ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz 'Senna Edition'

WAZ1014.FT8027

Michael Jones / Northampton, 23rd October 2019

I came across this pre-owned F1 Senna in the window of Michael Jones' secondary store in the Grosvenor Centre a few weeks ago, but didn't have time to try it on. Walking through the centre again today I spotted it was still there and decided to check it out. Actually, I had to look back through my blog to check I hadn't tried this one on before; I hadn't, I think I'm getting mixed up with the original Manchester United Formula 1 which had the same strap. I did write a 'First Impressions' post back in August 2017 which was largely favourable and I notice reading that back that even then I was more inclined to the three hand version than the chronograph and I maintain that position to this day.

I must say, I really like this one. The strap is fantastic, so unusual and striking... and I love the silver aluminium bezel against the black PVD case. I'm not really a big fan of the glossy red hands, but on this particular watch for some reason it works. I know in the past I've said that I'd prefer it with silver hands, and that may be true, but I could live with the red hands for sure.

The watch is 43mm, so it wears relatively large on the wrist, although the black case does shrink it a little and the dial doesn't seem as empty as you'd think on a three handed watch of that size, perhaps because part of the dial is taken up with the red stripe to the right hand side. The dial is actually probably the weakest element of the watch, the case; bezel and strap are the stars of this show, no doubt about that, and I find it a little odd that the Arabics at '12' and '6' are almost 'phantom' numbers. They are finished in some sort of non-reflective dark silver which means they are quite hard to see in any light. I did curl my hand around the watch to check for lume and while the hands and hour marker batons are marked, those two Arabics don't appear to be (which is a shame). 

At £895, this doesn't seem a bad deal, it's in immaculate condition apart from a mark on the tail end of the rubber strap and the aluminium bezel looks pretty minty. For comparison, I just checked Watchfinder's website and they are looking for £1250 for a pre-owned 2018 model... which is £100 more than it is on TAGHeuer.com! Why on Earth would anybody pay £100 more for a used model when they could get it brand new? Makes no sense to me...

I'm reluctant to say it, but I do really like this one... I can't really buy another watch right now, but if it's still there in a couple of months... well, who knows? ;)