The Calibre 11 Limited Edition Autavia Heuer 02
Our guest this time around is Yago, another regular on the Calibre 11 Forum. Let's find out a little bit about him before we start with the questions. So Yago, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi, I’m a 39 yo Belgian. Longtime engaged, next year to be married, father of an 8 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. I started a chocolate business in 2008; we’re currently selling to about 25 countries.
Okay, so you had me at 'chocolate'... and how did you get into watches?
I’ve been into design and architecture since my university years and have been collecting 40’s to ‘80s furniture and accessories ever since. I came across vintage watches during those years but didn’t get bitten by the bug. I do have fond memories of my first watch, given to me by my godmother when I was 7. It wasn’t valuable but I don’t think I’d ever been more proud about something I owned. Being a bit of petrol head and race fan I’ve been aware of Tag Heuer and the F1 & McQueen link for as long as I can remember. I guess it all built up to a point in my mid thirties when I fell in love with a black dial manual wound Carrera on a design blog. Still I couldn’t get myself to pay 5k for a watch although I didn’t have that problem when it came to vintage chairs. That changed.
Yes, funny how your perspective changes once the bug has bitten... so then what was your first, or first good watch?
Coming from a working class family there were no Pateks or Rolexes going around. I couldn’t tell an automatic from a quartz until well after my studies. I was in my thirties when I bought my first ‘good’ watch; an automatic GWC Audi TT watch which has a Valjoux 7750. It was launched alongside the first generation Audi TT. One would be right to be suspicious about car watches but the first TT is a special car and I like to think so is this watch. I sold the car but I still have the watch.
I must admit I never knew there was a watch to go with the Audi TT, you see this process is educational for me as well as entertaining for us all. :) Do you have a favourite piece in your current collection?
A tough one to answer. As a vintage guy I tend to favour my old watches more. I wear my Lemania 5100 powered Orfina 7176 Porsche Design most but the watch I splashed out most for when I started to seriously get into watches was my Heuer Montreal. I have a feeling that one will stay with me.
One of the topics that often divides watch aficionados is that of the merits or otherwise of quartz, how do you feel about quartz watches?
My first Tag Heuer was a 1000 quartz, which today I enjoy most on my wife’s wrist. For me it’s mostly relevant because of the historical context. They’re an engineering feat, much less fussy than automatics and a 50 euro Quartz will usually be more accurate than most 5K+ automatics. But watch collecting isn’t about being pragmatic. I recently bought a meca quartz chronograph and was surprised at how nice the chronograph function handles.
Most of us have some sort of eye on the next prize, do you have an inkling of what your next purchase might be?
I recently ordered the upcoming bronze Yema Superman so I’m excited about that. It wasn’t on my list so there you go. Watches at the top of that list are a T dial polar explorer II, a vintage manual grey Monaco, a vintage Yema Yachtingraf and a T dial IWC3706.
Do you have a ‘money no object’ grail in mind?
Bunches but at the top of that list would probably be the Chronomatic Siffert Autavia.
You mentioned that your wife now wears your old TAG Heuer 1000 Series, how does your she feel about your collection?
She likes my various passions and has started a little watch collection of her own. I must say it’s a lot more sensible and complete than mine.
I can see you have quite a decent sized collection of pieces, how many watches do you think is too many?
The amount that would require you to save on stuff you actually need.
And have you ever ‘sneaked’ a watch into the house?
I do that all the time.
Well, I'm shocked! :)
From my own experience, I can say that once you get to a certain 'size' of collection, things start to get a little... well, 'cavalier' is probably a bit strong, but maybe not every purchase is pondered over and thought out as much as it once was - and then there's the simple truth that until you actually own a piece it's hard to know for sure if it's right for you or not, so have you ever bought or sold a watch and regretted it?
I have bought and sold but never regretted. Even the watches I didn’t hold on to for long were part of the learning curve.
So what excites you more, re-issues or new pieces?
A re-issue is a broad term. I’m not a fan of exact replicas and I usually favour pieces that have been inspired by a classic or a classic period. Truly new pieces are very rare.
And what about faux aged lume: Ingenious or travesty?
Let’s call it beige.
Why is it do you think that TAG Heuer attracts more than its fair share of negativity from the watch community at large?
I think a lot of it has to do with a lack of understanding by the general public. It seems most people don’t know the Heuer heritage and somewhat confusing that a lot of watch people that do actually don’t understand the 'TAG' in Tag Heuer heritage. You often hear such fantasy claims as ‘Tag killed Heuer’. It couldn’t be further from the truth. TAG saved Heuer and ‘Tag Heuer’ made a lot of sense given the shared racing heritage. However once TAG sold Tag Heuer things started to get a little murky.
These days Tag Heuer is neatly positioned against other watch brands in the same conglomerate, with collections and price points all over the place, trying to please everyone. The brand needs an exciting vision.
Another hugely controversial topic is the collaboration with Mr Bamford, where do you stand on that one?
I see a good fit between the companies and their fans. Personalising watches has been around for a long time and this is a great approach by Tag Heuer to somewhat keep control over this. That said I haven’t been persuaded so far buy any of the Bamford editions but that might very well change. The Tag Heuer Bamford Monaco however I really like and I would love to add it to the collection at one point, when hopefully prices will be more reasonable.
