GALLERY: TAG Heuer 1500 Series GMT & Formula One Quartz Chronograph

OWNED: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph

CA1212-1

Another 'Owned' post written on the eve of departure I'm afraid, this one was never a big hit with me and once I had dispensed with my CAF1112 Aquaracer the spotlight fell on this as being the next weakest in the pack. It's a funny thing, when you collect watches and you get to the point where you have more than is perhaps 'reasonable', you can't help but start looking at which ones should probably be let go; indeed I briefly listed another one of my watches on eBay the other day but thought better of it and took my listing down after a few hours. That one might still go back up, but if it does I will want a good price for it otherwise I will keep it.

This Formula 1 though, you may remember when I bought it I said I had compromised on the dial colour because I didn't want to pay silly money for a yellow/red/blue dial, and if so you may be thinking that that is the reason why I'm now letting it go. I really don't think it is, because I do like this white dial, what I don't like is the size and the case shape and how small it looks on my wrist. I have other watches that are the same size which I am perfectly happy to wear and even some smaller (like my 'classic' resin Formula 1) but for some reason this one didn't look right on me.

Because of that, of course I rarely wore it... especially when I have many other watches to choose from and so it had to go. But I don't regret owning it, yes I lost a bit of money on it, but I now have hands on experience of this generation of Formula 1 and besides you have to accept that watch ownership is always a journey of discovery and you never really know how you feel about a piece until you've owned it a while and worn it at your leisure.

Aside from the size and the 'button-like' case I didn't really have any issues with this watch at all. The bracelet and clasp were generally comfortable (if functional), the bezel was in very good condition for it's age, except that it was missing the lume pip; it could well have been a replacement bezel of course, although the watch was in good condition overall.

The best part of this watch for me is the dial, I very much liked the dial even though I cheaped out and went for the basic white version... but then that proved a great background colour for the red and green TAG Heuer logo. The red detailing on the dial is another boon, especially on the running seconds counter (which is divided into three sectors; red, black and grey) but also the three chronograph hands. I'm not crazy about the 'triangular' hands on the chronograph subdials, but they aren't a major distraction.

There's a subtle texturing to the middle circle of the dial, which is often described on sites like eBay as a 'Carbon Fibre' dial. It isn't, but it does give a certain finesse to the dial that is missing on the older CA1212-RO version (which has the Mercedes hands and all black sub-dials). Speaking of hands, these are fantastically legible, with a bold black outline that stands out brilliantly against the white dial, and the lume ensures the hands are also plainly visible against the subdials.

CA1212-RO

Less visible, indeed you might not have even noticed, are the lumed Arabic numerals around the edge of the dial. These are subtle to say the least, and on my nigh on 30 year old example the Tritium lume was very weak indeed, but then to expect anything else would be foolish. It's a shame they didn't outline them just a little bit more as they do look good, it's just hard to see them.

I'm not sure how I feel about the black date window, the contrast fits in with the overall colour scheme but it does highlight it's slightly awkward '4:30' positioning, which is a bit of a shame. Indeed, looking at the CA1212-RO it's interesting to see how this could have been improved simply by straightening up the window... but again, for me that wasn't a deciding factor, it was 100% the size and case shape and how it looked on the wrist.

I have to say, it's been a few months since I started writing this post and I haven't for a second regretted my decision, which tells me that it was obviously the right one for me. It's a shame though because I always wanted a classic F1 chrono in my collection... maybe I'll try again one day?

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph

CA1212-1

I wasn't expecting to buy this one, in fact I wasn't even really looking... but at the same time I've always wanted an older Formula 1 Chronograph and I knew I would pick one up sooner or later. So when I spotted this on eBay the other day at less the £300 I was immediately interested. I had been looking at a similar one with a blue dial, but even on a (damaged) rubber strap it was way over £400 and for a nice mint one on a bracelet it was more like £650, which seems a lot for a twenty year old F1!

