FEATURE: The Quest to Find an S/EL

Of all the watches TAG Heuer have made over the last thirty years, one above all others seems uniquely divisive, I'm talking of course about the S/EL (Sports Elegance). For some this is the epitome of questionable taste, in particular the two tone versions (like the example pictured above), but while I agree those particular pieces are perhaps a little gauche, there is just something about the S/EL that makes me want one.

Whether it's that F1 connection, the S/EL was after all the watch of choice for the legendary Ayrton Senna, or simply a nostalgic desire for the 80s and those TAG sponsored Williams and McLarens, I simply don't know, but something draws me to them even though I'm not even sure I've ever actually seen one in the flesh.

The problem though, as I've learned over the last couple of years, is that when you start buying older pieces you have to be prepared for difficulties. Firstly, there's the sizes. I've looked at countless S/ELs on eBay only to get terribly excited until I read '34mm' diameter. I know watches just weren't as big back then, but the S/ELs seems particularly small, or maybe it's just that the larger ones are more coveted and so don't get sent to auction as much (and demand a significant premium when they do).

And secondly (for me particularly) I have a very oblong wrist shape and this means bracelets (and even some straps) can be troublesome for me. I never encountered this problem on any watch I'd owned before until I bought my first 2000 series and I just couldn't wear the bracelet at all because the curved folding clasp dug into my wrist. The same thing happened with my second 2000 and also both my Formula One pieces (although that was a slightly different problem) even though they sported rubber straps. And just the other day I tried on a 500m Aquaracer with a rubber strap and encountered the same problem - it's so frustrating!

So as you can imagine I am very wary now about buying anything without being able to try it on, but where can you try on an S/EL? I'm back to waiting for Watchfinder to get one in and then either having to go to London or having it sent to me to try.

Or so I thought. Recently I've been looking to buy one of these watches, or at least to try one on and satisfy my curiosity. Watchfinder had one or two limited edition versions with 'McLaren 1998' on the face, but they seem to have found themselves new homes and in frustration I turned back to eBay and found a couple of very nice pieces.

CG1114

First there was a lovely blue S/EL, a quartz powered chronograph with the model number CG1114, offered with a new movement at £795, and then from the same seller there was a CG1110-0, which is basically the same watch but with a black dial instead. This one was for sale for a slightly cheaper £775.

CG1110-0

Now part of me wanted to buy the blue one, if only because all my pieces are essentially black and I kind of promised myself that I should try and buy some pieces which expanded the collection into different looks without going to a different brand. So a blue dial fitted the bill perfectly, but then the reason I have so many black dial watches is because black looks great... and the green and red logo looks fantastic on a black dial. I loved my second 2000 series and I never would have sold it if it been a couple of mm larger across the case.

So I was getting a little bit excited, and I was at the point where I was definitely going to buy one of these watches, I just had to decided if it was going to be black or blue. But then the sensible part of me kicked in, and I remembered all the problems I've had with straps in the last couple of years, and then of course I started to get nervous. It's not all straps, I have no problem at all with the bracelet on my F1 Kirium, it's wonderful in fact. And the Aquagraph is also fine, save for it's complete lack of fine adjustment, but by and large I have no issue with the clasp.

So I noticed the seller offers 30 day refunds, but being a cautious sort I decided to approach the seller to confirm the details of their refund policy. I expected a warm reply but got a fairly blunt one, whereupon I tried to explain the reason why I was concerned that the clasp would cause me problems and was told that I should probably not buy this watch and buy one with a leather strap.

While that may be sound advice, I personally think the S/ELs with leather straps look pretty awful. It looks like such an afterthought, because to me the bracelet is such an integral part of the design that anything else looks 'wrong' and I must say the way TAG reworked the cases to accept a normal strap is horrendous!

I tried again to explain myself but I was pretty much told the seller had no interest in selling to me on a sale or return basis, and so reluctantly I have accepted that avenue is closed. It's a shame because that seller seems to have a very good record and seems to know what he's doing when it comes to refurbishing TAGs. He has a 100% record on over 2000 sales on eBay, and that's not to be sniffed at. But I have to say, customer service doesn't seem to be a strong point. I mean I would have known within minutes if the clasp was going to be an issue, I had no intention of keeping the watch for 30 days or even more than a couple of days before returning it, and I really wanted to buy it, but clearly the seller didn't want to know. They did suggest I find one to try on locally and that once I had satisfied myself that the clasp was okay they would be happy to supply me. But that's the problem, where do I get to 'try' one on exactly? And even if I could, I would have to be sure that it had the exact same bracelet.

I feel like I'm going around in circles with this, and so I'm pretty much resigned to waiting for Watchfinder to get something in or waiting for a jeweller somewhere to advertise one that I can go and see in a shop somewhere. I don't even mind a journey, I'll drive a couple or few hours if they've got something of interest, but the S/EL just doesn't seem to pop up all that much, at least not in the UK. Maybe they never sold as well in the UK as other places? A lot of them are a little bit gaudy, with spatterings of gold on a lot of models, and brightly coloured straps seemed to be de rigueur as well. 

So for now, I'm a little deflated, but I won't give up completely. An S/EL would be a welcome addition to my collection, but only if I can find the right model, in the right size, with the right bracelet... and of course as long as that bracelet doesn't have a clasp which rips my arm to pieces.

