WBN2310.BA0001 WBN2311.BA0001 WBN2312.BA0001 WBN2313.BA0001
Given my recent post about supposedly 'unisex' watches, you may be expecting a rant about how these new 36mm Carrera watches are too feminine to be 'unisex', but what would be the point? You only have to look at them to see that they are large women's watches. Nothing to stop men wearing them if they want to, but I really can't consider them 'unisex'. So, sorry TAG Heuer, I know you are trying to be on-trend and everything, but if you truly want 'Unisex' watches this ain't working.
WBN2313.BA0001
So let's forget about that and judge them as what they really are, oversized women's watches. Well, I say oversized, that's perhaps a little unfair, after all not all women have twiglet wrists like my wife does, so it's good that ladies with a larger wrist (or just ladies who like to wear bigger watches) have something available too.
Photo: Monochrome Watches
So what we have here are four 36mm automatic (Calibre 7) Carreras with colourful dials and on three of them gold hour markers. I think it was the right call to leave the gold hour markers off the pink model, though it is a little curious that all four models share the same price tag (£2750). I mean, shouldn't the one that doesn't have the gold markers be a little cheaper? I guess not, maybe the pink dial is disproportionately expensive to manufacture (ho ho). Or maybe you are paying a little extra for the one that catches the eye the most, that seems a little more likely.
WBN2311.BA0001
Anyway, they look pretty smart... it's good that they are experimenting with new colours, even though some have claimed they are simply jumping on the Oyster Perpetual bandwagon. Well, so what if they are, really... as long as they don't start making watches with jigsaw puzzle dials and emoji date wheels I'm not going to roast them for that! The green in particular looks like it might be rather stylish in person, though it seems my wife disagrees (and I quote: 'Horrible wishy-washy colour')!
WBN2312.BA0001
To me it looks like a nice green tint to a silver dial, and one that works rather well with the gold hour markers and hands. Blue and gold too is a winning combination and I'd lay odds on that this will sell the best of the four, though again it does look pretty feminine - which is strange considering you can also get a 41mm Calibre 16 Carrere with a blue dial and gold indexes and hands and that really doesn't.
WBN2310.BA0001
Finally we have the silver dial, the safe bet I suppose. Interestingly this one has a dark grey second hand whereas initially it was supposed to have a gold central seconds hand. In fact all the watches were supposed to have colour-coded seconds hands (green, pink and blue) but having seen those renders I think they made the right choice on three of them - personally I think the gold second hand on the silver dial should have stayed.
So there we are, we are steadily getting through the Watches & Wonders releases, with just a few more to go. So now it's time to find out what the Council of Considered Opinion has to say about this latest batch...
Pink: 5/10. The colour makes it more interesting but it's still a bit basic & dull. Blue: 6/10. The best of the bunch. Silver: 4/10. Dull. Green: 3.5/10. Horrible wishy washy colour.
Pink: 7/10. Actually like this a lot, the sunburst pink dial adds a bit of interest to an otherwise fairly straightforward no frills watch. Silver: 5/10. My least favourite of the range, its ok but nothing special. I do like the gold accents though. Green: 6.5/10. The green sunburst dial is alright and works well with the rest of the watch, however it is a bit subdued for me. Blue: 6.5/10. This one works best overall and is a good looking watch, just noting to shout about.
7/10 for the range. Nicely executed, good proportions. The colour-matching tension rings bring a much more upscale and dressy feel to these, which benefits the 3-hander.
Pink: 8/10. I think the pink is the class of the field. It appears that it even has a different sunray pattern (a bit of a swirl effect). Green: 4/10. I think the green was a missed opportunity (perhaps a different shade of green could have been utilized). Blue: 5/10. Silver: 5/10. While I do not usually care for the rose gold, I do understand why it is found on a majority of these pieces; however, I think it would look better without the rose gold accents.
Pink: 6.5/10. Green: 7/10. Blue: 7.5/10. Silver: 7/10. Nice colours, but too much 'in the middle of the road' watches for me. Certainly not boring, but a bit too ordinary.
Pink: 8.5/10. Green: 5/10. Blue: 6/10. Silver: 5.5/10. I feel a little bit disappointed with some of the colours, the green especially which I thought could be a bit more vibrant. I suppose they need to appeal to all tastes, though. I also dislike the gold accents on the 3 non-pink models and think that at least one other variant should have had the silver markers and hands of the pink (the blue perhaps?). Obviously these are aimed at women, but I don't see why a 36mm 3-hand Carrera shouldn't be a viable watch for men as well. The pink is absolutely stunning and if I were more of a man I would wear it with pride. Why should it be exclusively a girls colour?
7/10 across the board. I like these and think they'll do well. Personally I could do without the date and gold indices, but I can see the mass appeal.
Pink: 9/10. Green: 4.5/10. Blue: 6.5/10. Silver: 5.5/10. Clearly the Pink is the best of the Watches & Wonders releases. Gets a solid 9/10 from me, despite the size being small. Will be very interested to see this one on the wrist in person. As for the others, I can see what they were attempting with the Gold indices, but sadly it hasn’t really worked out n my opinion. Two of the three are fails in that respect, with the other fairing better colour wise. On that basis, the Green gets a 4.5/10 being the runt of this litter, the Blue gets a 6.5/10 as that is the dial that works best with the indices, and the Silver gets a 5.5/10 as is better than the Green but would have worked far better with the black polished indices and hands used on the Aquaracer.
7/10 all round. All are good efforts. Would be interesting to see more colours.
I am not sure this is categorized as Unisex but here goes: Pink: 7/10. Yeah why not ? Feeling too much of a manly manly watches? Time to shake things a bit! (I am not buying this though even money grows on my back garden. The pink is just too "intrusive" in my opinion. I would gladly wear Grand Seiko "Sakura" pink but maybe not this one). Green: 8/10. I like the gold colour of the hands. I think it paired well with the dial colour. Blue: 8/10. Its okay, probably the safest choice out there. Silver: 9/10. Probably my pick out of the bunch. If I have money growing on my back garden I would buy this one.
Pink: 5/10. Green: 6.5/10. Blue: 8/10. Silver: 6/10. It's a well proportioned, classic (and proper) Carrera. The pink is not for me though.
Pink: 6/10. They went just a bit too deep on the pink, something a bit softer and it could have been one to be able to share with my better half. Green: 7/10. Blue: 7/10. Silver: 7/10. These are all very nice 36mm alternatives to the offerings by Tudor, Rolex, Breitling and Omega. Compared to the other brands, I like these 2nd best to an OP by Rolex. I look forward to a visit to the AD in a few months to see them in person.
I give all these watches 7/10. If these watches had been 1mm larger (37mm) I would have ranked them up to 9 points. In my opinion they are a little small for men. I also like that the movement uses the Calibre 7 and has an increased power reserve. As for the design, I think it is elegant with sporty elements, such as the provision of markers every 20 minutes, which are often missed. The green metallic dial is particularly nice. These watches had a similar feel to my 39 mm diamond bezel quartz Carrera.
36mm in pink is unisex?!!! Ok, this must be the avant garde part of it... 7/10 for the silver with gold accents.. 6/10 for the other three. I give them an extra point for the back to the future effort (sizewise).
Even though they say Unisex, they probably will have more female than male customers, especially in the pink one. Considering this, for me it's 8/10 for pink, 7/10 for silver, and 6/10 for the blue and the green, because I didn't quite like the combination of gold hands and markers with a steel case and bracelet in these last two.
Pink: 6/10. Might have stood out more with dark hands? Green: 8/10. Tidy. Blue & Silver: 7/10. Don't stand out.
No comments:
Post a Comment