SPOTLIGHT ON: New Arrivals at TAG Heuer Bicester Village

Once again I can bring you exclusive news of the latest stock to hit the TAG Heuer Outlet at Bicester Village. As ever, stock is limited and moves quickly. No joke, by the time I visited last week most of the last delivery had gone, so if you see something you like the look of don't delay!

CAY2111.BA0925 - Aquaracer Calibre 45 Chronograph

List Price £2650     Bicester Price £1855

CV201AJ.BA0927 - Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph

List Price £3500     Bicester Price £2450

CV201AM.BA0723 - Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph

List Price £3500     Bicester Price £2450

CV211D.FC6310 - Carrera Calibre 17 Chronograph

List Price £4350     Bicester Price £3045

CAR2012.BA0799 - Carrera Calibre 1887 Chronograph

List Price £3950     Bicester Price £2765

CAW211C.FC6241 - Monaco Calibre 17 Chronograph

List Price £5500     Bicester Price £3850

WAE1116.FT6004 - Golf Quartz Watch

List Price £1400     Bicester Price £980

WAF141AC.BA0824 - Aquaracer Quartz Watch

List Price £2100     Bicester Price £1470

WAH121D.BA0861 - Formula 1 Quartz Watch

List Price £4400     Bicester Price £2860

WAP1451.BD0837 - Aquaracer Quartz Watch

List Price £3750     Bicester Price £2440

WAR215B.BD0783 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £3550    Bicester Price £2485

WAR215C.BD0783 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £3550     Bicester Price £2485

WAR215C.FC6336 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £2850    Bicester Price £1995

WAR215D.BD0784 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £3550     Bicester Price £2485

WAR215D.FC6181 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £2850     Bicester Price £1995

WAR2140.FC8159 - Carrera Calibre 7 Watch

List Price £6950     Bicester Price £4865

WAZ2112.FT8023 - Formula 1 Calibre 6 Watch

List Price £1600     Bicester Price £1120

WV215D.BD0788 - Carrera Calibre 5 Watch

List Price £3500     Bicester Price £2280

ON THE WRIST*: TAG Heuer Lady Link 18K Gold Watch

WAT1440.BG0959

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 11th March 2019

Obviously I didn't actually put this on my wrist, it probably wouldn't go over my massive manly hand, but I did have a good look at it and it was interesting to see something which is essentially very similar to my wife's very unusual Chinese Edition Lady Link only in solid 18K gold. Obviously it's a bit heavier than my wife's Link, but it's not massively heavy, well... not to me, I wonder if my wife would agree? I have a feeling she would say it was considerably more weighty on the wrist, perhaps not Aquagraph heavy to me, maybe more like a 43mm Aquaracer.

I do like the dial colour, it goes very well with the rose gold and gives the watch a somewhat 'regal' aesthetic. Obviously it limits what you can wear it with perhaps, but it will look fantastic with anything black (or white). It's a little bit of a shame they didn't make the date window blend with the dial, but on the other hand it's so damned small that it's probably a good thing they didn't. I know from changing my wife's date that this one is particularly small and hard to see, I mean I don't really know why they bother putting a date on here at all. I've got pretty good eyesight and it's challenging for me, I doubt my wife can even see the date window!

The elephant in the room, of course is the price... and the fact that this contains a quartz movement. I can feel some of my readers wincing as I type this, but the thing is a lot of ladies don't like mechanical movements, especially mechanical movements with date wheels. The last thing my wife wants to do when she's getting ready to go out and opens her watch cabinet is to have to set the date on her watch, which is inevitably wrong because she hasn't worn the watch for three weeks. That's why she bought a no-date Oris Atelier Skeleton watch...

So, while it seems ladies are slowly coming around to the (supposed) joy of mechanical watches, for the large part it seems that quartz is still the safer bet when it comes to marketing to women, you only have to look around to see that - Omega, for example are quietly discontinuing their quartz pieces for men, but probably not doing the same for women any time soon.

