Saturday 30 June 2018
Friday 29 June 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Link Calibre 17 Chronograph
CBC2112.BA0603
Michael Jones / Northampton, 26th June 2018
Came across this one by accident when hunting down the Aston Martin F1, and the first thing to say about it is that because of the way it was displayed in the window I couldn't see the price and had forgotten how much it was, so I was slightly surprised when I picked up the watch and saw the label which said £3650 (although I've also seen it for £3900 on Ernest Jones website, so I assume it must have gone up recently?). I did know that was the price, but I had forgotten, and for some reason it always surprises me when I see Links that cost this kind of money because I just don't associate the range with those kind of prices.
Leaving that aside, I have to say that the dial is very attractive. The one I tried on had a lovely blue sunburst dial (the watch is also available in black) and while there has been much made of the cluttered text in the lower sub-dial, in person I really didn't see it as a problem. It's a shame they've made the date window white, I guess it helps make it legible, but I can't help thinking it would have looked nicer if it had been matched to the dial colour (as indeed it was on the prototype of the black dial, but not the blue, oddly...).
The bracelet is very luxurious and tapers sharply down to the butterfly clasp which provides a clean look, there's no denying the bracelet is very nicely made and definitely gives this watch a certain X-factor. The bracelet was slightly too big for my 7.3/4" wrist, but as far as I can tell it seemed very smooth and comfortable. My only gripe with the bracelet is that it looks too wide where it joins the watch itself, indeed it actually makes the dial look rather undersized. This isn't helped by the seemingly oversized pushers and crown which also seem to give the impression of a too-small dial and take up an unusual amount of the right hand side of the case. I get that it's part of the whole integrated bracelet thing, but I can't help thinking it looks like they've fitted a bracelet for a 43/45mm case to a 41mm watch, because despite being a chronograph this watch is only 41mm (the same as the three handed version), which perhaps explains why the dial does looks slightly crowded.
Still, like everything, it's just a case of getting used to a 'different' design I guess. It is a very stylish and luxurious looking piece and the dial colour in particular is very attractive. I think if I was in the market I might tend to go for the three handed version, which is more like £2400 and doesn't suffer from the cramped dial.
WBC2112.BA0603
The other nice thing about the three handed version of course is that the date is able to be positioned at the 3 position which looks neater and actually looks a bit smaller into the bargain, which personally I prefer, especially with the white background.
All in all, while I like the bracelet and I like the watch, I'm on the fence about the combination. It seems a bit strange that they've made the chronograph a 41mm (and I've checked this in several places) when it's standard TAG practice to make three-handers 41mm and chronographs 43mm, I really do think that another 2mm would have given the dial a bit of breathing space and made it a bit less cluttered.
That aside it's clearly a quality product and it really looks and feels the business. I definitely think I'd take the blue dial over the black (although I haven't seen the black in person) as it just seems to give the watch something extra, but I don't think I'd pay nigh on £4000 for it if I'm completely honest.
Wednesday 27 June 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Aston Martin Quartz Special Edition
CAZ101P.FC8245
Michael Jones / Northampton, 26th June 2018
When I saw the first pictures of this Aston Martin Special Edition I was quite taken aback and thought there was a very strong possibility that this was a watch I would want in my collection. As more pictures emerged my enthusiasm was tempered slightly as it became clear that perhaps the yellow wasn't quite as in your face as it first seemed, and so I was very keen to finally see this in person and find out what it really looked like on the wrist.
One thing the picture above completely fails to convey is that this watch is almost 'Phantom' like, far from having shiny indexes everything is black and grey, which is probably a deliberate choice to make the yellow pop - and to a degree this does work. But it does mean this isn't the most legible of watches, and while the yellow does pop nicely, there's not a lot of it really so if you're hoping for a real eye-catcher you might be a little disappointed.
The strap is very nice, I really love the yellow stitching and the patterned leather is very stylish, especially with the shape moulded into it. It does kind of bring to mind a car seat or something and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Aston Martin's interior was the inspiration for that. It comes fitted with a standard pin and buckle clasp, which is fair enough at this price point (£1350), but there is one major gripe - like the Gulf F1 I tried on the other day the strap is ridiculously short.
I do have a big wrist (7.3/4") but even so, not wanting to really pull hard on the strap in the shop I had to settle for using the second to last hole on the strap and the (very) pointed end of the strap barely reached under the retaining loops, that is really not going to work for me and even the salesman was rather surprised when he saw it on my wrist.
I've been hearing about people having this problem with Monacos of late and having to order a longer strap, which I think is a bit off if they are having to pay for it. I would hope that the dealer would supply the longer strap in the price, but I'm not sure if that is happening and I'm not sure if the Aston Martn or Gulf straps are available in longer lengths, and since they are a big part of the look of the watches in question that could be an issue. Personally I'd order a bracelet for the Gulf but the Aston Martin really needs the yellow stitched strap to carry off the complete look.
