For the benefit of any of my readers who don't as yet frequent the Calibre 11 forum, please tell us a little bit about yourself...
To misquote Sting, " I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien. I'm in Englishman in Brisbane".
Clearly this is an obvious question, but I feel I need to ask it all the same as it gives us some kind of background, so how did you get into watches?
That's easy! The Omega Seamaster (although I will probably never buy one because every time I have tried one on, I have been disappointed) and my Father. He once came home from work in the Middle East with a titanium Seiko. I don't recall the exact model, but that got me interested such that when he came home from another trip he had a Seiko Kinetic Titanium for me. A watch that I still have some 25 years on.
I know from the forum that you have a couple of very nice Carreras in your collection, do you have a 'favourite' piece?
Without a doubt I do, although that is not to say that I don't still love wearing all my watches. My Heuer Carrera 300 SLR Limited Edition is my favourite though.
Those are both very beautiful pieces which I would love to own, although I think I would tend towards the McLaren 1974 myself. So now we get to the slightly trickier questions, beginning with a personal favourite of mine: is there a place in your collection for quartz / how do you feel about quartz watches?
Yes. The Seiko Kinetic is quartz and I also own a Rado R5.5 that is quartz. That said, I don't see me buying quartz in the future. As an engineer, I am fascinated by mechanical watches so that is where my $$$ will be going in the future. Oh, and maybe an JLC Atmos - those things are super cool!
Yes, I don't really understand how that works personally, but it's ingenious none the less. Something else which is ingenious, but in a completely different way is the TAG Heuer Connected, is that something you could see yourself buying/wearing at some point?
Nope, sorry, never. I think it has its place but the way that TAG Heuer have allowed any and all dials to be bastardised on to the face of the Connected really irks me. (Sorry Albert-AMG)
Do you have any idea what you might like to add to your collection next?
Not yet. I have a fairly long list including a Carrera Calibre 17 (CV5111), a couple of Monacos, an IWC Spitfire Flyback Mk XVII, the Carrera MP4-12C, a JLC Geophysic True Second, a Chopard Mille Miglia GTS Power Control and so it goes on. Quite a few of those can now only be bought second hand and I have sadly watched the prices of some them increase over the years. If only I had had the funds at the time I decided I definitely wanted to buy them.
Is there a 'money no object' grail piece that you lust after?
Absolutely. Two JLCs and an ALS. First the Duometre Spherotourbillion Moon, second the Amvox 3 Tourbillion GMT and lastly the Lange 1 Moon Phase.
I'm glad I don't have to answer that question myself because I tend to focus on what I can afford, and what my wife will let me get away with, haha. So how does your partner/wife feel about your collection?
She is very supportive and has "bought" (in inverted commas) me three of my collection. She expects me to exercise restraint though but can also be an enabler. Luckily, I am not that impulsive and tend to think long and hard about my purchases.
How many watches is too many?
Whatever it is, I haven't got there yet.
Have you ever ‘sneaked’ a watch into the house?
Ermmm, pass ;)
I'll take that as a yes then. :)
Have you ever maybe bought or sold a watch and regretted it?
I still own every watch I have ever bought and there are no regrets. I think that has something to do with the length of time I spend mulling over a purchase.
Probably, I am far too impulsive but I'm trying to roll it back a bit now. So here's another question that seems to divide the forum somewhat, and that is how do you feel about 'faux' aged lume?
Lume the colour of baby poo doesn't really float my boat, on the other hand I really don't care and it is horses for courses.
In the wider watch world TAG Heuer has long attracted more than its fair share of negativity, do you have any thoughts on why that is?
