GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

 

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

 

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watches

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz WG111C Watch

WG111C

It took me a while to get hold of this one, I'd seen one on eBay a long time ago but I absolutely was not prepared to spend £800 for a three handed S/EL just because it had a red dial. Okay, it's a lot harder to find than the black dial but still, that's still at least £300 over the top.

So I waited and watched and then my wife managed to get hold of her red dial S/EL at an extremely good price and once I'd seen that I knew I really wanted one. And so the search began again and then one day last November I got lucky too.

This watch was on eBay with a starting bid of £350 and since I was the only person to place a bid that's exactly what I paid for it.

I love the styling of the S/EL (which is just as well since I have three of them in total) but the red dial really makes this one stand out from the crowd - I guess it catches my eye when I'm choosing a watch to wear too as since it arrived it's quietly become one of my most worn watches, something that slightly surprised me when I did my post about wrist time at the end of March.

The watch is in pretty good condition for it's age, although there is a slight patination to the lume and hands, which is a shame as my wife's red S/EL is pretty much perfect in that regard. Both watches have some light scratches to the highly polished bezel though, something which is pretty much impossible to avoid unless you really baby your watch.

With its bold red dial I'm sure the WG111C isn't going to be one that has 'universal' appeal; even now sometimes I still look at it and wonder if it doesn't look slightly odd, something I've never felt about a black or blue dial watch, or even my yellow dial Aquaracer Calibre S come to that. But then, when you have a large number of watches it's good to have some that stand out since you don't really want a watch box full of black dial stainless steel pieces, do you? I think part of that is because the red of the TAG Heuer logo doesn't mesh well (or perhaps it meshes too well) with the red of the dial.

As ever the S/EL bracelet is super comfortable and fortunately when the watch arrived it fitted my wrist perfectly. I say fortunately because my wife's S/EL had to be sent away to be altered - even though it came with the instruction booklet which made it all sound so easy! It proved not to be the case at all...

In the wrist-shot above it looks quite substantial, but this picture is very misleading. It's quite slender and it measures just 37/38mm so it's definitely on the smaller side for a modern watch (current Aquaracers are 41 or 43mm in diameter for comparison). I've found that I can wear anything from a 35mm to a 45mm though, you just get used to these things and the truth is you have to if you want to wear watches from the 1980s and 90s. I believe there might be a 40mm case S/EL chronograph, but I've never actually seen one close up so I can't be 100% sure about that, it could just be eBay sellers including the crown in the measurements (always something to be wary of!).

While the dial is quite simple, there is one small detail you might not have noticed which elevates it somewhat. The dial is actual on two levels, with the central section lower than the outer section where the hour batons sit. To separate the two parts of the dial TAG Heuer have added a very delicate silver line that you only really notice when it catches the light. I'm not sure whether this is an applied metal ring or whether it's 'painted' on to the dial, but it's a nice touch and adds a touch of class to an otherwise 'sporty' dial. Which is just what it was designed to do I'm sure, after all 'S/EL' stands for 'sport elegance'. 

A few days ago the watch started to indicate that its battery needed changing (jumping four seconds at a time) and so I procured a Renata 371 from eBay and took the back off to make the switch. I was pleased to see the movement looked in good condition with no obvious signs of water incursion and also it was nice to see 'TAG Heuer' printed prominently on the movement too.

There's not much to go wrong with this watch as its only complication is a date function; that works perfectly and the crown screws down nicely, so the only minor niggle is the ageing of the lume. Maybe one day I'll send it back to TAG Heuer for an overhaul and a re-lume, after all it's probably due a service by now even though it keeps excellent time.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

WG111C

You might remember a few months ago I managed to pick up a ladies S/EL for my wife, which is a lovely little watch with a gorgeous red dial; needless to say seeing it on her wrist made me want one of my own, but the only one I could find was on eBay for £799 and I wasn't prepared to pay anything like that for one. So when another one popped up on eBay last week with a starting price of £350 I was immediately interested. Admittedly the condition wasn't comparable; the previous one had an immaculate bezel and dial, whereas this one has some light marks to the bezel and some patina to the lume, but the price difference was huge... assuming of course that I could get it for a sensible price.

I did a 'Spotlight On' post on the WG111C last October, and in it I pretty much said the same thing; that I couldn't justify spending £675 on one and that I'd rather get a chronograph instead. Fast forward thirteen months and I now have two S/EL quartz chronographs (CG1110 and CG1120), so finally it was time to get this one in the bag.

