Wednesday 29 June 2022
FEATURE: Three Years On, Did I Buy The Watches I Thought I Wanted?
Tuesday 28 June 2022
Sunday 26 June 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: New Arrivals at TAG Heuer Bicester Village
It's been a while since I've been able to bring you an update on the stock situation at Bicester Village, largely because the stock has been fairly static, but recently there has been an influx of Heuer 01 models which are currently being offered at a hefty discount of 40%!
Saturday 25 June 2022
Thursday 23 June 2022
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracar Calibre 5 'Orange Dial' Watch
WBP201F.BA0632
TAG Heuer Boutique / Sheffield, 18th June 2022
It has to be said that the current generation of Aquaracer endured a difficult birth; let's not forget that way back in early 2021 the new style diver was met with howls of derision for (among other things) its circular 6 o'clock cyclops. Indeed, I recall one YouTuber staunchly claiming the watch was so bad it would definitely be redesigned before it hit the stores... which, if you think about it is a ludicrous suggestion. Because by the time Frederic took to the stage to announce the new watch you can be sure there were already thousands of them assembled and ready to leave the factory.
Even so, at the time the watch was regularly compared to the Audemars Piguet Code 11:59, not because of its looks, but because that was another watch that spluttered onto the world's stage only to be met with (at best) indifference and (let's not beat about the bush) wholesale mockery. God knows the watch world loves a disaster and loves to stick the boot in even more... and of course in this day and age that negativity spreads like wildfire through social media meaning potential customers are bombarded from the outset with 'opinions' based largely on nothing more than a photograph.
Wednesday 22 June 2022
Monday 20 June 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Ladies Quartz Watch
WBP1450.BA0622
Woop woop, there's a new ladies Aquaracer in town... let's talk about it a little bit; because, well, I've always felt like we should include TAG Heuer's smaller watches in our discussions. In fact I've included all sorts of TAG Heuer related items in this blog over the years, be it mobile phones, glasses, even some kind of skateboard thing! Hell, on the odd occasion (and against my better judgement) I've even talked about the accursed TAG Heuer Connected! But not very often... hehe.
Sure, getting the Council to voice an opinion on new ladies watches is still a bit of a stretch, and often produces a lot of the same comments (and often the same scores), but thankfully some of the Council are able to seek the opinions of their better halves and I too sought my wife's opinion before writing this post.
Sunday 19 June 2022
Friday 17 June 2022
BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 6 'Japanese' Limited Edition
WAV511J.BA0900
Ask any watch enthusiast to name a model from TAG Heuer and you can be sure the name 'Carrera' will be near the top of the list, but 'Grand Carrera'? Not so much. You see, the Grand Carrera (decried a few years ago as a 'stupid idea' by the otherwise splendid Jean Claude Biver - before he announced the model was coming back... only for the idea to be cancelled when Zenith got the super-duper silicon movement that was planned for it!) was a short lived chronometer-certified uber-Carrera that never really took off and which was quietly retired after about five years in the line up.
Undoubtedly one of the reasons for this was the fact that many people did not (and indeed still do not) like the look of the watch, and in particular the unusual (avant garde, perhaps) shapes utilised as sub-dial windows. Indeed, while I've always liked the chronograph version I will admit that the dual subdials somehow conspire to create the illusion that the watch has an oval dial, which is a little off-putting to say the least!
Why then are we talking about a 'Buying Experience' today? Well, that's a very good question, and longer term readers may remember that this is not my first time at the Grand Carrera Rodeo. Oh yes, me and the Grand Carrera have 'history'. Expensive history!
Thursday 16 June 2022
Tuesday 14 June 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Indy 500' Limited Edition Quartz Chronograph
CAZ101AR.BA0842
Well this is slightly embarrassing... I found this post in the 'Draft Posts' folder, it should have been posted over a month ago and included in the 'Half Year Round-Up'. I can only apologise for my tardiness!