Incidentally, the retainers on this strap look much more substantial than the ones on the Gulf F1 which is good, because they ones on the Gulf look positively feeble. And the salesman in Michael Jones disagrees with our man in Ernest Jones, he thinks the odd blue strap on the Gulf is synthetic suede, which probably makes more sense to be honest.
If TAG are making their straps shorter as standard now I wonder how long it will be before they start reducing the length of the bracelets? I don't really understand why this is suddenly happening, I could imagine a shorter strap being preferable in the (very) important Asian markets, but over here in the West we're all getting fatter so we need a decent strap please!
At this price the bezel is obviously aluminium, and to be honest I didn't really notice it so much when I was trying the watch on, much like the dial it's kind of 'phantomy', but I like that they added the 'Aston Martin Racing' text. I also like that the watch has silver pushers and crown, even though the black ones would have looked much better on this watch than they do on the Gulf F1. For me the silver pushers definitely lend more class, whereas black ones bring to mind the older, cheaper F1s of old (like the one I sold a few months ago).
The backplate is uncluttered and tidy, with the expected Aston Martin and TAG logos in place of the usual chequered flag pattern.
Personally I don't really have a problem with it, I don't love it, but I don't hate it either - it's just kind of there, and while I must admit I was concerned about the idea of having a 'branded' watch dial, it doesn't seem to bother me in the slightest. I think it's preferable to the 'Indy 500' branded dials for example.
To be honest I'm slightly confused about why the new Aston Martin racing car is this bright yellow colour, it seems somewhat at odds with AM's image which is usually all about style and a rather gentrified look. As far as I can remember I don't think I've ever seen an Aston that wasn't black, silver dark blue or dark green... maybe they've been hanging around Red Bull too long?
Overall this watch is quite classy looking, and while that is generally a good thing... in a way I'm kind of disappointed. I was hoping the yellow was going to be a lot more 'neon' (like the car it represents) and the watch a lot more 'fun'. It sounds a bit mad to criticize a watch for being too classy and I guess it will appeal to a lot of people, but for me if I want to wear something classy I'm not really going to wear a Formula 1 when I've got a Grand Carrera in my watch box. When I think of TAG Heuer F1's I think of a more relaxed, fun watch.. but to be fair this is probably the 'smartest' looking TAG Heuer you can buy for the money, which is a plus point for a lot of people.
While I won't be buying one anytime soon, I think this one would probably feature in my top five Formula 1's of all time (if not then certainly top ten - file that under future posts!). Like the Gulf I reviewed a couple of days ago, the watch looks smaller than 43mm, perhaps partly because it's a quartz and thus the case is a bit thinner than you might expect. It sits nicely on the wrist and again I'm sure it will sell well, but for me it's not really what I want from an F1 and in any case the strap length is a definite problem for anyone with a wrist over 7.1/2".
Tuesday 26 June 2018
Monday 25 June 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Orologio Formula 1 Football Special Edition Quartz Watch
WAZ1015.FC8198
Here's a topical post (this is about as close as I'll get to the World Cup!), I just came across this one on eBay with the description 'not available to buy over the counter in any UK jewellers'. Well, claims like this are usually spurious at best, but in this case it seems to be technically correct as this one only seems to be available to purchase from Goldsmith's website (not in store).
You may rightly be forgiven for wondering what's 'Limited' about it, because I didn't notice at first either, but if you squint hard enough you can see that the dial actually has a football on it. Here, let me get a close up for you...
Pretty subtle huh? But all the better for it I'd say, and much preferable to those 'Premiership' Aquaracers and Manchester United F1s in my humble opinion (although the rubber strap on the F1s are neat).
The watch comes on a NATO and thus it loses considerable cool points in my book, but fair enough this is clearly reflected in the price and presumably they wanted to get this as low as possible because this is just about the cheapest men's TAG you can buy. This makes sense because this is clearly aimed at the football fan rather than the watch enthusiast, and keeping it under a grand and team neutral means it might entice the devoted football fan who wants to treat themselves to something 'special'.
Despite not really liking football (or NATOs, did I mention that) this is alright, it's a simple design that works well and gives the footie fan a way to celebrate their passion without shouting from the rooftops. Unfortunately there is very little information on this watch and I can't find a picture of the back, this is the nearest I've managed to get, but of course the wretched NATO is in the way!
It very much appears to me that there's a standard chequered flag backplate under there, which is a shame... but then again, if they are producing the watch to a budget I guess it's cheaper to go with a standard part. Maybe it has some sort of engraving lower down, though I doubt it is numbered somehow.
All in all then this would make a nice first luxury piece for a football fan, or an upmarket beater when you want to leave your Manchester United Heuer01 at home. But I suspect the majority of sales will be made to people who will only buy one watch and who maybe just want to buy into the TAG Heuer 'football' buzz.