So then, the price... this watch retails for a pretty humongous £17,600. In fact I'm told it's the dearest watch that's ever come to the TAG Heuer outlet at Bicester Village... Fortunately, they won't charge you £17,600 to own this watch, you can take this away for 'just' £12,320, which is still a doorwedge of cash, but with that saving you could buy yourself (from the other side of the room) a Calibre 36 Caliper Grand Carrera in black PVD with yellow highlights on an alligator strap. Just sayin'.

The only thing I have noticed about gold watches (now that I own some two-tone pieces) is that due to the relative softness of the material they do tend to pick up tiny scratches, that's not a massive problem for me on my £460 2000 Exclusive, but would I be happy if I was paying this sort of money? I'm not sure, but then again, the beauty of solid gold is that you don't have to worry about wearing the top layer off, so you could give it a polish now and again if you really needed to.

It's a pity my wife wasn't with me on this visit as I'd be interested to see her reaction. I have a feeling she'd say it was beautiful but it's not six times as beautiful as the watch she already owns. At the end of the day I guess it depends how you feel about gold, and how big your bank balance is... and I still get the feeling it would be easier to sell this to a woman for £12k than a gold Carrera to a guy for £10k.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph

CAU111E.FT6124

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 11th March 2019

Sometimes you see something over and over again and you kind of overlook it, just because... That's kind of the story with this watch. I've seen this piece so many times but never bothered to take a closer look, despite kinda liking the yellow and black colour scheme, partly it must be said because I have prior experince with the FT6124 rubber strap and more pertinently the awful clasp which I wrote about at length in this post:

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2016/10/buying-experience-bt0714-strap-for.html

Suffice it to say that I am NOT a fan, which is a shame really because the rubber strap itself looks pretty damn cool!

So finally I plucked this one from the cabinet and I was somewhat shocked by just how much I liked it! The first thing to say is that while in the pictures the yellow looks, well... yellow, it is in fact more gold than yellow. Moreover it's a very metallic looking gold, and if nothing else it's a very striking and unique look which I find rather appealing.

Inside the 40mm case you have your regular 1/10th of a second quartz chronograph movement, which is perfect for this watch because it keeps the list price down to a reasonable £1350. However, here in the Bicester Village outlet store it can be had for just £945, which is giving me a slightly itchy trigger finger!

Ye gads, no! The last thing I need is yet another 1/10th quartz chronograph, especially one that necessitates the purchase of another BT0714 strap (the last one was sold when I liquidated my WAH1110 - I had no intention of buying another quartz F1 then of course!), and yet... this one speaks to me. I don't know, some watches are just FUN, and this is definitely a FUN watch. I mean look at it! How could you not smile with that on your wrist?

I think if this one was to come on some sort of extra special offer I would be seriously tempted. It's a good price anyway, but seeing as my TAG fund is pretty much wiped out at the moment I can't really justify the cost. The only thing I will say though, before I get too carried away, is that this is the most phantomest of phantom watches, if only in that you literally can't see the black hands on the black dial!

Seriously, check out this video, at about the 11 second mark you will see exactly what I mean - the hands all but completely disappear! The black lume isn't great either, but I still like it anyway...

VIDEO: Guy Semon Presents the TAG Heuer Mikrograph, Mikrotimer and Mikrogirder

ON THE WRIST: Seiko Marine Master Pro SBDB013 600M Diver

SBDB013

Seiko Boutique / Knightsbridge, 9th March 2019

Much like Rolex, I've never really been sold on the whole 'Seiko' hype thing... but since I was visiting Harrods anyway and the Seiko boutique is literally a two minute walk along the street, I figured I might as well visit again and perhaps try something on. Worst case scenario I figured I might get to try on an SKX and could then make an informed comment on whether it really is the watch icon that it's made out to be or not.

There were quite a few watches that look like SKXs in the shop, and that also seemed to be about the right price... but I couldn't see any that actually were SKXs. I find with Seiko there's a lot of this, a lot of very similar looking pieces, sometimes at vastly different price points. They had a couple of gold/black (well, kinda grey actually) Tunas next to each other, one admittedly a couple of millimeters smaller than the other and one was quartz and one was Spring Drive I believe, but to the untrained eye they looked incredibly similar. One was £2200 and one was £379, which is not great, but to put them right next to each other in the display cabinet is really poor selling in my opinion. Who really wants to pay £2200 for a watch that looks almost exactly like one that costs a fifth of the price?

