Lorus 'Monaco' RM369FX9 Review – Is This Tag Heuer homage Worth It?
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I always thought there were three important measurements when it comes to watches. The width, depth and lug to lug. Well, for this watch, it turns out I wasn’t quite correct. Here’s why.
Up to now, we’ve covered plenty of classic watch designs on this blog, however, I thought it was time to start branching out a little. I was browsing online and saw an unusual watch that looked better than I expected, considering the distinct shape.
Watch Dimensions
Indeed, this Lorus watch was extremely square; or at least it looked that way. I expected this to be an enormous watch, likely 42mm or over, as tends to be the case with similarly styled watches. Nevertheless, I scrolled down and Amazon had this listed as being only 38mm wide. Now for my thin wrist, 38mm is normally the perfect size and this was even paired with a short lug to lug. I checked the specs elsewhere and this seemed to be correct. I thought perhaps I’d found a square watch that might actually suit me. I’ve tried a few Lorus watches so far and been consistently impressed with their quality.
So, I instinctively placed the order and it arrived the next day – Amazon kindly covered the cost of this watch as they have been doing recently. I’ll link this watch throughout this post in return, so you can check it out yourself.
It arrived in a really small square box, which I thought was kind of funny given the design of the watch.
However, when I first saw the watch within, the first word that came out of my mouth was ‘oh?’. It looked substantially larger than I had anticipated. I took out the callipers and here’s what I found.
The watch had a diameter bang on the claimed 38mm, the 46mm lug to lug as advertised, along with a thickness of 11.2mm. On paper, that shouldn’t leave this watch looking as large as this does, so what is it that I missed?
Well, firstly, the stock Nato strap boosts the on-wrist depth to around 13.8mm; which may not sound like a large jump, but in person, it makes a substantial difference. It takes the watch from average to thick.
Then comes the width. I suppose I underestimated how much the shape of the watch influences the way it fits. Normally, a 38mm circular watch is a great fit for me, but in this case, the relevant size is not 38mm. If we draw a line diagonally across this box-like watch, you’ll notice we get a much larger figure of 50.5mm. Sure, this watch doesn’t fit as huge as a typical 50mm width watch would, but I believe it’s somewhere between these two figures.
On-wrist, I’d say this wears most comparably to a 41 or 42mm piece. Therefore, it’s a bit too bulky for me to wear regularly.
Despite this, is the watch worth looking at if you have more average-sized wrists or larger?
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Watch Case
Well, I think there are certain areas to like and dislike. Visually, this watch is clearly a Tag Heuer Monaco homage, with the sporty square design and angled indices clearly making their way across. Along with the similar shape, the stainless steel case also features comparably styled brushing on the top and rear, paired with a glossy finish across the remaining surfaces. Sure, the brushing is not nearly completed to the same standard as that on the original Tag, though for 1/100th of the retail price, you can hardly complain. There are some bevelled edges, but the lack of sharp corners do reveal that this is a budget piece. In the hands, at 68g, the weighty feel does inspire some confidence that the watch will be durable over time.
Crown
From a side-on perspective, the crown and pushers do sit very low down, giving a look that I’m not very fond of. The original Tag Monaco has these positioned more centrally, which I think looks more balanced.
Unfortunately, the pushers are equally as disappointing when it comes to performance, as they have too much travel to them and lack any sort of reassuring clunk when sufficiently compressed. The crown is a much better story, being well sized and featuring plenty of grip, which makes rotating it extremely pleasant.
Water Resistance
As with both of the previous Lorus watches I’ve reviewed, this comes with a solid 100m of water resistance, which is pleasing to see in such a low-cost watch. This means you can easily swim or complete daily tasks with the watch, without worrying about any liquid damage.
Dial
Examining the dial, the arrangement appears somewhat different to the Tag Heuer; this time featuring 3 subdials positioned at 12, 9 and 6 o'clock, rather than the two flanking the central stem. The date window also occupies the remaining position on the right side, rather than at the bottom. Despite this, the overall look remains similar, with the slim minute track and squared styling accents playing their part. Whilst the second hand is also a close match, the other two are not. This model foregoes the pencil hands for a set of faceted and blunted dauphine hands, which look nice but aren’t entirely complemented by the flat hour markers.
I opted for this blue version, but the watch is apparently available in other colourways including black and yellow. Given the watch was retailing for around £50, I didn’t expect the details to be anything special and that has proven to be true. While the blue backdrop has a little sheen, it’s not particularly impressive when in brighter lights and outside of the debossed minute track, everything looks a little flat and dull. For this reason alone, I wouldn’t recommend paying over about £65 for this as there are some more impressive dials available when you approach that £100 mark. Nevertheless, at least the printing of the text is done to a good standard, making it more than legible.
Watch Glass
Covering the watch is a flat piece of mineral crystal, which is the norm at this price point. This is similar to the stuff you find in your windows and provides some scratch resistance, though unsurprisingly doesn’t compare to the synthetic sapphire found in the Tag Heuer.
Movement
Within you’ll find a simple quartz chronograph movement from Seiko. This VD57 is just your run of the mill option, providing the basic chronograph functions that you might expect. It’s fairly slim, which is likely the reason behind the deeper crown positioning. This unit seems to be reasonably aligned, with the large second hand hitting just to the left of the markers along the left side of the watch, whilst hitting them precisely when travelling the right side. I have noticed a bit of inconsistency but the quietness of the movement partially makes up for that.
Watch Strap
When it comes to straps, there are a couple of things worth mentioning. Akin to the original Tag Monaco, the lugs are tight to the main case and positioned very low. By default, this version came fitted on this brightly striped 22mm NATO strap which, outside of the steel buckle and keepers, feels very cheap. Personally, I’d chuck this watch straight onto some sort of rally-style leather strap, to give this watch more of the racing charm it deserves. This will also reduce the on-wrist depth as it won’t pass under the case, making the watch fit a little sleeker too.
Is the Lorus ‘Monaco’ Worth It?
There aren’t many Tag Heuer Monaco homage watches available other than some dirt-cheap Chinese mechanical options that aesthetically look much worse than this one. As such, this one could fill that void for you if you’re not planning on splashing around £5,000 on a proper one; just don’t expect too much from this low-end piece. Personally, I prefer some of the other Lorus watches.
