CAF1010.BA0821
Hard to believe but I've now had my CAF1010 'Chronotimer' for six years. I wouldn't say it only seems like yesterday that I drove to Sheffield to pick it up, but I still remember the experience quite vividly and I particularly remember driving home down the M1 and being distracted by the sunlight reflecting off the polished hour markers, hands and the digital display frame.
The watch was purchased pre-owned from 'Parkers' and came with a slightly tatty but complete set of boxes. along with the booklet, warranty card and a service card from TAG Heuer and a bracelet that was just long enough for my 7.1/2" wrist. I originally found the watch listed on Ebay for £995 but later found the watch on Parkers own website for £945 (due to them not having to pay eBay fees).
The watch itself was and remains in excellent condition, however through last year I noticed the watch was losing time and this gradually worsened to the point that I had to send it to TAG Heuer for a service. They had it for a few weeks and it cost £300 IIRC. Unfortunately when the watch came back to me the backlight for the digital displays no longer worked (it worked perfectly before) and so the watch had to go back again. Thankfully it came back a lot quicker the second time and now works perfectly.
I've always thought of this watch as being quite Marmite in its looks so it's interesting to note how many people are choosing it in their Aquaracer Top 10s. So far, almost everyone has included it either in the black or yellow dial and with either a bracelet or a strap. Maybe it's just because they're looking for something different to complement their other selections and the 'Chronotimer' certainly stands out as a rather unique Aquaracer.
Personally I always thought the black looked better, simply because the upper curved screen is more successfully integrated into the dial. But if you really want it to look like you have a Breitling on your wrist then I agree the yellow is the one to go for. 😀 I'll confess my interest in the Chronotimer grew off the back of browsing pre-owned Breitling Aerospaces, although I always liked the blue ones the best - TAG Heuer didn't make a blue Chronotimer though, just yellow and black.
As I said at the start of this post when I bought the watch the bracelet was literally just long enough for my wrist with the micro adjustment at the max, so in the summer months when my wrist was fatter I tended to leave this one in the cabinet... why I didn't just order a spare link I don't know. By contrast once I bought my yellow dial Calibre S I immediately switched it onto the black rubber strap and when I finally decided to put it back on the bracelet for a change it occurred to me that I could swap the CAF1010 onto that rubber too (since they were both sold on the same strap).
This made me wear the watch a lot more and reinforced how much I enjoyed owning it, but of course eventually I wanted it back on the bracelet and so I finally got around to ordering a spare link from the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield. Since then I've worn it quite a lot and I think on balance it looks better on the bracelet - although oddly immediately after changing back I thought it looked a bit dull. I will probably switch it again at some point, but I feel like the rubber might end up back on the Calibre S fairly soon as that is perhaps more of a summer watch (it already has in fact...).
Finally, I thought I would leave a couple of links here to two posts. The first one is the manual for the ETA E20.321 movement, and the second details the process for setting and syncing the hands with the digital display. I must admit I really don't use the functions offered by the digital display, I generally just leave it on the time and date setting. But it's nice to know there's a chronograph, a countdown timer and an alarm available should I ever need them!
USER MANUAL FOR THE ETA E20.321
SETTING AND SYNCING INSTRUCTIONS
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