Picture from the eBay listing

The listing ended at 7:00PM on Monday night, so I did the usual thing of biding my time, fully expecting someone else to bid on it. With thirty seconds to go I entered my bid and watched the seconds ticking by, my finger hovering over the 'submit' button. I can't remember what my bid was but it was around about the £500 mark I think... I got a twitchy finger and submitted my bid a few seconds earlier than I wanted to, but it didn't matter as seemingly I was the only bidder. And so the red S/EL was mine for just £350 + £8.90 postage!

Oops, left the crown out for the photo...!

Of course, anyone who has purchased a watch from eBay knows that you should never count your chickens and so it was the usual 48hr wait to find out if I'd bagged a bargain, or picked a dud.. at least I didn't have the usual 'chronograph in the post' hassle to stress over this time! The watch arrived on Wednesday morning and I'm pleased to say it works perfectly. Not only that, but the seller had obviously been slightly cautious with their sizing; they claimed the watch would fit a 7.1/2" wrist (mine is 7.3/4") so I was slightly nervous about that, partly because my wife's S/EL had to be sent away for two weeks to have links taken out of it because our local watchmaker couldn't do it and partly because I knew I'd have to source another link... which isn't a massive problem, eBay can offer plenty of them, but it would mean a wait to wear the watch and more expense (probably another £50-60).

I took the risk because as far as I could see from the photographs this watch had one less link than my CG1110, but my CG1110 is all the way up on the micro-adjustment (which is at least one link's worth) so logic would suggest this one should fit. Thankfully I was bang on and the watch fitted my wrist straight out of the box. :)

The three hander S/EL is about the same overall diameter as the chronograph (certainly within 1mm), but the bezel is 2-3mm smaller and the case a few millimeters thinner, so it does wear slightly smaller. The lume is a little tarnished, but still retains a reasonable amount of charge for a watch of this age, while the rest of the dial and crystal look perfect. There's a few light marks on the bezel and clasp but nothing to get upset about and the date changes crisply. I've just noticed that the bezel doesn't turn... I'm not sure if that's because it's gnarled up or if someone's fixed it in place somehow, but if that's the only thing wrong with it, I'm happy with that. Better a fixed bezel than a spinning one I always say!

So there we are, overall I'm extremely happy with my latest acquisition, but now I'm wondering about getting a green dial WG1119 to match...

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Red Dial Watch

WG111C

It's not until you stop and think about it, or until you are confronted by a photograph like the one above, that you realise that you really don't see that many red dial watches. And actually even when you do they aren't always all that nice... *cough* WAH1112 *cough* CAH1112 *cough*! So it's nice to see this S/EL popping up on eBay to remind us that there are some red-dial TAGs out there that are worth looking at, even if they might take some getting used to...

My wife liked this straight off the bat, but it's taken me a few days to decide about it. I think it's just a bit of a shock to see such a strong red dial on a watch and it's fair to say it threw me off a little, but once I got used to it I must admit I do kinda like it.

S/ELs on eBay seem to fall into two distinct camps, there's the beautifully preserved/restored ones like this one which command £500-£1000+, and then there's the scratched to hell ones that go for £2-300. It's always nice to see a beautifully presented S/EL like this one, and it makes me all the more determined to get one into my collection soon. I don't think it will be this one though, because while I do like it, I really want a chronograph and preferably one of the larger cased ones.

That red really is something isn't it, and I'm sure it's not going to be to everyone's taste. But it does kind of make you wonder why red is such an unusual colour for a watch dial, even more unusual than yellow - which seems kind of strange really. But then until recently blue wasn't quite the thing that is now, so maybe at some point red will have it's day in the sun...?

This particular watch is 38mm in diameter and is being sold at a 'buy it now' price of £675 on eBay by SwissWristWatches (whose watches always look incredible, though I've never bought from them so I can't personally vouch for them), annoyingly there's no mention of bracelet length, and even as I write this I'm tempted to contact them to see if it would fit my 'larger than average' 7.3/4" wrist... hmm.

Restrain yourself Robert, this isn't the one for you, you're just being seduced by it's lusciousness and that hypnotic red dial! Don't mind me - I always get like this when I come across an S/EL in this kind of condition, it's an itch that definitely needs to be scratched in the very near future (and if Watchfinder weren't so tardy at taking things off their site I might already have scratched it, but that's by the by).

On the whole, I still think the red dial is a bit much. I like it, but am I going to like it in three months? I'm not really sure... I do like the fact that it's completely different to anything I have in my collection already, that is a definite plus point, but is it too much? I certainly haven't regretted buying my yellow Calibre S Aquaracer, so I wouldn't rule it out completely, but then I'd still really prefer a chrono if possible, probably a black dial one if I'm honest.

Still I'm sure this one will find a buyer sooner or later as someone's bound to fall in love with it... I think in all honesty if I bought it, I think I'd find it hard to wear it and risk marking that immaculate bracelet, which maybe isn't the best start to owning a watch...!