FEATURE: Dealer Clocks

If you've ever been into a TAG Heuer boutique or outlet store, then chances are you've seen a dealer clock on the wall and thought 'where can I get one of them'. When I was in the Cheshire Oaks store the other day one of the staff guys was telling us (I was with my wife at the time) how so many people ask if they are for sale, and now how there was a guy who constantly asks about the TAG Heuer doormat!

While TAG don't sell their wall clocks (such a shame!) a quick look on eBay will quickly show that there is a strong market for them whether they are genuine or not - and truthfully, how would we know? Clocks like this regularly sell for hundreds of pounds.

And it's easy to see why, genuine or not, they look fantastic. Sure, at the end of the day they are powered by a cheap as chips battery movement, but when they look this good - who cares? Many a time I've looked at these on eBay and thought about bidding, but never quite pulled the trigger. Why? Well... for one thing, there's always another one just around the corner, so for me the 'value' isn't really there. But I must admit it's getting harder and harder to resist, and I think this Christmas I might find a TAG clock under my tree.

To be honest I don't really understand why TAG Heuer don't sell them themselves, perhaps it's because they feel uncomfortable about selling a plastic wall clock, but on the other hand a lot of people clearly like them and judging by what goes on on eBay they are prepared to pay fairly serious money for them too.

I kinda hope this one's fake, because it's a little bit nasty looking.

But then I don't understand why JCB has canned all the TAG merchandise, the belts, the wallets, the glasses... just about the only thing you can buy now is a backpack. It seems crazy to me, people love the TAG logo, it's instantly recognizable even in it's newly revamped form and I personally love the branding on the rubber straps etc. Shouldn't the company be capitalizing on their brand? It seems backwards that the company has made the conscious decision to pull the brand back down to entry level status (ditching the haute horlogerie pieces like the Monaco V4 and the Mikrograph) but at the same time seems awfully shy about selling 'merchandise'.

Still I'm sure Jean Claude knows a lot more than I do about business, so I'll shut up now.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Formula One Alec Monopoly Special Edition

Oh my trousers, they've only gone and given him another watch!

If nothing else Alec Monopoly is divisive, and the one 'brand ambassador' guaranteed to raise the heckles of the Calibre 11 forum members. Indeed, Mr Monopoly seems to be one thing the members can agree on and unite against.... and yet, seeing this on Facebook earlier I thoroughly expected to find a thread on the forum filled with bile outrage that this watch has been allowed to exist, but instead - well... give it time I guess, but at least in the first instance T.H.E. regular Jim Dollares started the thread with an almost positive (if slightly hesitant) post...

I must admit, I hated the first Alec Monopoly watch. Spraying paint over a diamond encrusted Carrera was completely jackassery of the finest order, but this makes much more sense. If you're going to do something 'fun' do it on a (relatively) cheap watch, not a $30,000 Carrera, and when I saw this the first thing that popped into my head was those Ingersoll Mickey Mouse watches, which is great because they are a fun watch too.

The lack of markings on the dial is a slight stumble for me, it would have been cool if Alec had painted them on the dial, and also the TAG logo too, although the logo on the back of the watch has been 'Monopolised'.

Failing that maybe an applied '12' might have made the dial look a little more 'complete' as to me although it is very busy, it looks as if there's something missing. But I really don't want to hate on this watch at all, I think it's great that TAG are prepared to put out fun pieces like this, even if it's not going to be to everyone's taste. I'm sure some fans of other brands will give this a withering look and dismiss it in the knowledge that 'their' wonderful brand would never make such a thing.

Well that may be true, but that brand will probably never do anything truly great or unique beyond tinkering with the colour accent on the second hand. I don't like this enough to buy it, but this watch makes me like TAG even more, because I love that they have the balls to make it. Too many watch brands have zero personality and are so conservative, of course this isn't going to be for everyone but I'd rather see this than a fanfare for yet another blue-dialed 300m dive watch with a slightly modified bezel...

I'm guessing this watch is going to be sold at somewhere around the £1200 mark, or maybe even slightly less. Not sure how it's value will hold up, I guess ultimately that will depend on how Alec's career pans out in the long run. But think how well some of the Swatch models have done over time, especially the ones connected to artists like Keith Haring. Not that I'm suggesting Monopoly will be in that league ever, but if this is made in limited quantities (as I suspect it will - although this is a special edition not a limited edition which presumably means they make it until it stops selling) I guess with it's unique dial it could well become quite collectible in the future.

Oh... there I was being nice and then Alec goes and does this. I feel like a disappointed parent!

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UPDATE: This watch is apparently an internet only purchase and is limited to 200 pieces. Price is a rather reasonable £1000, which means it could potentially be something of an investment if Alec becomes a household name, and even if he doesn't there's no other TAG that looks anything like this.

The TAG Heuer Enthusiast Gallery Blog

If you haven't already been, don't forget to visit my 'gallery' blog (just click on the Monaco 24HR in the side bar), here you'll find more than 1280 pictures of TAG Heuer models from the start until the current day. This is an ongoing project and is by no means complete and if you know of anything that is missing please help me by leaving a comment with any information you have (especially part numbers). When I started the gallery blog I had no idea what I was taking on, TAG have made a huge number of pieces over the last 30+ years and I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't even half way to having them all. I think David at Calibre 11 reckoned there were over 4,000 catalogue numbers that he knew of...