The 80s - The plastic Formula 1 didn't help, but I suspect the main reason must have been their marketing campaigns because everyone associates TAG Heuer in the 80s with w*nker bankers wearing gold and two-tone models. I was too young to really appreciate what their issues were at the time, but looking back this is what I see. Having said that, TH have definitely moved well beyond this decade (although refer to Bamford comments) and should not be being persecuted for it any more. I think that anyone who is genuinely interested in the brand or knows the full history doesn't care about, let's call it 'The Great Mistake', but the trolls who love to hate TAG Heuer cling to it and bring it up time after time much as they do the story about the birth of the Calibre 1887. That said, the Bamford collaboration is a total fail. It is the 80s all over again, only worse. Bamford's creations look like something off Playschool, IMO.
Are you swayed by ‘limited editions’ and associated packaging?
I'm not swayed per se. I own 3 limited editions (Monaco ACM Edition, Carrera 300 SLR and Carrera McLaren 1974 Edition) but I bought them because I like them not because they were limited. I used to be a bit annoyed by cheap packaging but the reality is that all my boxes are stuffed away in drawers or cardboard boxes and never see the light of day. The packaging probably only matters at time of resale which is not something that interests me since I buy to keep. Rather than packaging, I think watch companies could do more in terms of providing a second strap or accompanying books (as TH have done).
Is there a TAG Heuer / Heuer you really don’t like?
This will be controversial, so I will caveat it by saying that I love and respect the Heuer history and the Heuer family story but there is almost nothing from the old Heuer days that I like. I also don't like the new 'mutant Carreras'. In fact, I don't think they should even be called Carreras!
I kind of agree, even though I have one... I don't necessarily think calling them Carreras was the best idea. How do you feel about gold and two-tone watches, would you / do you wear them and do you feel comfortable wearing them?
In general, I am not a fan and don't see myself wearing them, but the aformentioned JLC Amvox 3 is two-tone rose gold and black DLC and I love that.
We've now seen three of the five Monacos made to mark the 50th Anniversary and it seems like we're in for a long wait before we 'officially' see the last two (plus some more that we think we know about), but if you were in charge of TAG Heuer, how would you have chosen to mark the 50th anniversary of the Monaco.
Maybe I would have run the 'Monaco Cup', similar to the Autavia Cup, with a larger production run of the eventual winner and at a more affordable price point than the decade '5', but this would have been in addition to the '5'.
You've mentioned a couple of brands already so I know this question isn't moot: which other brands do you appreciate / own?
I own Seiko, Rado, Maurice Lacroix and, of course, TAG Heuer. I aspire to add JLC, GO and ALS to my collection and no doubt others I have yet to discover.
Do you see your collection growing, if so how?
Yes, I see it growing. How - that's a bit harder to answer. Outside of my day job, I trade shares - it's working out fairly well so far. I do still see affordable watches that I really like, for instance the Ultrmarine Morse UTC, so it is not just about spending the big dollars.
Given the very positive initial reaction to the red limited edition Monaco, would you like to see some sort of ‘Ferrari’ Monaco?
Yes, but also no. Various other brands including Hublot, Girard Perregaux and Panerai have all done Ferrari watches in addition to the Ferrari branded watches that exist so I don't think that TAG Heuer would benefit from a tie up with Ferrari. I could also see the brand being accused of jumping on the bandwagon which would give the TAG Heuer haters even more ammunition.
How do you feel about the Hodinkee limited edition phenomenon, and leading off of that, would you like to see TAG instigate some sort of ‘VIP’ club for people who buy regularly with special editions offered first/or possibly exclusively to members?
I think they are aimed at different customers to me. They seem to take a watch, change the dial colour and slap 2 grand on the price. Revolution/The Rake have done something similar. People who buy these watches are buying into some sort of 'lifestyle'. Good on them though for seeing the business opportunity and grabbing it.
And finally, who (if anybody) do you think should be TAG Heuer’s next brand ambassador?
Nobody. Actually scratch that, it should be one of us from the Calibre 11 forum.
Perhaps we should 'elect' someone, maybe Hubert can be the ambassador with special responsibility for Monacos, and the Connected, well we know who that'll be, haha. Well, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and maybe in the future we can do this again?
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