Looking around the rest of the shop I was completely underwhelmed by the Grand Seikos on display, admittedly I had seen some nicer ones in Watches of Switzerland a few hours earlier (the snowflake dial in particular) but the ones in the boutique looked rather like overpriced Citizens if I'm honest. So I moved back to the front of the shop, and perhaps because I'd rather enjoyed trying on the Oris Dive Control Limited Edition earlier in the day, I thought I'd give this £3100 Marine Master Pro a go.

I'd love to be able to tell you something about it, but to be honest it wouldn't be fair as my perception of the watch was rather skewed by the attitude of the guy who served me in the shop. It seemed like me asking to try on a watch, any watch, was a bit of an inconvenience, and the fact that I had chosen this particular watch seemed to be taken as a personal affront!

"Why do you want to try on THAT watch?" He said, which admittedly may have been a particularly rubbish and misguided attempt at humour.

"Because I'm.... curious?" I replied, unsure as to what the 'correct' response was and not really expecting to be grilled over my choice of watch by the guy on the other side of the counter!

"It's JDM, do you know what that means?" He continued, in a manner so patronising it made me want to punch him in the face.

JDM, or 'Japanese Domestic Market' is a big thing for Seiko, they make many models (the most desirable ones it seems) solely for the Japanese market and these are only sold through their own boutiques or by private import. So the SDBD013 is some pretty hot stuff apparently, containing as it does a Grand Seiko spring drive movement.

But I knew that anyway, so eventually I did get the watch on my wrist and in all honesty it was seriously underwhelming for a £3100 watch. It was surprisingly light, given it's size and height, and no doubt most Seiko fan boys would be soiling themselves just to be in it's very presence, but I really couldn't have cared less. Which is why I can't really review the watch with any degree of fairness. I will say this, the strap was a bit tricky to do up, but the silicon rubber was super smooth and very comfortable for the short time I was wearing it. That aside, as you can see from the pictures it's quite an attractive piece, but considering it was within £800 of the pretty awesome Oris Dive Control I tried on the same day there's absolutely no way that I would choose this over that.

On a day when I experienced superb levels of service from Aneta in the TAG Heuer boutique and Lin Lin in the Regent Street Omega boutique (among others), this clown manged to completely turn me off the Seiko brand in less than a minute.

Undaunted I enquired as to whether they had any SKXs that I hadn't seen...

"We don't sell that range in here," said Charlie Chuckles, making a face like he'd just smelt something particularly nasty. "And anyway, I think it's been discontinued..."

Okay then, a watch forum icon it may be, but it seems the SKXs name is mud in the brands own boutique!

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre 12 v Heuer Monaco Calibre 11

CAW211P.FC6356                        CAW2111.FC6183

Selfridges / London, 9th March 2019

I realise of course that this post is likely to prove controversial. Pitching the classic blue-dial Heuer Monaco up against the later TAG Heuer version is just asking for trouble and while I can’t help but have my own predilections, I honestly approached this as openly and fairly as I could… and actually you might be slightly surprised by my conclusions.

On the face of it these two watches are quite similar, at least until you get them in your hands. Once you are close up with them you realise that there are distinct differences in the dials. For a start the Heuer has a very flat blue dial, while the TAG Heuer has a somewhat brighter, metallic dial which I personally prefer. No doubt some might argue the flat blue dial makes for greater legibility and that’s probably true, but for me that electric blue wins every time.

I also much prefer the red subdial hands on the TAG Heuer to the black ones found on the Heuer, and I find the red on the minute and hour hands on the Calibre 11 a bit much to be honest. On the other hand I do like the small red markers around the dial on the CAW211P and I also think the older model’s applied hour markers are much more interesting and well thought out. I can see the logic of the radial design on the CAW2111, but because the dial is square they end up getting cut off at odd angles which looks pretty unappealing actually.

I also think the Heuer wins out when it comes to the positioning of the logo. It seems to fit better with the dial and because it’s wide and flat it leaves room for the marker at the 12 position which is notable by its absence on the TAG Heuer version. I can’t help thinking it might look better if they moved the TAG Heuer shield lower and moved the ‘Monaco’ text to the bottom part of the dial, which would then allow room for the missing marker. Also the Monaco text looks a bit odd on top of the TAG Heuer shield, but somehow it works with the old Heuer logo.

