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...