WAY208C.FC6383
TAG Heuer Boutique / 4th May, Bicester Village
So here's a post I never really thought I'd get to write, and to be honest I still can't quite believe a) that I now have the long sought after WAY208C in my possession, and b) how fast this all happened!
WAY208C.FC6383 WAY208A.FC6381 WAY208B.FC6382
When the WAY208A/B/C watches were launched back in 2016 I immediately took a shine to the 'C' version, albeit I really wasn't sure about the gold coloured textile strap. Then 'A Blog to Watch' reviewed the watch and said how much they liked it and how fantastic it looked off the textile strap and put on a rubber strap. I couldn't agree more...
But as much as I liked the watch I wanted to see one before I shelled out for one, and that just never happened. I looked all over the place, I went around London one day looking, but to no avail, I tried looking on the internet and rang several places, but they never actually had the watch available to try on, it was always a case of ordering it in. Then I thought I had found it in a shop in Derby, but it turned out that they'd just sold it, then another shop supposedly had it... until I rang them and it turned out that no they didn't.
Then I stopped hearing 'We can order it in for you', and started hearing that it was sold out. The first time I went into the TAG Heuer boutique on Oxford Street I asked in there and they confirmed it was sold out, and so, reluctantly I resigned myself to the harsh reality that the watch was gone and if I really wanted one I'd have to wait for it to turn up pre-owned. But even then, what was the likelihood of being able to see the watch before buying it? Yes, if Watchfinder or another trader got one then I could visit them and view the watch, but other than that it wasn't looking good.
Then one turned up on eBay for about £1800, which had had the cyclops removed. At the time I hated the cyclops, so this piqued my interest, but I was a bit wary about buying a fairly expensive watch that had been modified. Plus, I really wanted to see the watch in the flesh and see how it looked, and whether the slightly vulnerable PVD coating was intact. So I put it to the back of my mind, albeit it still popped up every so often... and of course it was number 7 on my list of top ten watch 'wants' a couple of weeks ago.
So on Friday I was configuring a new computer and transferring some bookmarks over when I came across 'EST1897's website. It's a website I rarely think to look at, but they often have sales and as I scrolled down the page I came across the CT1113-0 Searacer that I looked into a while back. If you remember, I bought one from eBay for about £495 and when it turned up it was quite scratched and the Regatta function didn't work properly, so that went back and I made a request to have the same watch sent from EST1897 to my local viewing shop.
Well I never heard anything and so I assumed the watch had already been sold. As it was the watch was listed at £995 which was more than I really wanted to pay, and the watch never arrived, so again I just forgot about it and moved on. I've still been keeping an eye out for a Searacer, but I wanted one at a good price. So imagine my surprise when I realised the same Searacer was still on the site, and currently on sale at a very competitive* £495, having already failed to sell at £745 previously. A total no brainer, with a year's warranty, I flipped my wallet open and flexed my flexible friend.
*By way of comparison, the last time Watchfinder had a CT1113-0, it was on for £1100+.
Two hours later, I received the latest stock update from Bicester Village and as I looked down the list and took in the part numbers I recognized some ranges, but completely missed the blindingly obvious WAY208C.FC6383, at least until I started to create my 'New Arrivals' post....
Then it was all panic stations, should I leave work early and go straight to Bicester... that was a possibility but complicated because I had a family meal to attend in the evening. Thankfully I managed to quickly get hold of the store and manager Tom* was kind enough to put the watch in the safe for me overnight. Phew!
*Thanks Tom!
I mean how lucky can I get? If I never got the stock update, or I didn't do the post until later that day the watch could easily have been sold before I had a chance to do anything about it. New stock sells very fast at Bicester, it always amazes me how fast new inventory flies out the door, for example the Formula 1 Indy 500 I posted about on Saturday morning lasted less than 24 hours...
So this morning I journeyed to Bicester yet again, on a mission to bring to a close 2 years plus of wondering. One way or another I was finally going to get to see the watch, and at the same time have to decide if I wanted to buy it or not. Because, frankly, they had one piece and it probably wasn't going to last the weekend once it got put out for sale. Admittedly, this filled me with some trepidation, since this is exactly how the CAU2012 Formula 1 Calibre 16 debacle started... but hopefully, this time things will pan out differently.
Secretly I almost hoped I would see it and be disappointed, that way I could forget about it and avoid a high pressure decision. But in actual fact, it more than lived up to my expectations and even the textile strap was a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. And so, my flexible friend was flexed for the second time in two days and I added yet another TAG Heuer to my stable.
If you remember, I photoshopped an FT6142 rubber strap onto the WAY208C a little while back and it really looked pretty neat. I've ordered that strap, even though I actually quite like the textile strap (and that's something I never thought I'd say). I'm not actually sure if I'll switch it onto the rubber straight away or not, the strap will take 2-6 weeks depending on the availability so I'll have plenty of time to think about it.
I think it's going to look pretty epic on the rubber strap personally!
Obviously it's very early days, but at the moment I think I've made a great choice. The lume isn't quite what you'd expect from an Aquaracer, because it's grey, but it works and it's on all the markers and the hands (not just on the hands like the CAU2012) so it's fine*. It will be interesting to see how this one goes after so long waiting to get my hands on it, but with the Bicester discount and a two year warranty I couldn't really have bought this better!
*Actually, having now exposed the watch to proper sunlight and taken it into a properly dark room, it's better than I thought!
Needless to say, the 'buying experience' was everything I would hope for, all the staff at the Bicester boutique are great and Even looked after me perfectly. I wish I could get all my watches from them really, if only they had a stock of pre-owned Kiriums!
Finally, I must mention the new TAG Heuer boxes, which are rather cool and a distinct improvement on the old brown boxes I have to say. They have a much more modern feel about them and I really like they way they've printed the logo on the inside of the box, they also seem quite well made and sturdy and I don't think they'll end up disintegrating like the older black boxes used to either (which has got to be good).
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