Are you swayed by ‘limited editions’ and the associated packaging?
I have a few. The proliferation of LEs has been remarkable over the past years and it only seems to be accelerating. I suppose watch brands are a bit lost these days and when introducing LEs seems to pay off for a few brands, suddenly everyone starts doing it. There is a risk of diluting your brand and I don’t know how future collectors will be able to tell off the shelf, LEs and copies apart. It already takes serious dedication and studying to tell all Speedmasters apart.
That said I am swayed by LEs if they bring something interesting to the table and there are some good examples of that.
Obviously you have great affinity for Heuer and TAG Heuer otherwise you wouldn't be on Calibre 11, but is there a TAG Heuer or Heuer you really don’t like?
Let’s say I don’t understand how the great Monnin and 1000 series led up to the AR.
Oh... well that's a first, I can't honestly think I've ever heard anyone say they're not keen on the Aquaracer before. Still, there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers after all, it's all just a matter of taste. Speaking of which, is there something you’d like to see more of in watch design, for example a dial colour that’s under used?
I’d love to see more inspired, enthusiastic and risky designs.
How do you feel about gold and two-tone watches, would you / do you wear them and do you feel comfortable wearing them?
I like gold watches a lot and a solid gold day-date or Cartier tank is about as classy as it gets. I steal my wife’s UG from time to time. Gold sport & dive watches I don’t understand. The whole two-tone theme of this year is beyond me but perhaps I’m not there yet.
I'm quite torn on this idea of sharing watches, my wife's wrist is hilariously small so it's completely out of the question, but if we could share watches I'd be very reluctant to let her wear my watches, even if it meant I could wear hers.... I mean marriage is for life and all, but there are limits!
We've discussed re-issues briefly, but is there a watch you'd like to see TAG Heuer reissue?
The dark lord or the Bund but not as exact replicas please.
The 50th Anniversary celebrations are ongoing, and as we know we now have to wait until October (IIRC) for the reveal of the CAW211Y in Japan... but if you were in charge of TAG Heuer, would you have done anything differently?
In retrospect everything is easy but the months apart launches are a real drag. Besides true Monaco enthusiasts I don’t think anybody’s bothered at this point. I would have highlighted the brand DNA and would have tried to come up with something truly inspired and inspiring. I’m sure Jack Heuer would have had an idea of two.
Given the positive reaction to the red limited edition Monaco and given LVMH 'sister-brand' Hublot's affiliation with the marque, would you like to see some sort of ‘Ferrari’ Monaco?
The Monza was the true Ferrari watch but I’m not a big fan of the re-issue. I don’t see immediate links between this Monaco and Ferrari. Given the current Red Bull alliance I wouldn’t have much hope for anything Ferrari in the near future. I’d like to see Tag Heuer explore the strong links with Porsche for both Heuer and Tag Heuer, although I understand that won’t be easy considering Porsche Design.
And while we're on the subject, when it comes to the Monaco are you a square pushers or round pushers kind of guy?
Round for the original, square for the re-editions.
I can see from the photographs you sent me that you're collection goes beyond the Heuer/TAG Heuer brand, which other brands do you own and/or appreciate?
My moderate collection is mostly sports oriented. I appreciate various brands, big and small. Besides Heuer and Tag Heuer my collection includes or has included Tudor, Baltic, Yema, UG, Seiko, Omega and Orfina. Then I also like vintage no name pilot’s and chronograph watches.
I'm guessing you aren't at the point where you're having to save on things you 'need' yet, so can I assume that your collection will continue to grow?
Without a doubt. I would like to focus less on the sports watches and chronographs but interesting new pieces always seem to pop up.
Yes, I know the feeling... I'm always 'going to' save for something special and then five minutes later you spot something much more attainable on eBay... it's a blessing and curse.
Now another thing that really divides opinion in the watch world is 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 pretty much like all of Hodinkee’s LEs and although the prices are quite high, you do get something interesting. The Hodinkee Tag heuer LE’s have done well for the Tag Heuer brand.
As VIP exclusives are concerned, there’s already a lot of speculation going on with LEs popping up the day after launch, demanding high premiums. Such a strategy might further enable that. If you follow your favourite brands, Hodinkee and some other blogs, you should be in time to snatch up most LEs you fancy.
And so we come to perhaps one of the most controversial topics of all, brand ambassadors... so who (if anybody) do you think should be TAG Heuer’s next brand ambassadors?
I think they have the right guy with Max Verstappen. It’s a pity he’s the face of the rather dreadful Formula 1 range of watches.
I have to agree, the last Max Verstappen watch is a dog's dinner, I really hope they don't let him design the next one!
Well, Yago, thank you so much for taking the time to do this, I just have one more question, and that is if I gave you a £10,000 watch voucher now, what would you buy?
Do vintage watches count? In that case an unspoiled grey Monaco on bracelet.
Well, Yago... as always, thank you for taking the time to do this interview and hopefully we can catch up again sometime in the future.
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