Friday 27 March 2020

SPOTLIGHT ON: Three Unusual and Rare Limited Edition TAG Heuers

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Researching the archives for missing models to add to my big list of numbers is certainly throwing up some oddities that even I hadn't come across before, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share three very rare TAG Heuers with you.

First we have the James Tomkins Limited Edition 2000 Exclusive pictured above. James is an Australian rower who has won seven world championships and three Olympic gold medals and is Austalia's most awarded oarsman. I'm guessing this was probably released around 2000 or thereabouts, at least judging by the engraving on the back which celebrates James' achievements up until 1999... but unfortunately James 'only' won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics so it could have been released slightly later and they didn't bother to mention that...?


If you thought the 50th Anniversary Monacos were rare (with just 169 of each model made) then this will really blow you away because this really is one of the rarest TAG Heuers ever made, just thirty of this limited edition model were produced and (presumably) it was only available in Australia.

I think they did a pretty nice job on it too, with James' signature on one side of the silver dial and 'World Champion Rower' on the other. It's understated, but it's enough and the backplate engraving is neat without being over the top.

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Our next limited edition comes in the shape of this handsome 6000 Series on an black alligator strap, the dial featuring the name 'Luis Figo', who I must admit I was completely ignorant of before today. I presumed he might be a racing driver from South America perhaps, possibly someone who raced against the great Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s and 60s... but no, apparently he is a retired Portuguese footballer who played throughout the 90s and eventually retired in 2009.

Indeed, Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo was heralded as one of the greatest players of his generation and when he retired he held the record for the most international caps for Portugal (127), though this has since been taken by Cristiano Ronaldo (who also has his own TAG Heuer watch of course, the CR7). Anyway, he must have been pretty special because Real Madrid paid Barcelona 62M Euros for him in 2000!

The dial features Figo's signature and if you notice a red no '7'. I can't say I'm keen on the lower numbers on the dial being upside down, I think that's a curious design choice though I don't think it was something specific to this model. This piece was made in slightly higher numbers than the James Tomkins model, with 150 being produced, and again I would imagine it would be hard to find one of these outside of Portugal or Spain.

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Lastly we come to this Japanese only Carrera, launched to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Heuer wristwatch chronograph in 1914... it's a bit of an obscure anniversary that one, and I'm not quite sure why it was only celebrated in Japan. Also, Longines released their first chronograph a year earlier in 1913, so it's slightly strange because watch companies kinda like to celebrate things they do first, not a year after somebody else...


So it's a bit of an odd one this, and that goes for the design as well. I imagine those Arabic markers were chosen because they look 'classic' but to my mind they don't really fit on a watch which is clearly as modern in design as this one is.  The Calibre 1887 movement is also a tad on the small side for the 45mm case size as well and whereas in some of the other bullhead models the dial is split to rather cleverly hide this, here with a flat dial it's all too apparent, especially since they've gone with bright white subdials. Eeeek!

I'm definitely not feeling this one I'm afraid, but if you are the good news is that there were 200 of these made, so it's the most 'available' of these three, but again, whether you'll be able to find one outside of Japan, who knows...

Of the three I think I'd probably plump for the Luis Figo first and then the James Tomkins, as for the 100th Anniversary Carrera... well I think I'd leave that well alone. 

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