I'd also come across a nice yellow dial version on eBay but that was even more money (£750+) which made this CA1212-1 look all the more appealing, but of course I assumed it would shoot up at the last minute like they all seem to do. So I watched and waited, and come the last day it was still only about £320 with an hour to go, but I assumed it would go for at least £400-450.

With a coupe of minutes to go someone pushed it up to £330 while I was mulling over my bid. The pictures were good, but not brilliant and it was only really when I found another listing offering a similar CA1212-1 with really great photos (but a £755 price tag!) that I became super interested. But still I was undecided about the dial colour Ideally I would have liked a blue or yellow dial, but I really didn't want to stump up the extra coin, and crucially, this white dial had a full bracelet.

So I wanted it, but if I was to settle for the white dial I decided I wanted it at a good price. So I clicked on the bid box and initially entered £412, then reduced it to £407, then £392. I bid with seven seconds to go, which is always nerve wracking as I've lost out due to a slow signal before, but strategically it is advantageous as it doesn't give other bidders time to react. The page refreshed, showing me as the winning bidder with 4 seconds to go at £340. I waited for the price to jump up, but instead the seconds ticked away and I was the winner.

I must admit I was a little bit surprised, more than a little bit actually... and I think because I hadn't expected to win at that price a little bit of buyer's remorse crept in. This was exacerbated when I noticed that the right hand sub-dial wasn't resetting properly in the picture. You'd think I would have been super clued up on that after my 'Searacer' debacle, and I was already composing my return email in my head before the the day was out.

But, the description clearly stated that the chrono worked properly, so I tried to remain calm and reasoned that as long as the subdial functioned (which the one on the Searacer didn't at all) then it should be okay because I could reset it manually. Yes, I guess I could have contacted the seller about it, but I reasoned that as this person clearly didn't know much about their watch I'd rather they didn't start trying to reset it before I got hold of it!

So a couple of days of worrying later my box arrived, along with a separate envelope containing the F1 Chrono catalogue I posted about on Friday. Taking the watch out of the box I was immediately struck by the condition, which is pretty amazing actually. The seller claimed the watch had lived in a drawer for a lot of it's life and while the missing lume pip and a few light scratches on the top and bottom of the case suggested this might be a little fanciful, the condition of the rest of the bezel and crystal couldn't really be faulted.

And though I initially wanted a coloured dial, once I got close up to the white dial I really fell in love with it. The white and black versions have a cool textured centre section which the coloured versions don't have and that really lifts it in my opinion. I'm not saying that all things being equal I would have chosen the white dial over the blue or yellow, but at the same time I wouldn't pay an extra 50-80% for the privilege either! The white is really, really nice especially as it does have a decent splash of red on the running seconds sub-dial and also with the coloured dials you don't get the lumed Arabic numerals either, which still work surprisingly well for a watch originally purchased in 1999. Not to mention of course that the white dial does make a nice background for the classic green and red TAG Heuer logo.

These two pictures are from the other eBay sale I found (the one for £755), which really show the watch off well. 

The only thing I would say is that at 37mm it is a little bit dinky. I do have other watches around this size and they also seem a little small, but this one seems that little bit smaller. I don't know if it's maybe because we are used to seeing F1s in 40,41 and 43mm now, whereas the other watches like the Kirium and S/EL are of their 'time'... and so we accept them as they are. It's kind of ironic that one of the reasons I sold my 40mm WAH1110 was because it was 'too small'... but, well... I can live with it. It would help if my wrist wasn't quite so big of course, maybe it will look better in a few months when I've lost a bit more weight!

And yes, thankfully when I received the watch, the first thing I did was start the chrono, which functioned incredibly crisply as if it had hardly ever been used (the rotating bezel is also incredibly fresh) and on pulling out the crown I was indeed able to reset the 1/10 of a second sub-dial manually, which made me very happy - especially as I didn't want to have to send the catalogue back!