TAG HEUER ENTHUSIAST: ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Black Ceramic & Rose Gold Ladies Watch

Sunday 22 August 2021

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Black Ceramic & Rose Gold Ladies Watch

WAY1355.BH0716

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village 20th August 2021

Some of you may remember just over a year ago I wrote a post about which ladies watches I'd like to see made in men's sizes; one of those watches was this beautiful black ceramic and rose gold Aquaracer which my wife tried on today at TAG Heuer's Bicester Village boutique. I'd seen this on previous visits to the store, but this was the first time my wife was with me and she was as keen as I was to get a closer look at it.

It really is quite stunning close up; the ceramic looks matt in the render above but I can assure you that it is a very rich, glossy black and looks absolutely fantastic. The entire exterior of the watch is made of black ceramic except for the backplate, the butterfly clasp and the bezel inset (and possibly the crown - not 100% sure on that) and I just love the contrast between the highly polished rose gold and the black. It really reminds me of some of those fantastic old 80s Heuers / TAG Heuers that are rarer than hen's teeth to find in good condition these days (albeit they were yellow gold back then of course, not rose).

Talking of size, my wife has very small wrists, I mean ridiculously small... like the same as three of my fingers (it is a constant source of hilarity to me every time I pick up one of her watches). Consequently she really can't wear larger sized watches as is the fashion for ladies today and the biggest watch in her collection is her 32mm green dial Aquaracer. That one does look surprisingly 'chunky' on her and as such we've always dismissed anything over 32mm as unsuitable.

And yet, she tried this on and it looked great on her wrist and it wasn't until we looked it up in store that we realised it was actually 35mm; which is 10% bigger than her Aquaracer. 'Must be wrong' we thought, until the charming Roxy (who was wearing a 43mm Heuer 02 Carrera with gold lugs, incidentally) produced a vernier caliper and confirmed that it was indeed 35mm in diameter - causing considerable consternation I can tell you! So much so that I actually looked up my wife's green Aquaracer to make sure it really was 32mm. And indeed it was...

I know black watches have a tendency to wear smaller but even so the effect was quite remarkable, especially when you consider that she tried on a 36mm 2021 Aquaracer a few weeks ago and instantly dismissed it as far too large (though admittedly that was an automatic that was considerably thicker than this one). I remember a long time ago my wife tried on one of my classic 35mm Formula 1s (a lot of which are worn by women since they are a tad small for men these days) and found them too large, so looking at it I would have put money on it being 32mm.

Which is frustrating, because on the one hand I'm thinking 'maybe I could wear this if it's the same size as my F1s', but on the other 'it looks like 32mm so no, no chance'. Not that I'm seriously considering it you understand, but I do wish they would make this and the gorgeous diamond bezel / black ceramic Aquaracer (which Bicester Village also have by the way) in a larger sizes, maybe 38mm - that would make it more of a unisex piece and then I would be much more seriously interested.

If they did though, I think (with a slightly heavy heart) I would have to choose the diamond bezel version. Not necessarily because it 'looks better', but my wife and I both concluded that while the highly polished rose gold bezel looks stunning in 'showroom condition', once it gets into the real world and starts picking up scratches, even fine scratches, which it inevitably will, it will probably lose a bit of its 'specialness'.

The diamond version with the ceramic bezel insert will certainly stay looking gorgeous for longer, and I must admit I do like it just as much.. in fact it's really quite hard for me to say which one I prefer. I remember having a close look at the WAY1395 a while back in the old Bicester Village boutique and I really liked it then, even if my photograph doesn't really do it the justice it deserves.