Pretty much every time I go looking I find something I've never seen before, just the other day I discovered a special edition 'Rugby World Cup' Aquaracer with an English Rose on the dial, of course eBay also throws up many new finds and I've also learned a lot from the Calibre 11 website and in particular the 'Limited Editions' thread on the forum too. Why not pay that a visit too?

FEATURE: 2000 Series I was Watching on eBay.

WE1111-R

I've been watching this 2000 Series on eBay for the past few days, mainly it must be said, because it had a very low starting price. When I found it it was going for about £120, and for that it looks pretty clean with a nice grey dial.

With my trip to Cheshire Oaks over the weekend I kind of forgot about it but this evening I happened to open my laptop and see it was finishing, indeed it had eight minutes to go and it was around about £134.

Thinking I might bid (and worry about the potential clasp problems later) I very quickly made a search for the part number to double check the diameter of the case. I did this earlier of course and got a measurement of 42mm. I must admit I was skeptical about that, but it was on Watchfinder so I presumed it must be right.

But I wanted to double check, and I presumed it was too late to email the seller to ask for confirmation. So I checked again and found three different sizes for this part number: 42mm, 35mm and 32mm. And two of those were Watchfinder!

Judging by the finger in that last picture it could be 42mm, but then again maybe not and I didn't want to risk it, because I've been through the whole 2000 Series size issues before and sold both the watches I bought. So in the end someone picked this watch up for the seemingly very nice price of £160.

Which may well be a bargain, but only (for me) if it was actually 42mm...

VIDEO: Carrera Calibre 5 Review by Watchuwant

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Monaco Quartz Watch

WAW131A.FC6177

Well, this one came right out of the blue. There I was minding my own business when up pops A Blog to Watch with an article on the new quartz powered TAG Heuer Monaco.

Wait, a what? When did this happen???

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/tag-heuer-monaco-quartz-watch/

This isn't the first time we've had a quartz Monaco, but it's been a while and I don't think anyone was really expecting this. But at the same time, should we be that surprised? JCB is clearly targeting the entry level market and as an entry level Monaco this makes total sense, after all for a while there it looked as if the only Monaco that was going to be available was the Calibre 11 blue dial model (costing £4650). Indeed Mr Biver even suggested in interviews that the Monaco should be a single watch collection.

But I never really bought that to be honest, TAG are too fond of specials and having just one colour dial (and that colour not being black) didn't really ring quite right to me. However, I never dreamed that would mean the brand putting out a battery powered version.

The new quartz Monaco retails for £1350, which should make it a good seller in the shops. When you put this up against some of the Formula Ones that share a price tag, it looks like a bit of a no brainer, but I do wonder if that will actually prove to be the case?

Does the younger market want a watch like this? I mean I'm intrigued because a Monaco has always been an obvious missing piece from my TAG collection. If I could secure the black dial Monaco 24 then that would be my preferred route to Monaco ownership, but financially this makes a lot of sense - especially if I can pick one up second hand.

See, for me, a Monaco is definitely not something I would wear daily, it would effectively be a 'dress' watch for me, and as such I don't really want to spend a fortune on it. So maybe this is a good compromise, forgoing the mechanical movement for an affordable piece that I can own and wear very occasionally, without tying up a lot of cash?

Admittedly I haven't seen this model yet, and it is 37mm which may prove to be too small. But square watches always wear larger than they actually measure, so I'm keeping an open mind and looking forward to getting the chance to slip it on the wrist. I don't know whether this has a deployment clasp or if it has a pin/buckle style strap, and if its the same deployment clasp as was used on the old Aquaracers then it may be a non starter anyway...

I must admit, at first glance I was unsure about the new TAG logo on that dial. I couldn't work out whether it looked right. Now of course there are some people who say the name 'TAG Heuer' should never feature on a Monaco dial... but in actual fact I think maybe the new logo modernises the watch a bit. It's definitely going to be interesting checking this one out I think!

ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer 500m Dive Watch

WAK2180.FT6027

Cheshire Oaks / 14th October 2017

Generally speaking, in my experience, while the quality of staff at the Cheshire Oaks has always been superior to that at the Bicester village outlet, it's usually the case that Bicester gets the best stock. However, having fairly recently visited the Bicester branch and been largely underwhelmed, it was nice to see some good stock on offer here today.

Notably, there was a carbon fibre cased Carrera along with several of the higher end Carrera models including the flyback Calibre 36 Racing and the stopwatch style Carrera CAR2C12. But what really caught my eye today was the WAK2180.FT6027 pictured above. I don't think I've ever seen one of these close up before and it really grabbed my attention. Not only is it a 500m diver with a helium escape valve, but it also comes with no hideous cyclops spoiling it's looks.

This watch is surprisingly slender for a 500m diver, and a little bit on the small side for me really. Well, truth be told it's 40.5mm in diamter which really is the bare minimum for me and being black it wears smaller. In fairness it didn't help that I was wearing my 45mm Heuer 01 Skeleton, and I think it would have been fine and I was really rather taken with it.

The problem started when I tried it on. It looked great, but within one minute I could tell it was digging in my wrist and when I took it off there was already a red mark. Now, you may remember my previous troubles with TAG Heuer's rubber straps with deployment clasps, but on first appearance this looked like it would be okay. TAG had resolved the terrible clasp that featured on my other two watches, but this time it was the folding part of the clasp that was digging in me. It seems my wrist is quite oblong in shape and the curve of the folding clasp was just too severe for the shape of my wrist (something the newer designs like on my Heuer 01 have done away with altogether) and so the tail end of it just curved straight into my wrist.

