Monday 14 January 2019

FEATURE: 2018 - My Crazy Year of Watch Buying!


It seems slightly ridiculous now, but just 12 months ago my watch collection consisted of just 6 pieces. My F1 Kirium (bought in 2004), Aquagraph (2013), Carrera Heuer 01 (2016), Formula 1 Quartz (2016), Microtimer (2017) and my Formula 1 Calibre 16 (2017). Along the way I had bought a couple of 2000s (in 2015) and then sold them in 2016.

2018 was indeed a crazy watch buying year for me and it started in February at Bicester Village.


01. TAG Heuer Aquaracer Swiss Limited Edition (Ladies)

WAF141X.BA0824

2018 was our 25th Wedding Anniversary year and I'd been saving for 18 months for our planned trip to Geneva, we still went to Geneva... but I bought this watch for my wife for an anniversary present. It literally says 'Geneva' on the dial so every time she wears it she will remember our amazing holiday and our visit to the TAG Heuer factory. Unfortunately for her our anniversary is in October so she had a long wait!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/03/buying-experience-tag-heuer-aquaracer.html


02. TAG Heuer 6000 Series Quartz

WH1115-K1

So then my first purchase of 2018 was an eBay bargain. I paid £300 for a blue dial quartz 6000 in very good condition with a perfect bracelet, the only slight niggle being some wear to the lume on the hands. I really enjoy wearing this watch, it's affordable enough that you don't have to be totally paranoid the whole time you're wearing it and it looks much more expensive than it is.



03. TAG Heuer Aquaracer Chronotimer

CAF1010.BA0821

As I went into 2018 I started the year by picking up a Chronotimer from Parkers in Sheffield for £950, it was quite a fun morning driving up there on a cold March morning and as the watch fitted me perfectly I wore it on the drive home... and tried not to drive into the back of the car in front every time the light caught the polished markers and hands. :)

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/03/buying-experience-aquaracer-chronotimer.html


04. TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S

CAF7013.BA0815

This was a watch I'd had my eye on for some time, and nearly bought the previous year but (foolishly) got distracted by and bought the Calibre 16 Formula 1 instead. I went looking for this and found it on the Watchfinder site, where coincidentally they were running a 'Make Us an Offer' sale. The watch was up for £1275 and I secured it for £1150. I picked it up from their Avery Row store in London and have loved it ever since. 

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/03/buying-experience-aquaracer-calibre-s.html


05. TAG Heuer Link Lady Chinese Limited Edition (Ladies)

WAT1418.BA0954

Technically I didn't buy this one, I visited Bicester Village with my wife and she fell in love with the purple dial. This one is a Chinese Limited Edition of which Bicester had just two pieces. It was a hell of a job finding anything out about this one at all, funny thing is my wife always sad she never liked Roman numerals on watches...

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/04/buying-experience-tag-heuer-lady-link.html


06. TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 8 GMT

WAV5111.BA0901

The time came to offload my orange and black CAU2012 Formula 1 Calibre 16 and as I've recently recounted, I ended up trading it in with Watchfinder. Not the best move I made this year, but I can't blame Watchfinder for my bad choices!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/05/buying-experience-grand-carrera-calibre.html


07. TAG Heuer Aqaracer Quartz 500M

WAJ1111.BA0870

My next purchase came in May and was my first (and to date only) experience of dealing with 'The Watch Village'. I really love this watch, it is one of my absolute favourites, but dealing with 'The Watch Village' was frustrating to say the least.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/05/buying-experience-grand-carrera-calibre.html


08. TAG Heuer Alter Ego (Ladies)

WAA1412.BA0760

Again, this was another of my wife's purchases, but since I was heavily involved (i.e. I drove her up to Wakefield to buy it from Cash Converters) I shall include it here. Having a wife who likes watches definitely makes things easier, although I haven't got her properly trained yet whereby she still makes the occasional comment about 'not needing any more watches'. It's an ongoing process I guess... :)