The watch is available for £900 from Goldsmiths' website, or from about £600 on Chrono24. The one I saw on eBay was going for £196 last time I looked but it does have a fair few days left to go...
Sunday 24 June 2018
Saturday 23 June 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Gulf Special Edition
CAZ101N.FC8243
Ernest Jones / Milton Keynes, 23rd June 2018
I was kinda hoping the new Aston Martin Formula 1 might have been in the stores today, as it's now showing on the TAG Heuer website, but sadly no luck. However, instead I got my first look at the new Formula 1 Gulf Special Edition and it's a strange one because it's somehow definitely more than the sum of it's parts.
The first thing I noticed was the strap, which is a very odd texture. Chris in Ernest Jones tells me it is leather, but that it has been given an 'asphalt' finish. Oddly, in our conversation I did say that one of the things I like about TAG is that they bring out watches that aren't run of the mill and they try different things... but in this instance I can't say I'm completely onside. In all honesty it looks like felt, or even glass paper as there are speckles of silver in the surface, it's very, very strange and being the colour that it is it doesn't really work for me. I'd like to see the watch on a bracelet if I'm honest, and I don't think it would be unreasonable for TAG to offer that option really...
The back is fairly standard chequered flag fare, and contains the only Gulf logo on the watch. I guess with the three chronograph dials and the TAG logo at the 12 position, there's not really any room for it on the dial, and it's definitely better that they didn't try and cram it in somewhere.
I don't know why, but the pushers and crown look a bit wrong to me being in black... I'd have much preferred to see them in steel (as they are on the Red Bull F1). I think it would have been okay if the strap had been black, but with the blue strap I think they definitely would have been less intrusive in steel. Allow me to demonstrate...
Modified version with steel crown and pushers...
Which brings me to my next quibble, the blue stripe. I know the Monaco 50th Anniversary Gulf Special Edition you can find in your local jeweller has the 'incorrect' darker blue stripe, and yes this one does have a much better contrast with the dial - but, for me this colour just doesn't cut it. It may be historically correct to the Le Mans winning Porsche 917s, and if you're big into that then this will probably be a major plus for you, but for me I would honestly choose the darker tone every time and it makes me think I would definitely have gone for the special edition 50th Anniversary Monaco over the limited edition 50th First Victory. Sky blue just doesn't cut it for me on a watch dial, it's accurate, but from an aesthetic point of view it's just not a very nice colour and it doesn't convey 'luxury' watch at all for me.
Another modified version with a different blue stripe and a black strap for good measure...
So you might be forgiven for thinking I'm not a fan of this watch, given that I want the pushers changed for steel, I don't like the strap and I'm not a fan of the sky blue... but overall, I do rather like it. Despite my misgivings about the strap, it's very comfortable and considering the watch is 43mm it seems to wear slightly smaller than that. I was wearing my grey dial 500M Aquaracer when I went to try this one on and although they are the same diameter the lugs on the F1 are far less prominent and give a more compact feel overall. It's not too thick, sits well on the wrist, and will easily slide under any cuff.
The bezel is aluminium, and again it kinda clashes with those black pushers for me... but of itself it's perfectly nice looking. The subdials are clear and easy to read and the 1/10th of a second is slightly larger than the other two, which makes sense as it's the one you're most likely to want to read. The date window at the 4 position is the best option really on a watch with so much of the dial taken up with dials, and incorporating it into the subdial at the 6 position would have been a mistake, so I'm glad they didn't do that.
It seems slightly odd that when I wrote my 'First Impressions' post a few weeks ago my main criticism was that the blue on the watch didn't match the render, and now that it does I sort of wish it was more like the prototype... but this just further underlines the fact that until you get a watch in your hand on on your wrist, pictures can only tell you so much.
Prototype watch with the darker blue stripe.
Priced at £1300, this offers a relatively affordable way into Gulf/TAG Heuer ownership and I have no doubt that it will sell well for the company. Personally, despite liking the watch (on the whole) there's too many things about it that I would like to change, so I'm going to wait and see what the F1 Aston Martin looks like in the flesh.
Wednesday 20 June 2018
Tuesday 19 June 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: Ladies Kirium Quartz Blue Dial
WL131F.BA0710
Clearly, not all Kiriums are created equal, some are definitely intrinsically nicer than others and this blue dial version is right up there for me. I happened upon this watch on eBay a few weeks ago and I really thought my wife would go for it, especially as the asking price of £280 seems very reasonable to me. The seller was open to offers, but turned down an offer of £250 and my wife decided not to pursue it any further.
I can't quite fathom the idea that it's worth losing a watch for the sake of £30 myself, but there you go. She's obviously not quite as obsessed as I am. But clearly the market agrees with her as the watch went unsold and has popped up back on eBay once again for the same asking price.
I think this is a stunning watch and if I thought for one second I could wear a 29mm watch on my 7.3/4" wrist then I'd buy it myself!