I've experienced exactly this problem before as it happens, on the 2000 models I bought from eBay and subsequently sold on, but I didn't expect this to happen again and makes me wonder if I'm ever going to be able to wear any of TAG's older models?

Still help was on hand... when I first asked to try the piece on the salesman (Joe) asked about my Heuer 01 and asked if I had any other watches. As I listed my collection, he suddenly asked if by any chance I had an account on Calibre 11*. Ah-ha! We had a good chuckle about that and my comments about the staff at Bicester and in particular the guy who tried to tell me the date on the Monaco 24 was the hour register for the chronograph!

He said the staff are not allowed to comment on the forums (which is fair enough and probably a good policy) and that they use the site to get information, in particular the 'Limited Editions' thread - which was interesting to hear. Nice to know in some small part we are providing assistance to those selling the watches we love.

Joe was excellent, if all the staff in the group were like him then I think TAG would be very happy indeed. Nothing was too much trouble, he offered to try fitting a different rubber strap they had in the store (it didn't fit in the end but the offer was there) and failing that he offered to source a pin and buckle style strap for me and to post it on to me free of charge.

Joe managed to find a very similar strap to the one the watch originally came on, but in the end I was very wary of buying something when I couldn't see it in it's finalised form. I must say, it seemed easy enough to get a replacement strap for my CAU2012, but while it fits and it's fine, the strap is bulkier than I'd like and a real struggle to get on and off.

With that disappointment in mind, I really didn't want to take that chance of being unhappy with another purchase again and decided to pass. I did try on the steel cased/bracelet version. And while that was okay, I didn't like the steel case as much as the black case, and more annoyingly without the pop of yellow on the second hand the watch looked rather dull in comparison.

WAK2110.BA0830

Both watches featured the ceramic bezel and while it may be scratchproof, I'm not so sure about it. Black ceramic looks like an absolute nightmare when it comes to finger marks, I can't imagine what a fully ceramic watch would be like - truly horrible to keep looking nice I should think.

Ever helpful, Joe said they could send the watch to Bicester if I changed my mind and that the offer of the free strap would stand. I actually felt quite bad that I couldn't buy a watch from the guy as he had been so helpful, but even saving about £500 off the list £1650 was a bit too much for me to chance on a purchase I wasn't sure I was going to be 100% satisfied with.

I must admit I am still a bit undecided about whether or not it was the right decision. I think if it had been the blue bezel limited edition boutique version I would have snapped it up and worried about the practicalities of the strap later, but unfortunately it wasn't.

WAK2181.FT6027

As I left I saw the black and silver Monaco 24 in the cabinet again, it's still gorgeous but it's still £5100 and that's a long way off for me. But you never know... 

*Obviously what he should have said was 'Are you Rob from 'tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com'? But since he was so helpful I'll let him off!

VIDEO: 2000 Series 'Comment' by Archie Luxury

VIDEO: Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 Review by Watchuseek

VIDEO: Two Reviews of the Aquaracer Calibre 5 by Random Rob and Bruce Williams

FEATURE: Aquaracer Quartz Chronograph

CAF1111.BA0803

He who hesitates is lost they say, and for a second time I've hesitated too long... the trouble is I just wasn't quite convinced. 

I came across this watch on the 'Watches.co.uk' website the other day, and thought it rather appealing. At first I thought the dial was white but it's actually silver... I think if it would have been white I might have bought it straight away, especially since the watch was described as 'mint condition'. However, it was a fairly hefty £895, and a little research showed that the original price was something like £1095. £200 off an eight year old watch seemed a little steep to me, even if it was mint and thus began my hesitation.

I looked on eBay, and found four pieces, albeit only one from within the UK, it was £400 when I found it and eventually finished at £510. It wasn't mint but it did look to be in good condition, so the question is of course, is it worth £385 for a mint watch bought from a jeweller rather than a private sale (with all the risks that go along with that).

As it happens, it's a moot point because somebody pulled the trigger - hence my assertion that 'he who hesitates is lost', but no matter, it'll come around again sometime. There's also a blue dial version with silver subdials that looks nice too.

The problem is I still haven't really decided where I want to go next with my collection. Watches.co.uk also have a lovely Breitling limited edition Avenger Seawolf Chrono Blacksteel on offer for a very reasonable £2595.

What a beauty, the problem is... the high res photos show some scuffing to the bezel and the side of the case, which is an issue for me. But then this is a £5-6000 watch, so it's priced very fairly. I emailed to enquire about the cost of replacing the bezel and was given an estimate of at least £400. Given this is a special edition piece it's not even certain that a replacement bezel would be available. Such a shame, if this was mint I would definitely be all over it. It's a big watch - 45mm, but that doesn't bother me. It's just such a pity, especially since it's black and can't really be fixed.

Oh well, I'm off to Cheshire Oaks in a couple of weeks so I'll keep my fingers crossed for something exciting in the TAG outlet there.

VIDEO: Aquaracer Calibre 5 Review by Spartans Watch Reviews

FEATURE: You Tube Watch Channels

I thought I would share with you my thoughts about some You Tube channels that you may or may not be aware of, and highlight their TAG friendliness.

