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TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 22nd April 2023
Oh boy, I am kinda dreading writing this post to be honest. So, it's fair to say that in some quarters I have a somewhat 'undeserved' reputation for hating Heuer... which is not true. Yes I am mainly interested in TAG Heuer, but mostly I just don't buy into the accepted watch-community narrative that 'Heuer is better' and at times I have probably voiced this opinion in ways that have rubbed people up the wrong way and given the impression that I hate everything that came before 1986. Since I own and have owned several watches that originate in the time before Heuer became TAG Heuer this is clearly not true.
These people are probably expecting me to hate these new 'classically inspired' 39mm Glassbox Carreras just as I hated the old 39mm 'Glassbox' Carreras. Except I didn't 'hate' the old ones. I didn't hate them at all. I don't think I've ever scored a 'Glassbox' Carrera less than a 6, and in fact I'm pretty sure I scored one of them as high as an 8.5. Because while they weren't my style I could still appreciate them for what they were. And sadly, I feel like I need to lay this out because otherwise people are just going to dismiss what I'm about to say as the rantings of a 'Heuer-hater' (which again, I'm not).
When I first saw the renders for these new models, I thought they were going to be largely similar to the old models, but perhaps with a little more sharpness to them, a little more up to date, but still retaining enough of the old vibe to appeal to the 'Heuer' contingent but without being self-consciously 'retro'. And then I saw the photographs and I was utterly confused. Some photographs made them look rather nice, some not so much and some rather dreadful.
(Ironically my own photo (above) taken in the boutique actually makes the watch look not too bad and even a decent size and yet in person I know I found it boring, somewhat ugly and far too small for my 7.1/2" wrist.)
Overall I was more drawn to the blue model because it looked more like I was expecting, less retro and less weighed down by history. But on the other hand, it kinda looked like a Ressence with that overarching crystal covering the bezel, which seemed like a very weird choice.
Before I tried on the blue version I had a look at the black/silver dial version in the cabinet and I realised then that the photos that I thought had made it look so awful were bang on the money. Truly this is a terrible looking watch, so much so in fact that it has replaced the yellow dial Aquaracers with the smiling faces as my least favourite TAG Heuer watches ever. I simply hate everything about it, from the stupid faux aged lume to the 12 date; honestly I just find that watch incredibly and completely awful.
The blue one is much better, for sure. The styling is definitely less dated and so works better with the domed crystal and the curved bezel. I still didn't like it very much, but it was less offensive to my eyes than the terrible reverse Panda.
But there are still things I didn't like about it, the printed-on-the-dial running seconds for a start. I mean some people have been moaning about the vestigal running seconds on Carreras and Monacos for years (which I never really had a problem with to be honest), but here TAG Heuer have changed it for something a million times worse.
And the whole idea of the glass curving down to the edge of the case is just damned strange. I know I should be applauding TAG Heuer for being avant garde and not sticking to the tried and trusted formula but in this particular instance I just feel like this is a massive miss. And I find it hard to comprehend how someone somewhere along the development line didn't say, 'Er guys, this kinda sucks'.
Bizarrely, I came across a video yesterday which featured the reverse Panda, it was called '2023 Watches no one is talking about' by Theo and Harris. If you are not aware, Christian Zeron is an insufferably smug YouTuber who absolutely hates TAG Heuer and never has a good thing to say about the brand, unless it is one of the re-issued 'Heuer' glassboxes or the Monza 40th Anniversary or (obviously) an original 1960s Heuer he's talking about. Here's a guy who totally buys into (and absolutely promotes) the 'Heuer is better' narrative, and yet he described the watch as being a' home run'.
What kind of parallel universe am I living in right now? Okay, clearly not every watch is aimed at me, and I totally accept that, and as I've already said, I never had a problem with the old glassboxes - they weren't my style but I still appreciated them as they were. But these, I'm sorry but I can't help feeling these are a complete disaster and honestly it gives me no pleasure to say that.
I am conscious that I didn't really like the new Aquaracers when they first came out, and I've just gone and bought one... but this is a different matter entirely. I just can't really see these appealing to the old guard or the new school, but maybe I'm wrong. If people like Christian Zeron are raving about it then maybe the old school conservationists will like these after all. To be honest, the fact that he likes it so much pretty much confirms and re-affirms my belief that these (and the reverse panda in particular) suck.
Give me the silver dial 160th or even this year's glassbox panda over this any day of the week!
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