NOT BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Link Calibre S Chronograph

Considering how many watches I've owned over the last ten years (70+ all of which have been TAG Heuers) it's perhaps somewhat remarkable that I've only ever owned one Link. I mean, that's one more than the number of Autavias I've owned... or Monacos... or Monzas, Silverstones, Airlines, Titaniums, 1000 Series or indeed Connecteds. But given how freely available affordable quartz Links are (and have been) on eBay since I got into the hobby it still feels a little odd that I've only owned one. 

That was a Link Searacer that I searched high and low for and eventually found for a bargain price on the H&T website, having dropped from £995 to £750 and finally to £495 (IIRC) when I finally snapped it up. It was an odd watch, which is probably what I liked about it, but for some reason I never really 'loved' it. It was rather bulky somehow and the lack of micro adjustment bothered me as the bracelet was always too tight or too lose and while sometimes I liked its dial, sometimes the weird layout looked kinda ugly. I eventually parted with it for around the same price as I paid for it... so perhaps it wasn't that great of a bargain after all!

Of course I've come close to buying others, including a black dial WJ1113 with diamond hour markers that I found going begging on the H&T website a few years ago for £800; never quite pulled the trigger on that one for some reason. And honestly once I bought my Carrera CBN2A1E last year I thought I was done. I mean 'yeah, right'... you don't just stop buying watches, there's always another watch. But I thought it would be a long time and maybe not even a TAG Heuer that would tempt me to purchase again.

Truth be told I thought it might be a Cartier, or maybe even a Breitling that would be my next move. I mean... WTAF right? But then this CJF7111 caught my eye on the Watchfinder website and I became intrigued. When I first saw it it was £1150 and I didn't really want to pay that much. So I thought, okay, I'll just watch and see what happens. I was sure I'd seen them on WF before and it wasn't like if it sold I was going to be devastated or anything, so let's just wait and see what happens.

Because, honestly over the last few months I've noticed that WF's stock is really not moving quickly at all. I'd see things and think 'that's nice, that won't stay long' and then a few weeks later it's still there and the price has been dropped and it still wasn't moving. So I thought, there's a pretty good chance this will end up dropping or there'll be a sale or something, and so it transpired. One morning I got an email and there it was, now offered at £950. That was a price I thought I could stomach and so I ordered it and waited for it to arrive.

I ordered the watch on a Friday and it was despatched the same day, arriving the following Monday. Oddly I had kind of forgotten about it and I didn't really feel 'excited' about getting home to see it. But, I reasoned, maybe that was a good thing. After all, if I got home and it blew me away despite that then I would know for sure it was a keeper.

When I got home and unpacked the delivery the first thing that surprised me was that it wasn't in a TAG Heuer box, which I found odd because I thought it said it came with box and papers. As it happened I had taken a screen shot of the listing and on reviewing it again there were X's next to the 'box' and 'papers' so fair enough. 

I did think it was odd that they thought the watch was from 2002 if they had box and papers, because I knew the watch couldn't have been any earlier than 2007 because the Calibre S movement debuted in that year.

On opening the box I felt immediate disappointment because the listing photo kind of suggested the watch would be more of a white and blue dial than it really is. My photo above actually gives a similar impression, but in reality the dial is very silver, almost grey and very plain. It looks and feels very 'basic', very 'entry level' in fact so that put me off a bit.

Also, just like the Link I had previously this one had no micro adjustment and no half links. I'm not sure if they are available or not, but I have a feeling not, and while the watch did fit me (I have bought several watches from WF so they know my wrist size by now) I couldn't help but think what happens when I lose weight again and it starts flapping around...

This photo is a much more accurate representation of the dial colour, it's definitely silver rather than a beautiful 'silvery-white' (as TAG Heuer sometimes produce) and the dial feels rather empty and the printed logo feels a bit basic. Compare this to my yellow dial Calibre S Aquaracer which has an applied logo (and sub dial frames) and printed concentric circles on the dial and it all comes off as a little bit meh.

Curiously though, looking in the 2009 price list, I notice that the blue version of my Aquaracer (the yellow was only available for one year) cost £1595 while this watch cost £1995. So that's quite a premium for a Link over an Aquaracer, especially when you consider the differences in the dial finishing. Okay, maybe the Link bracelet is more expensive to produce, but I know which one I'd rather own, that's for sure.

Oddly I got the feeling that perhaps I wasn't the first person to order this watch, since the sticker they attach to the bracelet looked rather worn and the box too looked like it had been used more than once. And honestly the bracelet felt a bit tired too, like it had been well used. I wonder if it had been polished before being sold. None of which would have really bothered me at the price if I had loved the dial, but unfortunately I just really wanted it to be a shimmering white with blue accents and it was just too grey.

It's a shame because I really love the Calibre S movement and this would have been the fourth one in my collection. And I think the blue subdial could have looked so good against the dial if the dial was lighter (and if the frame was more three-dimensional), but sadly that's just not how it is. 

Fair play to Watchfinder though, I returned the watch with no quibbles and the money was back on my card within three working days... they even credited the £40 carriage charge, which was a very pleasant surprise!