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/07/buying-experience-tag-heuer-alter-ego.html


09. TAG Heuer Kirium Quartz Chronograph

CL1112.BA0701

Next up came my second Kirium, and one that I feel I definitely overpaid for a bit. This one cost me £400, which seemed fair at the time given the alternatives I could find, but the condition is a little weak. The clasp is a bit worn, there's some small bits of damage to the bracelet (and it has been repaired although I didn't notice that for some time), I think there's a collar missing where the clasp attaches to the bracelet so it wiggles around when the clasp is open, and the bezel is a bit scratched. Still, the dial is a gorgeous colour, and it all works as it should.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/08/buying-experience-tag-heuer-kirium.html


10. TAG Heuer 2000 Exclusive Quartz Two-Tone

WN1153.BD0341

I honestly never thought I'd buy a gold or two-tone watch, but then I came across this in a pawn shop near where I work. It took me a little while to decide about this one and when I went back to buy it it was heavily reduced, so that was a bit of bonus!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/09/buying-experience-tag-heuer-2000.html


11. TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz

383.513/1

A long held goal was achieved when I finally got myself a classic, resin cased 1980s Formula 1. It's smaller than I'd like at 35mm, but doesn't wear too bad on the wrist. Admittedly I'd have liked one of the red and black ones, but this is still pretty cool. The only thing was I had to hand it over to my wife so that she could give it me for Christmas.

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/10/buying-experience-tag-heuer-classic.html


12. TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz

S95.713C

You know that saying, 'if it's good to be true...', well this was too good to be true. I bought this very quickly and luckily managed to sell it again without losing too much money. The seller did not state a size and I found it on another site which falsely stated it was 38mm, this is what happens when you find an item on eBay with just a few minutes to go until the listing ends.



13. TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph Two-Tone 

CG1120-0

I tried really hard to buy a black dial steel S/EL but in the end the deal came to nothing, and in the meantime I went back to this two-tone S/EL that I was looking at beforehand. I really like this watch, but I still want to get a black dial chrono S/EL at some point as well. We're up to November now, but still there's more...

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/11/buying-experience-tag-heuer-sel-quartz_15.html


14. TAG Heuer 3000 Series Quartz Two-Tone

934.206

It took a long time, but I finally got my hands on a 3000 Series! I wasn't expecting to buy another two-tone, but this one was too good to pass up. Listed on eBay at £475, I offered just £275 and ws rather surprised when my offer was accepted. I really love this watch and I can't see me ever parting with this one, even though it's one of the cheapest TAG Heuer's I own.

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/12/buying-experience-tag-heuer-3000-series.html


15. TAG Heuer 4000 Series Quartz

WF1111-0

This, the 3000 and the 6000 Chrono were all bought at the same time and on reflection that was probably a bad move. I like this one, but it's not terribly exciting if I'm honest. The bezel doesn't move, the green paint has come off and the lume has perished a bit so it's something of a phantom watch now in some lights... but still it wasn't too expensive and the bracelet is actually in excellent condition (unlike some I've seen).

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/12/buying-experience-tag-heuer-4000-series.html


16. TAG Heuer 6000 Series Quartz Chronograph

CH1110.BA0675

This is an odd one, I still haven't made my mind up about this one... it's in excellent condition, but I'm finding it hard to warm to somehow. It didn't help that I had to send it back to be sorted out as soon as I got it, which kinda put a question mark over it's head straight away. Oddly I find my feelings about it can change by the hour, so I think I'm just going to have to wait and see how this one plays out...

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/12/buying-experience-tag-heuer-6000-series.html


Well there we are, my crazy year of watch buying... and even though I've already bought a couple of watches this year, I can't really see 2019 playing out the same way. For a start I've covered a lot of bases now, and if I do buy watches I can see where I might buy one and sell one rather than just keep adding to the numbers. I'm also toying with the idea of saving up and getting myself something decent for my birthday in October, so that might slow me down a bit, but I guess we'll have to wait and see!

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