bids. In 2012 it was sold for an astonishing
799,500$! The piece worn by the American actor (ref. 1133B) differs
slightly from the reviewed. It has a larger case (40.4x38mm), a glass
made of Plexiglas (Perspex) and a solid caseback. You can see it live in
the TAG Heuer’s own little museum in Le Locle.
The inscription
MONACO with TAG Heuer logo is located at 12 o’clock. The
date window appears on the opposite side, realized as a white disk with
black numbers. Unfortunately this is one of the weakest point of the
watch. It often happens that during the date change the correct number
jumps straight into the middle of the window. What can you do with it –
especially when you’re a perfectionist like me? You’re simply getting
annoyed! From the top all is secured by the domed sapphire crystal,
protruding above the surface of the case. Visually, it looks nice, but
you should keep in mind that it is more vulnerable to damage this way.
On the other side you’ll find a steel (screwed with four screws)
caseback with circular sapphire glass window. This allows to see how
aforementioned Calibre 12 works. This movement certainly is not the
top-class calibre, but decorations are pretty decent – for example:
grained baseplate and oscillating weight with cut-out elements decorated
with Geneva stripes.
About the TAG Heuer Monaco Steve McQueen Calibre12 CAW2111 replica
This Replica TAG Heuer Monaco Steve Mcqueen Calibre 12 Chronograph CAW2111.FC6...
The case, hands and dial markers are well done and so are the four
screws holding in the round movement in this square case (the Limited
Edition Monaco Calibre12 ). Crown and pushers are well cloned and the
scratch-proof crystal is well fitted on the case.
Watch looks good,
it’s good quality and fun to wear and the leather strap with the orange
stitches is a really good match too. It’s powered by a Japanese Quartz
(battery run) movement that you’d expect to give the seconds hand more
of a tick than a sweep but to be honest with you the movement is very
close to a sweeping and that’s a very good thing as these babies come
with an automatic movement only.