THE URBAN GENTRY
Passionate about - Seiko, Brietling Navitimer, Seiko, Vintage Watches and Seiko.
TAG friendliness - 6/10

There's a lot of negative chatter about this fella on the internet, albeit a lot of it seems to be aimed at the guys' acolytes rather than the man himself. That said, Archie Luxury certainly had more than a few choice words to say about him and Federico (one time collaborator) and he seem to have had a falling out too.

It's all rather at odds with his persona of the English gentleman, which is rather a shame, but taken at face value I find his videos entertaining, even when the subject matter is not something that I'm particularly interested in. Certainly very few people can hold my attention for 30mins on a You Tube channel with any regularity.

As far as TAG goes, as far as I know he has reviewed two pieces and given them both solid reviews. Which considering his audience would probably have much preferred a complete slaughtering I guess we have to give him major props for that.

THEO AND HARRIS
Passionate about - Rolex Datejust, Vintage Watches, Rolex in general.
TAG friendliness - 3/10

At first I found Christian incredibly annoying, I mean the guy has a face you could punch repeatedly and never get bored. But over time I've mellowed to him. Despite his massive hipster douche tendencies and his predictability (best this, best that - it's always the Rolex Date Just), the guy does find some unique subjects to talk about (Breitling and the TV show 'The Bachelorette' for instance).

Theo and Harris is a seller of vintage watches, and so a large percentage of the videos they put up are basically advertisments for what they are selling this week. They also do feature videos on particular watches they want to push during which Christian adopts a very 'Marks and Spencers advert' voice - this is very very annoying indeed.

I haven't seen Christian review a TAG, he has commented on the Monza 40th Anniversary and recently he replied to a question about why 'TAG will never be a respected watchmaker' (they have too much baggage apparently because of quartz 'Links'.... eh, right?), but generally speaking he doesn't go out of his way to hate on TAG, largely because he deals in vintage watches. He does like Heuer though, and like so many he talks about Heuer as if it's a different company (it isn't) just because of the name change.

ARCHIE LUXURY
Passionate about - Rolex, Patek Philippe
TAG friendliness - ???

'Archie Luxury' is a character created by Paul Pluta, he can be very, very annoying and at times very funny (in his own peculiar way). He does repeat himself rather too much and that,again, can be very annoying.

Hard to say what Archie thinks about TAG Heuer. On the one hand he made a video called 'What your wristwatch says about you: TAG Heuer' in which he flat out and unrepentantly hated on the brand, but then... he did another video where he compared the Formula One GMT with the Rolex GMT (Batman) where he rather unexpectedly gave the TAG a very positive review. But Archie's opinions seem to change with the wind and depend largely on if there's any money in it for him.

I'm sorely tempted to send him $20 to review my collection, if only to hear him explode... but then again you never know with Archie.

WATCHUWANT
Passionate about - Jaeger le Coulture, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet
TAG friendliness - 6/10

Fronted by the slightly odd and slightly camp (but highly knowledgeable) Tim Mosso, Watchuwant is a video channel for a pre-owned dealer in Philadelphia which largely manages to avoid the failings of Theo & Harris when it comes to pushing it's stock on the viewer. Watchuwant create a huge number of videos and have a separate channel where Tim promotes the watches they have in store.

Watchuwant was recently bought by another company 'Govberg Jewellers' which has seen the arrival of Brian Govberg on the channel. If Tim is slightly odd, Brian is almost certainly non-human. I believe Brian may in fact be a replicant that has escaped from a secret government programme somewhere.

As far as TAG goes, again they don't get much in the way of mentions, but when they do it is even handed and the Carrera Heuer 01 was given a positive mention just the other day.

FEDERICO TALKS WATCHES
Passionate about - Panerai, Seiko
TAG friendliness - ?

Federico has had a colourful You Tube career. He started his own channel, then teamed up with the Urban Gentry for a while, then headed off to Miami to join WatchuWant - just before they closed shop and moved to Philadelphia, then resurrected his own channel again.

Federico's videos tend to be on the short side and can be a little lacking in content, but he's personable and not actively annoying. He's also worked in the watch industry in the past so has some insight there and recently has started his own pre-owned watch store too.

I can't honestly remember ever hearing the words TAG Heuer come out of his mouth, so what he feels about them is anyone's guess.

A BLOG TO WATCH
Passionate about - Pretty much everything!
TAG Friendliness - 8/10

A Blog to Watch is a different kind of channel, rather than face to camera opinion pieces ABTW videos focus on reviews of particular watches. Really the You Tube channel is an offshoot/complimentary outlet for the main blog, and does seem to operate much in the way a physical magazine might. What I mean by that is nothing really gets slagged, and by and large reviews are positive - which leads some to question Ariel's objectivity, particularly when he recentely reviewed a hideous quartz Gucci watch with a woven face and resisted an easy opportunity to rip it to pieces.

ABTW is pretty kind to every watch brand (and in return gets great access) and TAG Heuer is no different. So while on this channel you can expect favourable reviews of TAG products, it's rather meaningless when you now they are basically playing the industry game.

THE WATCHES TV
Passionate about - MB&F, Haute Horlogerie
TAG friendliness - 7/10

Now fronted alone by the charming Marc Andre Deschoux, The Watches TV generally focuses on high-end horology, but perhaps surprisingly for a channel of this nature it gives respect to TAG Heuer on the rare occasions it mentions them. For instance, Marc Andre was quick to mention the role of Guy Simon in designing the new Zenith movement and his previous work on the Monaco V4.