As I've said before, I think the brushed Kiriums generally look better than the polished ones, but for a ladies watch with a jewel blue dial it makes total sense. I think my wife has some reservations about the watch because the photographs show up a lot of surface scratches, but to be honest I bet they aren't as bad as they look in the pics. Polished watches always seem to photograph quite badly, but you should still be aware that a lot of polished Kiriums have been worn as beaters... sometimes I wonder what sort of person buys a polished luxury watch and then wears it to their day job breaking rocks?
This particular example comes with all the (correct period) boxes and a warranty card, albeit the card seems to have some very odd marks on it, it looks like it says TAG Heuer Malaysia - but it looks like its been punched into the plastic, which looks a bit strange, but maybe that's how they do things over there?
Again, I can't vouch for the seller, but she has very good feedback, I think I'll give the wife one more look and see if I can't persuade her to try again.
Monday 18 June 2018
Sunday 17 June 2018
FEATURE: Have I Swapped One Everyday Watch for Another?
WAH1110.FT6024
One of my prime motivations for selling my WAH1110 after eighteen months was that it had become (and was purchased to be, to be fair) my daily wearer. But things have changed... when I bought the F1 I didn't have nearly as many watches and it got to the point where I was adding watches to my collection, but they weren't really getting any time on the wrist. So my plan was to get rid of the F1 and free up space so that I could get some wrist-time for my other pieces. Not all my pieces mind, I'm never going to wear my Carrera Heuer01 to work, that's just not going to happen... but some of the others. And it has sort of worked, I've worn my three Aquaracers to work, my 6000 and even my Kirium once or twice, but recently I've noticed that recently every time I go to pick a watch in the morning, I keep picking my new 500M quartz Aquaracer.
Which isn't a 'massive' problem or anything, but it's a little bit annoying. I just really love this watch and yeah it is still in the honeymoon phase I guess, but even so... I didn't expect it to become quite as much of a wrist-blocker as it has.
But then the 6000 has it's own issues, it's only just big enough and I don't have any spare links, so if I'm feeling a bit porky (as I am at the moment) and the weather is warm (as it is at the moment) then it kinda gets overlooked. The yellow Calibre S still gets some days out, but I'm wondering if I actually preferred it on the bracelet now... or whether I just prefer wearing a bracelet perhaps?
The Chronotimer is an odd one, in some lights it looks fantastic, but in others it's actually quite hard to see the hands. I keep wondering if I should keep it or move it on, but then I look at a picture of it and think how cool it looks... I guess that's something that I've been through with other watches before, but not watches that I've only owned for a couple of months. Then again, when I do wear it I think how much I like it (as long as the lighting is right...) and while it does have the same movement as the F1 Kirium, I never use the digital display on that one so it is the only one that scratches that unique 'Breitling Aerospace' itch.
Maybe there's something to be said for buying one watch at a time and getting to really bond with it before the next one comes along, because I feel like maybe buying five watches this year hasn't been the best move... at least as far as solidifying my collection goes.
Not that I have real regrets, but in some ways I wish I had bought the pieces I've got over a slightly longer period. I feel like maybe I've got sucked in to 'collecting' for the sake of 'collecting' a little bit. Even now I find myself watching things on eBay, I've bid on two watches in the last week, neither of which I really 'need' or I'm 100% sure I actually wanted.
Maybe it's time to batten down the bank account and concentrate on the pieces of got, and let the fund grow without being frittered on low value pieces? It could be a good idea to say that I won't buy anything else this year, but that's probably a foolish statement coming from someone who visits the outlets quite as often as I do... and who spends as much time on eBay as I do... and who writes about TAGs every single day!
Saturday 16 June 2018
Friday 15 June 2018
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Monaco 'First Victory' 50th Anniversary Calibre11 Chronograph
CAW211T.XXXXXX
It seems like TAG Heuer are going a little bit crazy with the limited editions in recent times, we've had the Calibre 11 and Hodinkee Autavias, the Rake, the Skipper, a carbon-fibre Bamford Monaco and now this... the Gulf Racing 'First Victory' 50th Anniversary (yeah, what...?), which is limited to 50 pieces and is essentially the same as last year's 'Special Edition' Gulf Monaco, save for a few critical details.
The first thing you'll probably have noticed is that the blue stripe on the dial is much lighter and much closer resembles the actual 'Gulf Racing' blue (as seen on those legendary Porsche 917s). This has been something of a bone of contention on previous Gulf watches, since the brand have deviated from the original colour and used a much darker tone for some of the pieces.
When I tried on the 50th Anniversary Gulf Monaco earlier this year I liked it, but from the pictures at least I'm tentatively tending towards this new one. In a way I think the standard version has a more classy look, being a little more subdued, but if you're going to have a blue and orange stripe then why not make it bold? If nothing else at least you can see this blue stripe properly, and it works really well with the lighter, brighter dial background - which looks more like the colour from the standard Calibre 11.
