VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'David Guetta' Special Edition Quartz GMT by The 1916 Watch Company Reviews

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer 41mm Carreras, F1 Solargraph and Day/Date Carrera

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 23rd January 2026

Another visit to my favourite TAG Heuer boutique and, well... as we'll see in a moment it was 'interesting' but hardly what I'd call 'exciting'. And honestly, it was a bit of a turning point for me perhaps. Because standing in that boutique with about £20,000 of watches on the desk in front of me it really made me question (once again) the point of this blog. As I've said before, I am not a rich man. I now own half a (struggling) business but I'm not remotely rich, in fact I'd probably be better off working for someone else. 

So honestly, the chances of me buying a glassbox Carrera for £6700 are quite literally ZERO. I wouldn't buy any watch for £6700. I wouldn't buy a watch for more than £5000 at the absolute max (not unless my financial situation vastly improved) and the most I have ever spent on a watch to date is £3300. Sure I could sell my entire collection and I would be able to buy three or four watches at £6700, but today it feels to me like what you're getting for that money is what TAG Heuer basically consider a run of the mill Carrera chronograph.

Well no, I guess the run of the mill Carrera chronograph would be the Calibre 16, but even so if I was parting with the best part of £7000 I would want to feel like I was picking up something 'special', and sadly I just don't feel that way about these. At the same time, I've recently been speaking to someone who lives in America, who was excited to tell me about the limited edition 'Caribbean' watches she'd been hunting down and it really made me think about how much fun I used to get from this hobby when it was more about chasing old F1s and 90s S/ELs...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 2083 1/1000min Stopwatch by Birth Year Watches

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Seafarer'

 

Predictably, when TAG Heuer launched their black dial limited edition Seafarer in 2024, I wasn't much of a fan. Aside from the 'retro' aesthetic, it looked way too blingy and the 'Tide' button looked way too big to me. Also, at 42mm it didn't really seem to make a lot of sense, given that it was most likely aimed at trying to attract attention from vintage Heuer enthusiasts (who naturally prefer 'vintage' sizing). Perhaps that's why it's still available to this day, despite being a limited edition collaboration with Hodinkee? And that also tells you something pertinent about Hodinkee's 'pulling power' in the mid 2020s... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Classic Formula 1 Restoration by Watch Fanatic

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Formula 1s by The Highwayman

Today, we are joined by the newest member of the Council of Considered Opinion 'Dave The Highwayman', for the second of our '40 Years of the Formula 1' celebratory posts. Dave is the newest member of the C.O.C.O. and a valuable addition given his thoughtful and insightful comments, so I'm interested to see what his top ten Formula 1s might be...

DTH: When Rob asked me to write a piece about my top ten F1's, I really had to delve into the memory bank. Trying to recall what I thought of them at the time, and importantly, what I was actually wearing in the second half of the 80's.

I remember the original F1 watches very well, I was not however a customer at the time. In truth, they really didn't appeal to me. I was...and still am a man entirely untouched by fashion trends! One could argue I was very much the target market, I was young, I had a little money and I was into motorsport. They just didn't hit my spot though, I wore a suit for work and wanted a “serious” business-like daily watch. 

I chose to wear a well used 70's steel Omega Geneve. That watch was actually my first “deal”, bought for £50 from a colleague and later sold back to the same guy for a £100. I still feel slightly bad about that one.. The F1's were quirky, small, colourful and in my mind at the time.. something of a novelty, throwaway item. I looked at them but didn't seriously consider buying one.

I did however buy an example of the totally forgotten Avia “Turbo” for weekends. In black and red,it matched my black XR3i with red bumper inserts.. Ahh, those were the days, before the inevitable, crushing disappointment of adult life set in !

Looking back, that Avia was clearly intended as a cheaper F1 alternative, aimed squarely at the same market. Multiple bright colours, racing stripes and “Turbo” printed on the rubber strap. They also shared the same ETA movement as the F1 for about a quarter of the price, nothing changes does it..

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Astronomer' Limited Edition by Random Rob

CATALOGUES: Heuer Catalogue (1985/1986)

You can now access a HUGE library of TAG Heuer / Heuer catalogues direct on the blog by clicking the 'CATALOGUES' tab at the top (in the drop down menu on a phone/tablet) or clicking the link at the bottom of this page.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Circuit Board and Battery Replacement by Solim BD

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 41mm Glassbox Chronographs

 

As you probably know by now, I'm not a huge fan of the second generation of glassbox Carreras, especially the 39mm ones which look tiny on my 7.5" wrist. I actually don't mind some of the 42mm models and it's a shame they don't offer the purple dial, for example, in the larger case as that one is rather nice. So it's not that I'm completely 'anti-glassbox' and I do have some 37mm watches in my collection (so it's not purely the size). I think it's a combination of the diameter, the glass dome and the thin 'not-a-bezel' visible under the crystal conspiring to make it feel a bit dinky and a wee bit feminine (honestly). 

But perhaps I'm not the only one with reservations? Perhaps TAG Heuer themselves realise that maybe they went a little bit small, because at LVMH Watch Week they released three new glassbox chronographs in a larger (41mm) diameter. Yay, for common sense!