CAZ101AJ.FC6487
Goldsmiths / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 15th November 2021
When this latest version of the 'Senna' branded quartz F1 chronograph was released last November, it didn't so much burst onto the scene as slip quietly onto the website. No great fuss was made and most of the members of the Calibre 11 forum barely batted an eyelid, such was the ahem 'impact' of this new watch. Which is actually a great pity, because having now had the chance to actually try it on, I am happy to report that this is actually a really smart, really good looking timepiece.
One thing I have to say about this watch that surprised me slightly was just how 'black' it is. From the renders I expected everything to be a dark, smoky grey, but in actual fact the case, bezel and pushers are all definitely black, and it looks all the better for it.
Black is the perfect companion colour for those yellow highlights and while the ones on the dial are fairly subtle, the yellow stitching on the strap is bold and striking, and speaking of the strap, having now had it around my wrist I can confirm that I am now sold on the embossed 'bracelet' look. It's a pretty cool idea (that dates back to the earliest 'S/EL' models, go check out the 1988 TAG Heuer catalogue and you'll see what I mean) and it works fantastically well, better than perhaps it should.
I'm also pleased to see that TAG Heuer have provided the watch with a DLC coated deployment buckle, which doesn't sound like a big deal but in the past they haven't always done that; my black and orange Calibre 16 F1 CAU2012 for example came with a very out of place looking brushed steel deployment which really spoiled the overall look of the watch and definitely came across as a penny pinching short cut (as did the sparse use of lume on the dial of course, but that's another story).
Truth be told, although I am a reasonably hardcore Formula 1 fan, and despite the fact that I own a previous quartz Senna F1 three hander, the whole 'Senna' thing doesn't do that much for me. I tend to look at watches on their own merit and really don't take the branding much into account. On the one hand that means I don't judge the watches more harshly because they have 'Senna' on the bezel, but nor does it make any difference to my perception of how 'cool' the watch is.
You could take the 'Senna' branding off this watch completely and it would still be a very smart looking watch, in fact it would probably be even better because it would remove that off-centre 'S' that sits at the top of the bezel (although I have to be honest and say I really didn't notice that when the watch was on my wrist, which could be because you don't tend to spend as long looking at the watch exactly dead-on straight perhaps?).
One thing I did notice in the store was that the chrono second hand is also black, which looks cool but makes it rather hard to see and given that this is a chronograph the least they could have done would be to give it a yellow tip, but really that's a minor quibble because this is a very nice watch. I'm not sure it's nice enough to justify the £1900 price tag mind you and this seems to be something that drew criticism also from the Calibre 11 forum members. But I would definitely take this version over the steel cased 'bracelet' version that came out in 2020. And as I realised only the other day, I don't actually own an F1 chronograph any more...
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