From the photos again, it looks very much like the subdials are from the Calibre 11 as well, because they definitely look more 'white' than the ones on the standard Gulf - which also appeared white in pictures but actually have a silvery sheen to them in person. I think maybe this also helps to make the dial pop a bit more, as perhaps does the black strap on this model - another point of difference from the standard version. The strap retains the orange stitching and I can't help but think it's a pity they didn't give it some blue stitching (either instead of or alongside the orange) to differentiate it even more. But then again, maybe not...
I can't say I'm overly impressed with the back...
No doubt some people will chunter about there being yet another Limited Edition, but I really don't see a problem with it. Fifty people have paid their money and taken their choice, and besides - I think it's something we're just going to have to get used to. I don't really mind limited editions, as long as TAG let us know about them, and I'd much rather have proper limited versions with completely unique dials than some half-arsed 'collectibles' with some small modification to a standard watch.
Also, if you're going to make a limited edition, then I think you should send it out in a pukka box, something which TAG seem to have done well here.
It would be interesting to see both watches side by side and get a better comparison, but as the five pieces destined for the UK have already been sold, that's clearly not going to happen. Hubert at the Calibre 11 forum has one on the way, so at least we should be able to get a comparison photo and I suppose we'll have to make do with that...
Love it or hate it, with the very limited number of pieces made and the authentic lighter blue stripe, this has the potential to become THE Gulf Monaco of choice for the collectors, and I expect this to be a reasonable investment in the long term, if not quite up there with the iconic 'Steve McQueen' Limited Edition Monacos.
Thursday 14 June 2018
Wednesday 13 June 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Kirium Quartz Chronograph
CL1112-0
Kirium pricing on the pre-owned market is all over the place as far as I can see. On the one hand you have the 'run of the mill' Kiriums fetching £200-250 and some of the more interesting pieces making £500-600, meanwhile the top of the line (and by far my favourite) the F1 Kirium seems to get cheaper every time I see one for sale. I really do not understand it. A watch that retailed for somewhere around £1800 is now attainable for sub £500 which should by rights be dragging the whole range down but it just doesn't seem to be working out that way.
The only explanation must be that the market just either doesn't understand the watch, or understands it but doesn't like its digital dial. It's all the more confusing to me because of the fact that I wear mine with all the digital displays off all the time and that watch looks a million bucks!
I mean, I know I'm biased because I've got one and because it was my first TAG and all that, but seriously, that watch is by far the classiest looking Kirium out there. As far as I can see it's the watch bargain of the year right now, so much watch for so little money. Trust me, you should absolutely get one - you will not be disappointed.
Which is not to say I don't admire others, and one which I took a shine to recently, was the CL1112 which again I found while scouting around eBay looking for bargains.
This one was bidding at around £165 for a long time, and while I knew it wasn't going to stay at that level, I figured it might be possible to pick it up around the £300 mark, or maybe just a little North of that...
The watch was described as being in very good condition, which the photographs seem to support, and had recently had a new battery - and the seller had made a very smart call in asking the jeweller who replaced the battery to take a photo while the back was off.
In hindsight, I should have known this one wouldn't settle at the £300, not with that dial... but I was pretty surprised when at the last minute the watch shot right up to £450. I mean, it's a nice watch, but that is really more than I anticipated it fetching. But then eBay is like that I guess, it only needs two people who really want the watch to push the price right the way up.
Amusingly, our old friends at 'Infinite Shopping' have one of these for sale on eBay right now (albeit with the less desirable black dial) and they want £3490 for it. Admittedly it is supposedly 'New with tags', but even so... what a joke. I wonder if any of their customers ever buy sober?
I was 100% serious about bidding for this one, I even checked the number of links in the bracelet and it came up bang on the money, ready-sized for my wrist, but I wasn't expecting that price hike. On reflection I think I'd rather have paid £349 for the 38mm S/EL than £450 for this CL1112, if only because I already have a Kirium in the collection, but even so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.
True I'd prefer it if the case was brushed rather than polished, and the white date wheel at the four position isn't the greatest placement, but still, this is a fine looking watch and the price wasn't completely unreasonable.
Alas, another TAG Heuer slips through my fingers and it's back to the drawing board!
Tuesday 12 June 2018
Monday 11 June 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Two-Tone Watch
At the time of writing this watch is for sale on eBay and I've been weighing up whether or not to bid again. I made a very low early bid, which put me in the lead for a day or two but since then the price has steadily risen and right now it's sitting just below £200. Only time will tell of course, but I can't help thinking it's going to shoot up in the next six hours and I'm reluctant to go too mad with the bidding because it's only 38mm and ideally I'd like one at 42mm.