Realistically, The Watches TV is not a channel likely to devote a lot of time to TAG, but they still have an appreciation for the brand and they don't seem to buy into the anti-TAG bullsh*t.

CRM JEWELLERS / WATCH YOUR STYLE
Passionate about - Rolex, Audemars Piquet, Patek Philippe
TAG friendliness - ?

Although this channel is presented on behalf of CRM Jewellers by Eric, the content is not used to promote the company. Instead Eric gives his refreshingly frank opinions on high end watches and how purchasing those pieces will affect your standing in 'the watch game'. Eric places great importance on 'the watch game'.

Again, I've never heard the words TAG Heuer come out of Eric's mouth, but I'm sure he would appreciate the Monaco V4 Tourbillon.

ARMAND THE WATCH GUY
Passionate about - Omega, Rolex, Sinn
TAG friendliness - ?

Armand is a very particular guy, with a very particular style. Unusually for these channels, Armand chooses to stay behind the camera and illustrate his videos with (largely) still images of the watches he is talking about. His videos can be a little dry at times, and this isn't helped by the format, but he seems to know what he's talking about. As far as TAG Heuer goes I don't think I've heard him mention them, which is odd as he seems to concentrate on the price range of watches that TAG generally inhabit.


I must say, it's rather surprising to me that given the number of watch channels I follow that very few actually ever talk about TAG Heuer. It's almost like an elephant in the room in a way, almost as if the hosts are afraid to talk about TAG as if anything remotely complimentary will attract derision and mockery in the comments. Considering the scale of TAG's operation compared to companies like Sinn it seems incredible that the company is so massively under-discussed.

Mind you, it is perhaps partly TAG's fault. A while back TGV from the Urban Gentry appealed to his viewers to get in touch with watch companies on his behalf and ask them to approach him. I contacted TAG Heuer was told that they were very interested in following this up. Bearing in mind The Urban Gentry has 130,000 subscribers, it seemed like a good idea to me.

I've never heard anything else, and since there hasn't been an influx of TAG Heuer reviews on the channel I can only assume they never bothered. Other companies like Fortis and Parmigiani have bothered and both those companies have recently had their watches reviewed. Considering TAG's propensity for self promotion it seems strange that they have overlooked a chance to be on the biggest watch channel on You Tube.

Or maybe they did contact him and he wasn't interested, though I doubt it. Or maybe they contacted him and thought he was an arseh*le? Who really knows?

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ON THE WRIST: Bell and Ross BR-03-92 Diver and Camo Phantom

BR-03-92

Leslie Davis / Milton Keynes 16th Sept 2017

I've been aware of Bell & Ross watches for a while now, and thus far I've been undecided about them. I quite like their aviation instrument aesthetic, but having never tried one on I was unsure about how the round/square design would look on the wrist and whether the watches would be bulky and unwearable.

Well, I have to say, while they are unusual they are also a lot less 'square' on the wrist than a Monaco and thanks to the lovely, wide rubber straps they wear surprisingly nicely. I tried on two models, the BR-03-92 300M Diver pictured above and also the phantom-camouflage version pictured below.

BR-03-92

I'm a bit confused by the nomenclature being that both of these watches are 'BR-03-92', and a quick look at B&R watches on the internet shows that there are plenty of other variants with the same number...

This second one has a little bit of a Panerai look, I think it's the numerals which give the impression of your typical Panerai but it doesn't seem to have the classic lume sandwich or indeed any lume at all (though there might be some on the hands, I couldn't see any but the assistant reckoned there was).

In the window the phantom model was the one that caught my eye the most but on the wrist I preferred the diver. I thought the polished case would put me off, and that the black case would 'disguise' it more, but in actual fact once you get used to the idea of a square watch with a round face and go with it, the polished case actually looks fine.

The rubber straps are really comfortable and very wide, I prefer the ridged strap on the diver if I'm honest, but both are well made and fit well. For some reason the diver seemed to sit slightly better on my wrist, though I don't really understand why that should be. The phantom seemed to want to ride away on the bone, which is something of a problem I do have with other watches as well.

It's quite surprising how different these two models look, one bringing to mind Panerai and the other quite obviously echoing the look of the Rolex Submariner. I still like both but I'm swaying towards the diver, which is actually £2800 compared to £2900 for the phantom. 

The question now is do I sully my collection with a non-TAG product? Currently there's nothing in the TAG collection that is really setting my heart racing, and everything I do like either has a shitty strap or a cyclops, of course there is the potential of the new movement, but it's probably only going to turn up in the so called 'mutant' Carrera which I already own with the Heuer 01 movement.

But is the B&R a good investment? Not that I buy watches as investments, but nor do I want a watch that's going to lose a ton of money, and if it does then I'm more inclined to wait for a second hand model to turn up. Ah the eternal dilemma of the watch collector!

M91210N-0001

Goldsmiths / Milton Keynes 16th Sept 2017

Another watch I tried on was the Tudor North Flag on a steel bracelet. Tudor fans would probably point out that this is probably a better 'investment' than the B&R, particularly with it's in-house movement and display caseback... and I'm sure they would be right. But the case is a bit marmite, and even though it's a good chunk cheaper than the B&R diver it doesn't really excite me in the same way.

I do quite like the dial and the power reserve indicator is a nice feature, but it seems a bit odd not having any crown guards. To be honest, I only really tried it on because I wanted a Tudor catalogue. So no, I don't think this is really one for me...