So now we come to my biggest issue with the Calibre 11, that being the positioning of the crown on the ‘wrong’ side of the case. My friend Rich has a Tudor Pelagos LHD that has the crown on the left, and I don’t mind that at all. In fact, I think it’s quite a good idea as it stops the crown digging in to your wrist. The problem is, the Pelagos doesn’t have a chronograph so there aren’t any pushers on the case, unlike the CAW211P. I know this is a unique selling point of the Calibre 11, but unfortunately I find it very strange to see the gap inbetween the pushers where the crown should be, and I really don’t like it.

There’s not a great deal to choose between the supplied leather straps, but I think I would give the nod to the perforated version found on the Heuer. As you would expect at the mid-to-high £4000 mark, both are supplied with push-button deployment clasps and for me it’s the TAG that wins out here. The TAG shield buckle is just a touch more refined and subtle, while the Heuer logo is huge and unnecessarily in your face.

As far as prices go, there is a 10% difference with the Heuer Calibre 11 attracting a £400 premium over the TAG Heuer Calibre 12. Anyone who knows watches will understand how this works, a premium is paid for historical importance and for having the ‘correct’ logo on the dial and the crown on the left hand side of the case. After all, his Royal Heuerness Steve McQueen wore a Calibre 11 not a Calibre 12 and that extra authenticity costs. No one should criticise TAG for this as this sort of thing is the norm in the industry and doubtless we could come up with some much more extreme and unjustifiable examples of price leveraging if we wanted to.

Youtube 'Watch Guru' Archie Luxury would advise you to take the Heuer every time, because ‘when you come to sell it’ it will have retained its value better and will be easier to sell. I’m itching to write a post about Archie, Rolex and the whole watch collecting thing, but as I’m a bit snowed under with posts just now it’s going to have to wait. It’s likely to be one that’s going to take quite a bit of writing, but there’s a lot of stuff I want to get off my chest at some point…

In this instance I would agree with Archie, I’m sure the Calibre 11 will be easier to liquidate should you want/need to, but personally I never take into account resale values when I buy watches as I have no intention of selling anything I buy. Admittedly I have lost fairly big chunks of money on the two watches I have sold in the last couple of years, but I just can’t go down that route and people who do generally end up buying the same watches as everyone else (Speedmaster, Submariner, etc) and that’s not me at all.

So, inevitably you are going to expect me to choose between these two… and you’re probably expecting me to pick the CAW2111 because my preference for the TAG Heuer logo is well established. However, while I really don’t like the left side crown and I really do like the metallic blue dial on the TAG, the more I look at those radial hour markers the more I find they REALLY annoy me.

So, as it stands, I really don’t think I could commit myself to either model. However all is not completely lost because if you click the link below you’ll find a list of my top 6 favourite Monacos, and maybe one day one of those will find its way onto my wrist instead!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/04/feature-my-top-five-monacos.html

Looking at these, I notice that five out of the six also have the radial hour markers, but for some reason they've never bothered me - so it's clearly the combination of blue dial and radial markers that annoys me... :)

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Senna Edition

CAZ1015.BA0883

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 11th March 2019

Before you get too excited, I should point out that this watch wasn't for sale in Bicester Village, it was actually on Tom the Manager's wrist! And what a splendid choice he's made with this, it really is stunning and to be honest it wasn't until I turned it over and saw the chequered flag back plate that I remembered that it was a Formula 1!

The dial is clear and concise with a very black background which conveys a level of quality and provides the perfect backdrop for everything else to stand out perfectly. The TAG Heuer logo itself is applied and really looks the business as well, but it's TAG's decision to fit the Link bracelet that really lifts this watch onto another level.

I really like the Link bracelet, but there's very few Links that I actually like. The Searacer is one, but though I like that model I've kind of come to the conclusion that it's a bit of a pointless complication for me and one that is a) expensive, and b) potentially troublesome! So here we have the perfect watch for people like me who would dearly like a Link bracelet in the collection, but who don't tend to like the watches they usually come attached to.