But on the positive side, the watch is sized to 7.5" and has two spare links which means it will actually fit my wrist. I've seen loads of S/ELs for sale, but they nearly all seem to have 7" bracelets, which means I'm going to have to fork out for another 3-4 links, and these things are not cheap - or necessarily easy to get hold of...
At 38mm it's right at the very bottom of the scale for me, but it's still a nice looking watch. I know the two-tone is not for everyone, and generally speaking I'm not a fan either, but for some reason I kinda like it on these old S/EL models. It seems fitting somehow, being an 80s/90s watch and it's a bit less in your face than some of the full-gold pieces, although if I was going to wear a gold watch, then an S/EL would be a prime candidate.
There's something about the S/EL that I really like, it's got personality, for want of a better word and it's something I feel was lost a bit when the model was reworked into the Link range. There are some Links that I like, but there are also a lot of characterless, dull ones as well. It's odd really, in every TAG model range there's watches I like and watches I don't like, but no other range seems to have as many mediocre, bland watches as the Link.
The S/EL seems to lend itself to the two-tone look, with it's unusual bracelet. A lot of two-tone watches don't seem to pull the design off very well but this one just looks 'right', I think perhaps it's because the two-tone design is very equal, whereas on some watches it's more silver than gold. The dark grey face is a nice contrast and this one also has the classic red and green TAG Heuer logo, which is something my collection is still lacking.
It looks like there's some wear here and there on the gold, but you can't expect a watch of this age to be perfect really, especially a quartz piece that was probably worn day in day out. I notice theres no gold on the inside of the bracelet, I'm not sure if that's because it's worn off or maybe the plating was only ever on the outside? Sounds a bit mad, but who knows?
It would be really nice to be able to see this watch and try it on before I decide whether to bid again, but I've still never actually seen an S/EL in the flesh, so I'm going to have to base my decision solely on the pictures provided...
UPDATE: Well I bailed at £280 and the watch went on to achieve £349, which is still a good price I think, but for me I'd rather save the cash and wait for a 42mm to come along.
Sunday 10 June 2018
Saturday 9 June 2018
NOT BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Display Tray / Alter Ego Watch
As if to prove I am a mug for anything with a TAG Heuer logo on it (as if we didn't know that already), yesterday I bid on this display tray on eBay. I have no idea what I would have done with it if I'd won it, I'm pretty sure it would have ended up in my 'TAG cupboard' next to my watch stands and my 100% unofficial 'woodblock' (no really) and with that in mind I wasn't really prepared to bid too much (even though part of me wanted to).
I think I put a bid in of about £28 or something, and it eventually sold for £39... which makes me think - I could have had that for £40! But of course, eBay doesn't work like that and there's no way of knowing exactly how much the winning bidder bid. Also, the picture above isn't the actual tray I was bidding on because it seems that eBay is no longer allowing you to look at the pages of finished auctions - every time I try it 'suggests' a similar item (which in this case is a TAG Connected watch - makes zero sense to me). I think the tray I was bidding on was in better condition to be honest...
Anyway, judging by other finished items, £39 looks an absolute steal! Which means there must be lots of other idiots out there like me who are obsessed with anything TAG Heuer... I'd just love to know what they actually use them for. I mean, it is an item with a specific purpose I guess, but at home how often would you need to use it for that specific purpose? Maybe these people also have a 'TAG cupboard', filled with junk they also had to have but now wonder what to do with.
I've always really liked the futuristic looking Alter Ego watch line, but sadly they never made a men's version. I found this one on eBay, seemingly in very good condition and selling for a ridiculously reasonable £275 (or even 'Make an Offer'). I kept showing it to my wife, but she procrastinated too long about whether she liked it 'enough' and the watch was sold.
I really think somebody got an absolute bargain there, the watch looked like it had it's complete bracelet and my wife's wrists are so small she could potentially have sold about six links and got half her money back - but there you are.
I think, if the dial had been one of those really nice metallic blue ones she would have been a lot more gung-ho, but I think that would have added to the price and to be honest you don't see many Alter Ego's in this kind of condition. Most are highly polished (there are some brushed versions, but they don't have the 'glamour' of the the reflective ones - I'm usually all for brushed but not on these) and many that you see on eBay look like they've been scraped along a pebble-dashed wall.
I recently saw an eBay listing which showed a lume-shot for one of these and it was the first time I really noticed the blocks around the edge of the dial (although they aren't present on every Alter Ego). Annoyingly I can't find that picture or any Alter Ego lume shot, but it looked really cool. Also the TAG Heuer logo was lumed as well, which I don't think I've seen before on a watch.
Inevitably, I kind of wish I had bought it just to have it, but that's rather ridiculous isn't it? My cupboard's got enough 'stuff' in it without starting to add women's watches to the pile!