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FEATURE: Visiting Two Watchfinder Stores in London

Another visit to London, which this time included trips to both the Capital's branches of Watchfinder.

We packed a lot into this day, not all of it Watch related. We did the Emirates Air Line Cable Cars, Tate Modern, Regent Street, Covent Garden... not to mention a cake stop at the newly redecorated 'Richoux' in Piccadilly.

But for the purposes of this blog, I'll keep it focused on the watches...

We didn't go to Harrods or Selfridges this time around, and we didn't go down Bond Street either, so the only really crazy-money watch we saw was a Richard Mille in the Canary Wharf Watchfinder. But let's start at the beginning, which means the Royal Exchange store which we've visited a couple of times before.

As usual there was a plethora of Rolexes in there, which I didn't really pay much attention to. I did have a look at some of the Hublots, but realistically the ones I actually like are out of my price range. So far as TAG Heuer goes they had about twenty pieces I would estimate... one thing that is a little annoying about Watchfinder is that they don't have the prices marked on the watches, which is fine with the TAGs because generally speaking I can take a good guess, but it's something that is a bit annoying on the other brands.

I only tried on one watch, and it seems I've tried it on before. The one that caught my eye was an SLR CAG2111.FT6009 (9 years old, no box, no papers).

CAG2111.FT6009

It was on offer for £1750, which seems pretty reasonable to me. When I saw it in the TAG outlet at Bicester it was on for about £3000, and while this one doesn't have a box of papers it is in excellent condition and actually it does look a lot nicer than the picture suggests. My main issue with it is the crown on the left hand side which seems to stick out far too much and which has quite a spiky edge to it (the crown turns the rehaut, providing a moveable 'remaining time' scale), I could feel it digging into my arm, which was a shame because for that money I might have been tempted.

You can read my previous 'On the Wrist' piece HERE

My wife pointed out an unusual looking watch in the cabinet, and she asked to try it on. It was a men's 4000 series (£575) and it appeared to have some odd marks on the dial. When the watch was taken out and showed to us it became clear that the marks were in fact reflections which moved as the watch was handled. I'm really not sure where the reflections were coming from but they made these odd part circles on the dial. I can only assume it must be some freak of the glass and the lighting in the shop.

999.213

This picture doesn't really show the watch as it is, it looks here like it has a silver dial but in actual fact it's a sort of cream colour, which I thought looked a bit odd, but my wife liked it. Strangely, since my wife's wrists are very small, this looked fine on her. It didn't look any bigger than her ceramic F1 diamond spot really, which makes me think this actually must have been one of the 'midsize' watches, because I tried on a 4000 series last year and it was much more man-sized than this one.

Next stop was the Omega boutique across the way, nothing particularly exciting to report really (not that I'm much of an Omega fan anyway), but I did see one watch I quite liked which was a Seamaster GMT Chronograph with red detailing and white hands. 

It seems you can get a non GMT version of this for £4000 which rather surprised me, it looked like mega-bucks in the cabinet.

Leaving there we made a quick stop off at Lulu Guinness for the wife to dribble on the handbags and point out a wedding anniversary present idea. Then after lunch it was off to the Tate, then down the river to the cable cars and then to Canary Wharf.

We hadn't been to Canary Wharf for a very long time and it was just as confusing and incomprehensible as we remembered. We tried to walk into the HSBC building by accident and a kindly security guard pointed us back in the right direction. After some more aimless wandering (and to be fair the maps in there are rubbish!) we asked another security guard and he showed us the way.

Unfortunately, after all this effort, the Canary Wharf branch is obviously the poor relation to the Royal Exchange. There were a few interesting things in there like the Cartier Dive Watch, the Richard Mille in the window, a bright yellow AP Royal Oak Offshore which I liked and a few Hublots, but it was all a bit of an anticlimax. On the TAG front they had a couple of Calibre S Aquaracers and some other rather everyday models, but nothing terribly exciting.

So we amused ourselves looking at some of the most hideous women's Rolexes, with bright pink faces, diamonds and massively oversized cyclops... lovely!

I think it's safe to say we won't be returning. It's such a pain to get there and it's simply not worth it, after all that we didn't even try anything on and instead headed off to Piccadilly for cake.

SPOTLIGHT ON: 2000 Series Chronograph Quartz

CN1111.BA0337

I spotted this watch pre-owned in a jewellers window in Lincoln yesterday. They were asking £1200 for it, though it didn't state if they had the box or papers for it. I thought that was a bit steep, but I also felt I was pretty sure I hadn't seen this model before. Sure enough, I checked my gallery blog this morning and this piece wasn't listed.

I'm guessing this watch must be something like fifteen years old and I'm pretty sure £1200 is more than or very close to the original price (but I could be wrong), a quick search on Chrono 24 threw one up for £910, which sounds better although obviously there's always a premium to pay going through a high street jeweller who presumably will have checked the watches' authenticity (?). Still if after all my searching I've never come across this one before then it's obviously not that common, and for some this silver dialed chronograph could be a dream watch.

It's quite a chunky looker, and I was half tempted to try it on... but the polished element of the bezel did have some scratches on it (I suppose it may be that the jeweller is selling it on behalf of the owner and so they don't want to spend money polishing it out) and to be honest it looked rather too much like my Aquagraph for me to seriously consider it.

But of course it's always nice to see a TAG you haven't seen before, and I was rather impressed with this one's looks. Not sure about the round Chrono pushers, perhaps because I'm used to the square rubber pushers on my Aquagraph, but I'm sure I'd get used to them... and really the main reason I didn't try it on is because I think I just might have been tempted!