Let's face it, most of the Link range is quite dressy, and if you start looking at the chronographs you can quickly find yourself in big money territory. Admittedly, this Formula 1 retains it's quartz movement and it's 1/10th of a second chronograph, but really that's the perfect combination for this, since if you put a Calibre 16 inside then it's no longer the value proposition that this is and means that you might just as well save that little bit more and go for a Link.

No, I really think they've got this one spot on, and it's giving me some serious pause for thought here. I think this is most likely the next TAG Heuer I will get for myself, it ticks a lot of boxes, not least the excellent Link bracelet and really does punch way above it's weight.

Obviously I wouldn't want to upset Tom by slagging his watch off, but my praise is by no means hyperbolic. You really need to see this one in the flesh, as it looks even better than the pictures suggest. I'm kicking myself now that I saw one of these on a pre-owned site not so long ago, and I can't remember which one it was. I bet it's gone now anyway, but I shall certainly keep my eyes peeled going forward.

Tom the Manager (Bicester Village)

Incidentally, if you visit Bicester Village, you'll spot Tom easily - he's a dead ringer for TAG Heuer ambassador Chris Hemsworth. Well, maybe if you squint just a little bit...

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph

CV2A1V.BA0738

Goldsmiths / Sheffield, 26th January 2019

If you've read my 'On the Wrist' review of the newly released CBK2112 Calibre 16 Carrera you'll know how impressed I was with that model, even though I probably wouldn't buy it as it's a bit too dressy for me. However, when I tried that one on I also had this in the tray in front of me, which to all intents and purposes is a 'sportier' version of a similar thing...

On the face of it this should appeal to me more, where the CBK2112 is classy and elegant this has reflective Arabic hour markers and flashes of red on the subdial hands, second hand and top pusher... usually that would be a positive for me, but somehow it doesn't quite work on this one. I'm also not overly enamoured of the day funtion, which inevitably pushes the TAG Heuer logo up to the 2 position (making it look somewhat crammed in in the process)

I'm also not a fan of the big, shiny crown - which is something I don't like on some of the newer
Carreras as well (much better in black rubber in my opinion). The bracelet is nice, it reminds me a lot of the one fitted to my now departed Grand Carrera, with a similar push button clasp (and similarly lacking any fine adjustment). Around the back we're given a clear display back, which is thankfully unadorned with nonsense text on this occasion, and affords a decent view of the Calibre 16 inside.

Maybe if I'd tried this on it's own I would perhaps be more forgiving of it, but unfortunately it was a head to head and as a result I'm struggling to see why anyone would pay an additional £350 for this watch versus the CBK2112. Okay, so taste is subjective and I've already said the new Carrera is too dressy for me, but even so... this just screams 'trying too hard' somehow. And coming from somebody who's perfectly happy to wear a yellow dial Aquaracer on a black rubber strap, that's saying something.

Looking at this picture (the one directly above), it's hard to find fault with the design, but on the wrist I found this really hard to like. It's also been rather difficult to summon the will to write this review as I just don't seem to care about this watch like I do other models. Sadly I find this picture gives a somewhat false impression as the watch is a lot more gaudy in person and again, perhaps it's unfortunate but for me the CBK2112 crushes this into the dirt on every front!

Maybe it would help if it was a bit smaller? One of the noteable differences between the two watches is that the CBK2112 is 2mm smaller than this 43mm Carrera, and it feels even smaller than that, whereas this feels too big for the design. Yeah, I think you get the picture... this is one I won't be buying at any price, it's not often I really take against a TAG, but this one is a definite 'NO' from me.

ON THE WRIST: Oris Dive Control Chronograph Limited Edition

01.774.7727.7784-SET

Oris Boutique / Mayfair, 9th March 2019

It's a good many years since I tried on an Oris Aquis on an orange rubber strap, and in the meantime I haven't really seen anything from the brand that excited me. If anything they seemed to moving in completely the 'wrong' direction as far as I was concerned, with small, olive drab military watches and other retro pieces. So I was a little surprised to see this 51mm Dive Control in the window of the South Molton Street boutique and was more than eager to try it on.

