FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Year of the Dragon' Heuer 02 Chronographs

 

CBN2048.FC8323                                           CBN201H.FC6553

At the tail end of 2019 TAG Heuer surprised us all with their 'Year of the Rat' bronze cased Autavia. Surprised us because a) it was the first 'Year of the ...' the company had ever produced (as far as I'm aware) and b) because the backplate had a rather amusing rat-racing driver motif on it! Now I'm not sure if there ever was a 'Year of the Ox' piece planned for 2021, I always assumed the Ox was a hard sell (being neither cute, cool, comic or particularly endearing), and with China in lockdown for a lot of that year I guess if there was an Ox-watch then presumably TAG Heuer took the decision to abandon it.

We then got the 'Year of the Tiger' Carrera for 2022 (well the Calibre 5 version, the chronograph turned up half way through 2023 for some reason) and the 'Year of the Rabbit' H02 Carrera for 2023 (complete with peculiar fur-flecked dial), so now it's the turn of the mighty dragon. Now to me the dragon should be a no-brainer, it's what us Westeners think of when we think of Asia, so you'd kind of imagine there would be some kind of dragon on the dial of these new 42mm Carreras.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 1500 Series by Joseph Cooper Watch Repair

FEATURE: Finally the Orange Dial Formula 1 Becomes the Watch I Always Knew It Could Have Been

WAZ101A

As a rule I'm not one for messing about with watch straps. I know a lot of people derive a great deal of pleasure from switching them out and spending lots of money on the finest Italian products, but to me it's almost impossible to bring to mind any watch that looks better on anything other than its original strap. So when I bought my orange dial Formula 1 a couple of years ago it was a source of great irritation that the very cool 'looking' nylon strap was not only massively uncomfortable but also handicapped by two huge, shiny and very sharp strap retainers!

I tried, I really did. But the nylon strap really irritated my wrist and I needed an alternative; so I did what any sensible person would do, I looked at which other straps were available for the 43mm Formula 1 range. I believe I asked at the time if the BA0842 bracelet would fit and no one could tell me for sure, so instead I plumped for the perforated rubber strap found on several current and recent quartz and automatic Formula 1s and which I had tried previously on the black PVD Calibre 5 Formula 1.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 1000 Series - 34 Year Review by House & Car Hacks

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 7 Watch

WBN231B.BA0001

TAG Heuer Boutique / Oxford Street, London, 28th October 2023

One subject that is guaranteed to get watch enthusiasts talking / arguing / nodding their heads sagely is watch diameters... you can barely a visit a watch forum without someone saying 'this is too big' or 'this is too small'. Actually it's usually the former, but with the release of the supposedly 'unisex' 36mm Carreras we're heard a little more of the latter, because honestly a pink 36mm Carrera looks kinda ridiculous on most men of any size.

And of course, watch sizes are not an end in and of themselves, there's a lot more to it than that. Case thickness also plays a huge part, as does design. For example, I thought this watch would look colossal on my wife's wrist; the biggest watch in her collection is a 32mm Aquaracer and when she tried on one of my 35mm plastic F1s she said that was too big too. So I was expecting her to like it, but to dismiss it on the grounds of it looking too big. Especially as she doesn't seem to like the 'oversize' look that some ladies go for. 

VIDEO: You're Wrong About TAG Heuer, TAG Heuer is Great by This Watch, That Watch

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Blue Dial' Quartz Chronograph

 

CBP1113.BA0627

When TAG Heuer released their 40mm quartz chronograph Aquaracers at the start of this year they made the curious decision to release it in black, silver... and a slightly effeminate metallic pale blue. I'm not quite sure why they did that, but it was a no brainer that eventually they would release it in a darker blue and sure enough here it is (as usual, sneaking onto the website without a word). 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Solargraph' Solar Quartz Watch by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Watches of Switzerland' Calibre 9 Limited Edition Watches

WBP2147.BA0622                                    WBP2416.BA0622

Earlier in the year TAG Heuer & Watches of Switzerland released what is almost certainly the coolest Aquaracer of 2023, the titanium Calibre 5 WBP208D.BF0631. But not content with just one exclusive model this year, they've only gone and done it again... with not one but two new ladies automatics!