FEATURE: Reappraising the Formula One Kirium

I bought my Formula One Kirium way back in 2004, and for a long time it was my one and only TAG. I never wore it as a daily watch, I had a series of cheap everyday watches and kept the F1 Kirium for going out, which explains why mine is still in near mint condition. The photo above isn't my watch, but this photo really shows the watch off as it really looks on the wrist, and gives a much better impression than the multitude of head on pro-shots available.

The Kirium remained my only TAG until 2013 (I think) when I bought my Aquagraph. Inevitably I suppose, the new model became the 'favourite' and as I added the rest of my collection so the Kirium slipped further down the queue whenever there was wrist time available. Not that I would ever sell it, because it was my first TAG and I still love it, but it definitely took a backseat.

For some reason, in my mind I always think of it as being smaller than it actually is, perhaps because the shape of the case is very ergonomic and it flows very nicely from bezel to bracelet, unlike for example the new 'Heuer 01' Carreras which are very much separate entities.

The watch has a unidirectional bezel, since this is actually a diveable watch (rated 200M). The action on mine is very crisp, although that may be because I never turn it! Indeed I didn't actually realise it turned until relatively recently... but that's maybe partly because it sits very snugly to the case and because of it's smooth design it never catches on anything and moves accidentally.

It's one of those watches that surprises you. Every time I get it out to wear it I realise it's really not so small (40mm) and I remember what a looker it really is. The dial is presumably 'black' but its actually an LCD display and that mixed with AR coating gives it a very dark purple tone which looks very, very cool indeed.

The bracelet is the best bracelet I've ever worn, it's so comfortable and smooth. The clasp is fine on mine but it isn't a deployment clasp and I can imagine regular use would eventually wear it out. It's still a nicely machined clasp and I would take it over some of the clasp TAG are using even today on some of the Formula One models.

For the life of me I can't understand why it's called the Formula One Kirium. You wouldn't name a watch the 'Monaco Carrera' or the 'Monza Aquaracer' would you? It makes no sense, it's a Kirium first and foremost, the only real connection to Formula One is the text on the back heralding TAG's official timing of F1 and of course the stop watch capability.

To be honest, I never use the digital functions, I just think the watch looks so cool with the plain dial that I don't even want to see them. You can just have the date at '3' which is okay, but personally I still keep the dial completely clear at all times. For the record the digital functions are as follows

Date only, Digital time, Digital Day/Week/Time, Alarm, Chronograph, and... there's another function that I think is either a second time zone of a lap timer. Not sure, well I did say I never use it!

There is also a back light, which is operated by pressing the crown in and this works perfectly giving clear time readings and stopping the seconds hand for the duration, when the light goes off the second hand jumps forward to resume the correct time. The hands do have a small amount of lume applied and there is a lume pip at the 12 position, and this is still going strong 13 years down the road.

As you turn the crown the display scrolls through the various options and when you get to the solo 'date' function pressing the upper pusher clears the digital display. Turning the crown brings the digital display back into play whenever required. I must say, sometimes I look at my watch and the crown has turned and initiated the digital display but it's quite unusual for that to happen.

The dial isn't completely bare, as there is a decent sized TAG Heuer logo in white and more subtley there is a small 12 and 6 marking on the rehaut along with a clear white minute track. The hands are beautifully polished and faceted steel which catch the light and just look quality.

This watch was the pinnacle of the Kirium range, and cost a pretty penny even thirteen years ago. I bought mine from the grey market for about £1350 but the list was about another £3-400 IIRC. Even now that seems a lot of money for a quartz watch, but I have no regrets. Unlike the basic Kiriums that you see ten a penny on eBay, I think this has aged very well and still looks total class to me.

Of course, being TAG there were other options available and I have considered purchasing a rubber strap for my Kirium (of course!) but being that the bracelet is so good and I consider this my 'dress' watch, I don't really see the need and to be honest I think the bracelet looks much nicer anyway. As for this jewelled bezel version, well... I'm not sure teaming the jewels with the rubber band was a great idea to be honest, true they go well with the black but still.

One thing this picture does show off is the alternative polished finish that was featured on some Kiriums. Personally I think the brushed finish on the F1 Kirium looks so much nicer, the polished might have looked nice when new but so often you see the polished ones on eBay now and they just look horrible.

One interesting and very useful function (for people like me who don't want to wear the watch everyday) is a sleep mode. With the dial digital free you pull the crown out and then press the top pusher. The text 'Batt' comes up and you have to hold the pusher for a couple of seconds until it goes off. This puts the watch into low power mode and when you come to wear the watch again all you have to do is push the crown in and the watch powers up and resets the hands to the correct time, much like a Calibre S does when you switch between chrono and time functions. To be honest, that is very cool and worth the price of a second hand model any day. Thanks to this function I think I'm still on my third battery in 13 years - not bad!

You can actually pick these up on Watchfinder for less than £700, which to me is the bargain of the century. This is a magnificent watch and I can't help but think it's somewhat dragged down by the lesser watches in the same range. I guess it's a bit like having the best house on a rough street... a bit of a pain if you're trying to sell, but a bargain in the offing if you're looking to buy.

I say get yourself an F1 Kirium and enjoy it, hands down the best bang for buck TAG you're ever going to lay your hands on.

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