As I suspected, the rest of the shop was a non-starter for me, save the odd Aquis, but even those I struggle to really get excited about these days (although I did see an interesting metallic green model in Watches of Switzerland earlier in the day). But really, I only had eyes for this one, and while it is definitely a big watch, it really doesn't wear as big as you would think.

When I first tried it on I assumed it was 45-46mm, it was only when Serge told me that the watch was actually 51mm that I realised. I think it's because the lugs are so short and the rubber strap come straight down off the case and moulds straight to the wrist. True it's also very thick and that is a bit of a hindrance to daily wear, but it could be a lot worse.

This piece is limited to 500 and comes in a nice little case with a watch tool and different heads to fit a variety of screws, including the bespoke ones that hold the strap in place. Incidentally, you get both the black and yellow rubber straps with this one and I think that's a great move. Black helps to shrink the perceived size of the watch, but yellow is ideal for days when you perhaps want people to notice it or maybe you want to wear it in the sea or on the beach.

Serge's ultra-violet torch was running low but he assures me that the lume on this piece is crazy bright and I have to say I love the look of this watch... I just wish it was a bit smaller. I don't have a small wrist, but even with the shorter lugs 51mm is a big piece size. Obviously the high spec of the model (which includes a DLC coated titanium case) is what pushes the price up to £3900, but even at that price you have to say it's good value for money. It's beautifully made and the bezel features a very clever locking system, but I can't help but feel that if they made an Aquis that looked like this (albeit with a lower spec), even if it was say £2000, then I think they'd have a real winner on their hands. I'd certainly be in the queue for one!

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Mother's Day Deals at Bicester Village

TAG Heuer at Bicester Village are running a Mother's Day promotion from the 18th - 31st of March with 50% discounts on the following pieces...

WAT1313.BA0956  - Lady Link Pink Guiloche with Diamonds

List Price £1950   Bicester Price £1365   OFFER £975

WAT1414.BA0954 - Lady Link Silver Guiloche with Diamonds

List Price £3600   Bicester Price £2520   OFFER £1800

WAT1452.BB0955 - Lady Link Two-Tone with Silver Guiloche Dial

List Price £2750   Bicester Price £1925   OFFER £1375

WAT1452.BD0960 - Lady Link Two-Tone with Silver Guiloche Dial

List Price £2750   Bicester Price £1925   OFFER £1375

WAT1453.BD0955 - Lady Link Two Tone with Silver Guiloche Dial and Diamonds

List Price £3300   Bicester Price £2310   OFFER £1650

WAT1453.BD0960 - Lady Link Two Tone with Silver Guiloche Dial and Diamonds

List Price £3300   Bicester Price £2310   OFFER £1650

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Reversible Carbon Fibre Effect Belt

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 11th March 2019

Always a pleasure to visit the Bicester Village outlet and this time I picked something up. Not a watch admittedly, but a really lovely carbon fibre effect reversible belt with a stunning buckle. Unfortunately this was the last one of this type that they had, but they do have quite a range of belts in at the moment and they are all 50% off.

The belt is carbon fibre effect on one side and a smooth black leather on the reverse. I think I'll wear it with the carbon fibre effect on the outside...

The buckle pivots to facilitate it's reversibleness... and rather cleverly, the belt can be cut to size or replaced when it's worn out. The buckle features a tooth mechanism which clamps down to hold the belt in place, so as long as your replacement is the same width and thickness there's no reason why it shouldn't work.

I've never spent £130 on a belt before, and I probably never will again, but this one is gorgeous... I just couldn't let somebody else get this one!

SPOTLIGHT ON: The 2018-2019 TAG Heuer Catalogue

The new 2019-2020 TAG Heuer catalogue is out! I managed to snag one from Watches of Switzerland on Regent Street. Not sure if it's everywhere just yet, the TAG Boutique on Oxford Street don't seem to have received their new ones yet. It's another small scale hardback book, much like the last two or three, with the Carrera Tete de Vipere on the front cover.

And the award for most photoshopped F1 driver goes to Max Verstappen. Talented and exiting as he is, poor Max isn't the prettiest of people, this photo makes him look like a waxwork!