Monday 15 July 2019

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Pilot 510.501

510.501

I came across this one on the website 'SwissWatchTrader', not a site I've ever bought from myself but one that seems to be quite good and only stocks watches that are top drawer. This one is a little hard to pin down, I've had a look through the catalogues on Calibre 11 and it last appears in the 1986 catalogue, so it's probably fair to say that this watch is rarer with a TAG Heuer logo on it than a Heuer logo. The dial is fantastic, love those orange hands, but I've never really been a fan of the Speedmaster II style case and I'm not loving it here either unfortunately.


There's definitely more than a hint of 'Porsche Design' about this one and the PVD looks to be about as good as you could possibly expect from a watch that's over 30 years old. I notice the watch still has a sticker on the back, so maybe this one has spent it's life in a drawer? Also, if you notice, the back has the Heuer logo on it rather than the TAG Heuer shield, but this isn't uncommon from this era. It seems incredible today, but back then the company obviously thought it was perfectly acceptable to use up the old parts.


Despite looking rather large in these pictures, the watch is actually only 41mm in diameter and features a tritium dial which looks like it has aged quite well. Inside there is a Lemania 5100 automatic chronograph, it's all very attractive, but as you can imagine it's not exactly cheap...


Swiss Watch Trader has this one for sale for £2950, which is definitely more than I'd want to pay, but you can't deny the quality of the piece so maybe it's not completely outrageous. Doubtless some would argue it would be more valuable with the Heuer logo on the dial, and yes it probably would, but then again, there really can't be that many of these out there, especially not in this condition.

https://www.swisswatchtrader.co.uk/watches/tagheuer/pilot-chronograph-510501/

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