Thursday 18 October 2018

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre S Retrograde Lap Timer

CV7A11.BA0795

It's fair to say that 'proper' Carreras aren't really at the top of my wishlist. It's not that I don't like them as such, it's just that there aren't really the bargains out there that there are from other models in the range and at the moment there's always something more exciting to buy. But I would like a 'proper' Carrera at some point - although perhaps 'proper' is the wrong word to use in this context.

Mostly the Carreras I do like are the ones that are PVD coated, preferably with a tyre tread rubber strap and flashes of red on the dial... but these ones tend to be right at the top of the pricing scale and as yet I haven't found one that I like enough to commit to spending £3000+ on in order to add it to my collection.


But there may be an answer, because while I love the Calibre S movement, I can imagine there's a lot of 'old school conservationists' who don't like it in a Carrera. And I can see their point to a degree, it does seem a more natural fit with the Aquaracer and the Formula 1 models, but that's exactly why it can be a bit of a value proposition.

I recently saw a black dial Calibre S Carrera in the EST1897 sale for just over £1000, which sounds like an awfully good price to me. I don't know what the original list price of this model was but the Aquaracer was over £2000 when it was new so I'd assume the Carrera version was very near or more likely over £3000.

I can imagine this is a hard watch to shift, the funky sub dials look slightly at odds with the classic case and lugs and probably 95% of people who want a classic Carrera aren't going to give this much of a chance. Actually when I say I saw a black dial variant for just over £1000, that's true - but it wasn't the same watch as this, as I've noticed this is the (slightly baffling) retrograde laptimer version - as fitted in the SLR I tried on a few months ago.


The standard Calibre S is a very impressive piece of engineering, and this is even more so, with the ability to count 20 separate lap times and retrieve the best lap on demand (just so long as you can remember which buttons you need to press), but obviously there will be a premium to pay for this extra functionality.

Lume is not this watch's strong point, it's only rated to 100m admittedly, but even so it's a pretty pathetic showing. If you're only going to lume the hands on a watch, the minimum you need to add is a pip at the 12 position otherwise you might as well not bother (see my now departed CAU2012).


But the dial is a nice combination of white, silver and grey and that red second hand sets it all off rather well. The only thing here that looks slightly out of place is the tachymetre, perhaps they could have changed the font to look a little more modern or something, but then maybe that crosses the line between putting the Calibre S movement into a Carrera and creating something which is no longer really a Carrera?


The more I look at this the more I like it, and if you do want the Calibre S retrograde laptimer in your collection, I would probably take this over the SLR if only because this doesn't have that odd left-side bezel which seems purposefully designed to stick into your arm at every opportunity - which is a shame because other than that it's a very cool piece.

A quick Google tells me that pre-owned market value for this is around the £1600 mark, which is pretty reasonable I'd say. I could live without the retrograde lap timer element myself so I'd probably plump for a CV7A13 on a rubber strap instead.

CV7A13.FT6012

In fact, I may just have found my ideal Carrera there... what a pity there doesn't seem to be any for sale (in the UK) at the moment. Ah well, I'll take note of that all the same!

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