TAG Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph
TAG Heuer’s early 21st-century flirtations with haute horlogerie produced some memorable watches that were not always mechanically infallible. The madcap belt-driven Monaco V4 and the Carrera Mikrogirder, with its exposed linear coupling beam, spring to mind. But the watchmaker best known for its consumer-favorite Carrera and Monaco chronographs insists that its latest venture into high-end complications is no hurried concept, but rather heralds a new era of experimental fine watchmaking. The new watch’s signature function is its rattrapante, or split-seconds chronograph, which can time two events that start simultaneously but finish independently, such as two cars in a race. It is powered by a new movement — cast in titanium and produced in collaboration with the specialist Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier — said to be TAG Heuer’s lightest automatic chronograph movement, at 85 grams (slightly less than three ounces). Wrapped in a 41-millimeter version of the Monaco’s square case that is half grade 5 titanium and half sapphire crystal, the model is available in either red or blue colorways.
$138,000
A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold “Lumen”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Lange’s highly collectible Datograph and to celebrate, the German maker has thrown the kitchen sink at this new model. The spec sheet lists a revamped in-house movement offering a flyback chronograph (which requires the single push of a button to stop, zip back to zero and restart), a perpetual calendar that adjusts for leap years and a tourbillon with Lange’s celebrated stop-seconds mechanism, all gathered around the brand’s hallmark oversize date window. For the first time, the Datograph case has been cast in Lange’s patented warm Honeygold and a translucent dial features elements finished in what the company calls Lumen, or luminous detailing. Just a run of 50 for this new model.
Price on application
In the Eye of the Beholder
Following the fashion world, some in watchmaking have moved away from gendered watches — for fear of alienating men who might choose to wear women’s smaller watches as much as women who might choose men’s larger ones. But some brands are staying the course, saying that reports indicate that many women still want watches designed with their tastes and wrist shapes in mind.
Hermès Cut
When Hermès released its H08 model in 2021, it tiptoed around the description. Was it a sports watch? Yes, it was sporty, but not strictly a sports watch because that might involve sweating. Either way, the H08 drove sales and in its wake comes another sports watch of sorts, this time unequivocally labeled feminine. Named Cut, for the polished slices taken from the flanks of its case, the 36-millimeter model has a shape that defies conventional description, a bespoke typeface on the dial and elegant echoes of its shape artfully woven into the design of, for example, its numerals. Pure Hermès, and another hit in the making.