Now, let's not get too excited, after all these are basically the same old 30mm Aquaracers with different dials; but still it's nice to see the ladies getting a limited edition for a change. However, it seems that (as usual) the renders promise one thing but the reality is quite different...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Solid Gold' Glassbox Calibre TH20-00 Chronograph

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Heuer Monaco 'SKP/China' Calibre 11 Limited Edition

CAW211AC.FC6550

If you're thinking this Monaco looks kinda familiar, then you're not wrong. Back around 2016-2018 when I was a (very) regular visitor to the TAG Heuer outlets at Bicester Village and Cheshire Oaks you could barely escape without seeing a Monaco CAW211C; but of course they've long since gone and so it was rather a surprise to see these pop up again with a slightly different part number and as a limited edition of 23 for the Chinese market (and only available from three 'SKP' stores).

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Solargraph' by Chisolm Hunter

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T 'Chinese' Limited Edition Tourbillon

CAR5A8AH.FC6531

A bit late to the party on this one, as this apparently came out back in April... but I only stumbled across it the other day while looking for pictures of another very limited Chinese edition (not yet written about but which also came out at the same time). These 45mm tourbillons are very Marmite it seems and since they've stayed pretty much the same since their release several years ago all we seem to get are various gaudy decorations in small quantities made to appeal to the Eastern markets. 

VIDEO: Heuer 501.213 Stopwatch by Birth Year Watches

 

FEATURE: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Green Dial' Calibre 5, Six Months Down the Line

 

WBP2115.BA0627

After three solid years of frantic watch collecting, it's still something of a shock to me that in 2023 I have only bought but one solitary watch. One. Uno. Unbelievable! For a moment I thought I'd bought two, but it turns out that I bought my SLR Calibre S Laptimer in November 2022... so no, it's just one. At the same time, my collection has halved to 'just' 31 pieces, which I know is still a stupidly large number, and yet it looks kinda small compared to what it was. Which it is... 

As I've said several times on the blog this year, things started to change last year when I picked up my utterly gorgeous Grand Carreras, the Japanese limited edition blue dial Calibre 6 and the black dial Calibre 17 chronograph. These watches showed me the difference between good watches and great watches, and in the process turned me right off collecting plastic quartz watches from the 80s. Which was a shame as at the time I already had 16 of them. Oh yes.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Automatic Chronograph by Kirby Young

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Peach' and 'Hammered Silver Dial' Automatic Watches

 

WBN231A.BA0001                                          WBN231B.BA0001

Are we still going to pretend these 36mm Carreras are unisex? We are? Okay then...

Many years ago my wife and I were lucky enough to see an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in Selfridges that had a hammered finish. It looked nothing short of spectacular and my wife loved it. Unfortunately it cost about four times her yearly salary and as such was completely out of the question. But now, finally, TAG Heuer have (partially) embraced the look with this new 36mm hammered dial Carrera. And while I haven't seen one (yet) I have seen a photo and it looks pretty damn cool!

VIDEO: TAG Heur Aquaracer Two Years on the Wrist by One Man Reviews

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche 'Chronosprint' Calibre TH20-08 Chronograph

CBS2011.FC6529

TAG Heuer Boutique / London, 28th October 2023

You know, I may not have mentioned it before, but I really don't like the 39mm glassbox Carreras. But the 42mm ones aren't so bad and this one in particular is actually not bad at all. I've definitely said before that you will never really know if you like a watch until you get it on your wrist, and in this case that is 100% true. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy the gimmicky/clever (delete as applicable) chronograph on this one being that I am a miserable old man with no soul, but damn me if it wasn't rather entertaining. Kind of... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Watch by Birth Year Watches