Over the years there have been some fairly.... umm, unattractive looking 'Indy 500' watches produced by TAG Heuer. But two years ago they finally got it right and produced the rather good looking CAZ101AD. Here at last was a watch I and many others on the TH Forum could get behind, regardless of whether or not they had any interest in the race itself. With it's black coating, rubber strap and bespoke dial (with red brick stripe), I even contemplated buying one myself and I've never watched an Indy 500 in my life!
But of course, with success comes pressure when it's time to follow it up... and here we have the follow up to that very watch. As you can see it's very much designed on the same template as this year's 'Red Bull' Special Edition, but instead of the somewhat controversial 'grid markings' instead we have the control tower (or as someone cheekily suggested on the TH Forum the 'Christmas Tree').
Monday 13 June 2022
Saturday 11 June 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL 'Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo' Limited Edition Quartz Chronograph
CG1110 (with the revised dial)
One of my readers (Reims) left a comment on the 'S/EL' part number page recently, letting me know that the CG1118 was actually a limited edition for the Brazilian football player Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo. I did not previously know this, but I must admit I did wonder why the CG1118 looked exactly like the CG1110 (with the revised dial, the original - like mine, did not have the circles around the subdials) at least from the front view.
Actually, to be 100% correct, initially Reims told me the watch was a limited edition for Leonardo di Caprio, which I knew wasn't right because LDC didn't become an ambassador until 2009, ten years after the S/EL was discontinued... and so this confused matters, because I could only find two pieces of information about the CG1118; one of which was a useless 'PicClick' link that had expired but just said 'Leonardo' limited edition... technically correct, but confusing when I was looking for 'Leonardo di Caprio'!
Friday 10 June 2022
Wednesday 8 June 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL 'Mickey Mouse' Dial Quartz Watch
WG1113.BA0423DIS
Back in March I told you the story of a very cool TAG Heuer 2000 Sports watch with a 'Coke' bezel which featured Mickey Mouse on the dial (if you haven't read it I will leave a link at the bottom of this post). This was very kindly forwarded to me by a member of the THF Forum (HoltzPlatz) who knew that I was looking for a Coke bezel 2000 and wanted to give me first dibs on it. But when I passed on that particular one because a) it was in America and b) because the eBay listing rather worryingly said it needed a new battery, he decided to pull the trigger on it himself. As it turned out when it arrived it really did just need a new battery (phew!), and as it happened I ended up buying a (non-Disney) 2000 Sports 'Coke' from America anyway! More on that another time - the 'Buying Experience' post for that is in the queue and will appear soon!
At around the same time HoltzPlatz also sent me the details of another 'Disney dial' TAG Heuer he had stumbled upon, which languished in a folder on my desktop for several months, but now I can share with you the minty looking WG1113 S/EL you see here.
Tuesday 7 June 2022
Sunday 5 June 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer's 2022 Watch Releases (Year to Date)
Can you believe we're already approaching the middle of 2022? Bah... it will be Christmas again before we know it! With that in mind I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you a little recap of the TAG Heuer watch releases to date (spoiler, it's very Aquaracer heavy!).
Overall we've seen some interesting pieces and very little in the way of genuine duds, but I'm sure there's plenty more to come in the second half of the year and don't forget the watches will all be scored again come December, before we announce the C.O.C.O. Council 'Watch of the Year'.
So then, here we have all the watches released so far in 2022 and as a bonus I've included links to the original 'First Impressions' posts (which of course include the invaluable thoughts of the C.O.C.O. Council).
Saturday 4 June 2022
Thursday 2 June 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Heuer 02 'Dark Lord Tribute' Special Edition Chronograph
CBL2180.FC6497
If I had a pound for every time I'd heard someone say they wanted a re-issue of the infamous Heuer Monaco 'Dark Lord', I genuinely think I'd have enough money to buy myself a beat up old Kirium from eBay. I jest of course..., I'd actually have enough to buy an original 'Dark Lord', with change for a beat up old Kirium from eBay! Haha. But seriously, the Dark Lord is without doubt the most lusted after watch in the company's history, so what are the chances of a 'modern' version satisfying these people's cravings? Pretty low I would say...
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