Friday 8 June 2018
Thursday 7 June 2018
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: New Bamford Limited Edition Autavia
The new buzzword in the watch industry is 'personalization', with some watch companies now offering web-based services allowing you to choose parts of your watch to come up with something unique to your own individual personality. Interestingly, companies like Cartier don't currently offer this service, perhaps because they value their brand integrity rather higher than some others, because the problem with allowing the public to 'choose' is that, frankly, the public aren't always the best people to make these kind of decisions.
Indeed, some watch companies aren't even that well qualified to design watches and if ever we needed a case study to prove that point.... (drum roll) 'Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the new Bamford Autavia Limited Edition'.
Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? I realise now that my comments about the new Hodinkee Autavia were... perhaps a little misjudged, since yes it may be tediously unimaginative, but let's be honest, perhaps 'imagination' is overrated. If this is what imagination does, then Heaven help us.
Where do we even begin? Well how about those red hands. Just awful. They don't look great on a £1300 Formula 1, but here they look even worse. And then there's that red minute track, straight off an Omega Speedmaster by the look if things. Then we've got blue hands here and yellow slashes here, it's a bloody mess!
This is exactly the sort of thing you might expect someone to come up with if they were 'playing' with the personalization tool, but to actually make it as a limited edition? How many of these abominations are they hoping to sell? Is it more than 5? Please tell me it isn't.... and how much is it? £5,000... £6,000? Surely no more than that.
I just think the Autavia is the wrong platform, everything about the Autavia screams retro and class, people who buy Autavias generally want something a bit understated, not brash and colourful. The Monaco is a different beast, it's square shape lends it a funkiness that invites playful, colourful editions, but this is so off it's unbelievable.
Still, as an example of personalization this s the business, if nothing else it says - no matter how poor your taste, we can make you the watch you want, exactly how you want it. I'm just surprised they haven't PVD coated it as well...
So that's six Autavias now, with the Calibre11 version at very top and this at the very bottom, how long will it be before we see number seven?
Wednesday 6 June 2018
FEATURE: Richemont Update / An Interesting Turn of Events...
You may remember a post not so long ago about the Richemont Group buying back $500M worth of watches from their distribution chain, supposedly to stop them being dumped on the grey market. Well, in an unexpected turn of events, apparently Richemont have just bought Watchfinder & Co...
It doesn't take a genius to see where this might be going, does it?
I'm sure Richemont would say the two are unconnected, but seriously, it would be foolish to think that a company sitting on $500M of stock, which has just bought one of the biggest pre-owned dealers in the market isn't going to drip feed those watches into the system. Obviously they'll have to be careful about it, they don't want to flood the market and drive the price down, but playing the long game they should be able to dump quite a lot of the buy-back stock, and definitely recoup a lot of the costs incurred and at the same time they potentially get to influence the second hand value of their own (and perhaps even more importantly their competitors) watches.
It will be interesting to see what happens next...
Tuesday 5 June 2018
FEATURE: The Futility of Fakery...
Utter garbage!
I try and explain to them that while I guess it's 'okay' for them (it isn't, but bear with me) to buy these watches if they wish, what really bothers me is that I've seen crappy copies ending up on eBay and selling for £600 or more and that bothers me somewhat. It bothers me because I can't honestly believe that anyone would willingly pay £600 for something which they know is fake, so clearly they are buying in the belief that what they are purchasing is the genuine article - and that isn't good for anybody, least of all the brand.
It's frustrating that youtube do not offer a clear 'Report' button so that we, the watch fans, can try and do our bit to stamp out this disgraceful practice. And as for eBay, well yes they do have a report button, sort of... if you know where to look. It's a small piece of text hidden half way down the page, but rarely does it bring any sort of action. I reported a clearly fake Monaco 24 which was selling for hundreds of pounds, but nothing happened. I reported it about three times, but it ran its course and some poor schmuck ended up paying out for a piece of complete junk.
My wife used to work with a woman who couldn't understand why she would spend £1000 on a watch, when she could 'get the same thing for £50 on holiday'. Well, clearly it's not the same thing, as countless tales of watches bought on holiday lasting barely the journey home can attest. But regardless, I don't understand the mentality of someone who is happy to wear a fake watch (or a fake handbag, coat, whatever), I mean what is the point? Some people will know and may or may not tell you to your face, some people won't know and will think you have a nice expensive watch... but you will know, and these people often tell other people for fear of being 'outed' as a faker - but even if they don't, I don't get what they are getting out of the experience. If you own a luxury watch it's a thing to be proud of and admire every time you put it on, how hollow must that experience be if you know that what you are wearing is actually garbage that has almost no intrinsic value.
So what on Earth is the point? If you only feel comfortable spending £200 on a watch, get a £200 watch from Seiko or Citizen and be proud of it. Don't waste your money on a fake watch that's probably worth £25. I mean there's a lot of decent watches available at £200, and even more if you look at the pre-owned market. I'd love an Audemars Piguet Offshore, but I'm never going to have £20,000 to spend on a watch and I'm not going to spend £900 buying a fake, no matter how good it may be.
