SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Link Quartz Two Tone Unisex Watch

WT1251

I've come across this model a couple of times before, but I never actually realised until now that this is a 'unisex' model measuring a rather tiny 36mm. I don't know how representative these photos are, but that yellow gold looks nauseatingly yellow and looks like a complete mismatch with the bezel. If it was just one photo I would suspect the light, but even in the photo where the watch is facing away the same disparity is visible; maybe this has had a replacement bezel that doesn't really match?

I'm lead to believe that the original list price for this quartz piece was between £2500 and £2800 and Watchfinder currently have this one up for £1250. Half price it may be, but if the bezel really is as obviously mismatched as it looks then I'm not sure if it's that much of a bargain. And I'm not sure its going to sell that well anyway, this design is definitely not for everyone and the sickly looking two-tone is going to narrow its potential customer base even further.

Then there's that difficult diameter, which is on the larger side for a lady (certainly too large for my wife's wrist, not that she'd be seen dead wearing this) and too small for all but the slenderest of chaps. I'm sure that's what Watchfinder would have told the seller when they bought it (probably for about £500 I shouldn't wonder, and rightly so), no doubt this is going to be a hard one to shift.

The super-modern Arabics don't bother me so much, indeed there's a 42mm blue dial / steel version of this which pops up now and again that I would happily wear, but gawd is this a statement. I really rather think this is more likely to end up on a ladies wrist than a man's, I mean I have a two tone 38mm S/EL and so I'm not one to hide my light under a bushel, but this is for someone who really wants to be noticed.

I've tried to find an alternative picture to get a different viewpoint, but searching for WT1251 pulls up very little. This image (below) gives a very different impression, the gold on here looks a lot less yellow and a lot more 'brass' toned. It still looks pretty rich though, I suppose we should be somewhat grateful they didn't go the whole hog and produce a solid gold version...

This era of Link certainly carried over a lot of DNA from the S/EL, it's funny how it has developed over the past twenty years and now has almost nothing left (except of course the basic design of the bracelet links). Overall I'd have to say that the Link is probably my least favourite TAG Heuer model range, I love my Link Searacer but I could point you in the direction of many, many Links that I don't like at all and many more that are just plain boring, although clearly 'boring' isn't something you could accuse the WT1251 of being.

I'm sure someone will buy this sooner or later, and maybe there's someone out there actively hunting this down (God knows they're pretty thin on the ground), but I can't help but think for £1250 there's a lot of preferable alternatives. Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and maybe it looks a lot better close up?

Let's hope so.