What amazes me is that fakes like the one at the top of this page still pop-up. This isn't even a copy of anything, TAG have never made anything that looks like this, it's just a bullshit watch with a TAG logo stuck on it. I realise that not everyone has the knowledge to keep themselves safe when buying pre-owned, but you can always ask for help in the Calibre 11 forum by following this link.
https://forums.calibre11.com/threads/is-my-tag-heuer-authentic-all-questions-here-please.33008/
It's getting harder to spot the fakes these days, when there are companies like Pagani (seriously) making straight copies of modern Aquaracers and putting their own name on the dial, you can't tell me that some of that production isn't destined to be 'diverted' somewhere to have a TAG Heuer logo stuck on and sold as genuine, it's just too obvious. And some of the latest fakes are frighteningly good, some high end fakes even coming with ETA movements now... in fact this video is well worth a watch if you're interested.
Monday 4 June 2018
Sunday 3 June 2018
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Heuer Autavia Hodinkee 'Orange Boy' Special Edition
CBE2117.BA0687
There's something about Hodinkee that rubs me up the wrong way, I don't know if it's the aura of smugness, the complete lack of humour displayed in their videos or the beards... it gives me the impression that it's a company for people who wear suits without socks, and who spend far too much time on Instagram. But let's not let cloud our judgement, eh...
I didn't much care for the Hodinkee Skipper, I thought it was overpriced, pretty ugly and re-using cases marked Carrera (and re-branding it the Carrera Skipper) was poor form. But still, it clearly wasn't aimed at me (contrary to popular belief I don't think everything TAG make should be aimed at me, but that doesn't mean I can't have an opinion about it) and it sold out in a day or so, so they must have done something right.
So here we are in 2018 and here's the next Hodinkee Special Edition (a Special Edition this time, not a Limited Edition), and well.... be honest, who didn't see that one coming?
The orange and black Autavia was bound to come along eventually, be it a Hodinkee Special Edition or not. Back in 2003 TAG Heuer re-released the Autavia in the black/orange dial, white/blue dial and white dial/gold case versions - so can we assume the gold case version will be along before long? Perhaps, perhaps not... (although we do know there's a Batman GMT and a 'flavour of the month' bronze version on the way) but this one was a dead cert and sure enough, here it is.
Problem is, we've only just had the superb looking Calibre11 'Siffert-dial' Autavia... and in comparison this one looks a bit, err... well, it just isn't that exciting is it?
I've never been that keen on the Autavia, and there's no point retreading old ground so I'll focus on the elements that are unique to this model.
One thing that does give it a slightly 'unique' look is the Tachymeter bezel, which is different to the one used on the JH85 and the Calibre11 versions. I'm not crazy about it if I'm honest, it looks a bit 'basic' somehow... I do think the orange splashes are a welcome addition to the dial which has a tendency to look very monochromatic on the original, but again I just can't help comparing it unfavourably with the white/blue version.
I know the 'Heuer 02' text was removed from the Calibre11 version, and here it's been left on... it does look a little bit cramped shoved in there with the date window, but I don't think it looks as bad as the new Link Chronograph.
Aged lume done properly...
Oh, and it's got faux aged lume, which is another point against it in my opinion. The only watch I think that I like with the biege lume is the Tudor Pelagos LHD, and I think that works because there's no 'white' on the dial, even the date wheel is off white. As soon as you put aged lume in front of a crisp white sub-dial (for example) it looks awful and obviously fake. I think this is something the industry needs to stop doing to be honest, surely it's a good thing that the new lume doesn't 'discolour', and I can see this fad passing eventually and people being left with some watches that look a bit silly. Then again, people are breaking eggs over their bronze cased watches to make them look 'old', but at least they can be polished up again...
Overall then, it's not bad. Predictable, unimaginative, and completely inferior to the Calibre11 model, but not completely terrible. In other words, it's the best Hodinkee TAG Heuer so far...
Saturday 2 June 2018
Friday 1 June 2018
BUYING EXPERIENCE: 1992 TAG Heuer Pamphlet
I came across this pamphlet on eBay a couple of weeks ago but balked at the £25 asking price, however I added it to my watch list because you never know.... then a couple of days ago I got an email telling me the item had been reduced significantly (to £13.50). Not only that but the seller was still inviting offers despite the price drop, so I offered £11 and the seller accepted.
The pamphlet is in good condition overall, especially when you consider it's age. The staples have gone rusty, which is a shame, and there is some definite 'patina' on the (quite thick) pages, but really it's not in bad condition at all and I'm very happy with my purchase.
The older TAG catalogues always seem to be listed at quite high prices, which I suppose is simply a case of supply and demand - recent catalogues sell for a few quid, such is the number offered for sale. I've got a lot of them, back to the early 00's, but I would like to get some of the older ones if I can find them for reasonable prices. In the meantime this pamphlet is a nice addition to the collection.
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