FEATURE: EBAY: No Fakes. No Fraud. No Doubt? (Part Two)

Way back in March I wrote a post about eBay and their drive to convince us all that it was safe to buy through their platform without worrying about fake watches, at least for watches that cost more than £1500 (the price point where eBay actually offer hands-on checks), though even then there is some debate on the effectiveness of that. 

Since then I've reported two or three watches that have caught my eye and all three were branded totally fine by eBay. Now these weren't super-fakes where you need to closely inspect the lume pip in the bezel and see the bracelet pins... these were watches that anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the brand would spot as wrong-uns or at least raise suspicions. But no, eBay got a 'service agent' to look at them and decided that each one was not fraudulent.

Well clearly eBay's 'service agents' are ill equipped to do this job, because they are still clueless about even pretty obvious fakes. Like this one for example.

VIDEO: Which TAG Heuer 36mm Carrera by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Panamericana' Glassbox Tourbillon L/E Chronograph

 

I've now lost count of all the Porsche branded TAG Heuer watches we've seen over the last few years, I want to say it was 10 or 11 prior to this, but I'm not 100% sure. Seems like the time is ripe for a 'Feature' post detailing them all, don't you think? Well, I'll get on it, but for now we have a new (and perhaps slightly controversial) new steel cased tourbillon co-branded with both Porsche and Panamericana; after the famous rally held in the early 1950s.

The watch itself is hardly 'retro' in its styling, but it does take 'inspiration' from the Porsche 550 which competed in said rally; mainly the yellow of the racing numerals used on the car for the hands, the wheels which are the basis of the unique-to-this-watch open dial design and the paint finish which has inspired the speckled look found on both the subdials and the main dial - a unique touch for sure. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Sports Extreme Chronographs by Monochrome Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 7s - Baby Pink and Ice Blue

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's always a pleasure for me to visit the TAG Heuer boutique in the Meadowhall shopping centre, the staff are lovely people and they always have time for you. If you are in that part of the world I heartily recommend stopping by. I tried on quite a few watches on my most recent visit there and there are still more 'On the Wrist' posts to come, including the carbon Monza (finally) and the latest 'Racing Green' Monaco (meh).

But today we shall focus on two.... I was going to say ladies watches, but really only one of these is truly a ladies watch, and that, quite obviously is the baby pink strapped WBN2315. As you can see I didn't actually try it on, in fact I'm not at all sure the strap was big enough to go around my 7.1/2" wrist, but my wife did and she quite liked it.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer GMT Calibre TH31-03 COSC Watches by Brent Miller Time

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by DTF

And so we come to our eleventh 'Top 10 Aquaracers', this time featuring the choices of THF Forum and C.O.C.O. member 'DTF'. This time our guest has provided his own commentary which means this is a nice easy post for me, thanks for that 'DTF'. 😊

I hope you enjoy his selections as much as I have and finally next month it will be my turn! I guess I need to make some tough decisions of my own between now and then, hey?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch by Soundsoserious

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - 2024' Limited Editions

 

We've already seen limited edition Carreras for both Kuwait and Qatar this year and now it's time for an update to last years 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia' Carrera. Last year's model featured a silver dial with a green outline and the KSA emblem in green on the dial. Only 100 were produced and the watch came in a special green presentation box with both a bracelet and a green alligator strap.

This year TAG Heuer have produced two models, a 41mm day/date Carrera in steel and a 29mm version with a rose gold bezel and crown and a two tone bracelet.  The dials are inscribed with the words 'Saudi' (male) and 'Saudia' (female) on their respective dials.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph by Birth Year Watches

 

DUEL: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 Skeleton Chronograph v Carrera Calibre 16 Titanium Chronograph

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Hello readers, hard to believe I know for one so soft of skin and lithe of body🤣, but today is in fact my 55th birthday! Yay. Cake!!! And so I thought perhaps I would take a break from all these incessant new release posts and instead do what I really like doing. So today I will be writing about two of my most luxurious watches; my original 2016 Heuer 01 Skeleton and the titanium cased Calibre 16 day date Carrera I got from the Bicester Village outlet for my 50th birthday.

Now this post has in fact been in the works since late 2021, I even had some text written and pictures taken... but as three years have passed (!) I decided it would be much better to just start from scratch. I even briefly pondered the idea of switching out the Calibre 16 Carrera for my recently purchased Grand Carrera Calibre 36 for a true 'Clash of the Titans' post... but on reflection I decided that perhaps comparing my long time 'favourite' watch with the watch I am currently 'infatuated' with was a bit unfair. I mean maybe in time the GC Caliper will emerge as my 'favourite' watch, but it's far too soon to be throwing claims like that around.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph Calibre TH50-00 Watch by A Blog to Watch

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph 'Green Dial' Quartz Watch

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

When the green Solargraph was announced I must admit I was a teeny bit concerned that maybe I had rushed into buying the Calibre 5 version. I've always said that given the choice of two identical watches one quartz, one automatic, I would probably choose the quartz... and a solar powered quartz appeals even more. 

But generally speaking there never really is a choice of identical looking watches is there? So the question that required answering here was primarily how do the two dials compare, and secondly was the light blue second hand a deal breaker?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronograph by Random Rob

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquracer 'Sprite' Calibre TH31-03 GMT Watch

 

28th September 2024 / TAG Heuer Boutique, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's funny, I've been waiting a while to see this one, because as seems to be the norm now when TAG Heuer release a bunch of watches together, there's always one that lags behind. Last time I got to visit the excellent Meadowhall boutique I saw all of the new three hand Aquaracers and also the 'Batman' GMT, but I was really pinning my hopes on this all new colour scheme being the one that really got me interested. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports Chrongraph by Hourstriker

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Ice Blue' Calibre TH20-09 Limited Edition Tourbillon

By my reckoning this is TAG Heuer's eighth different tourbillon this year, and while technically this one is another 'limited edition'... at 250pcs it rather begs the question 'just how many £20,000 tourbillons can TAG Heuer actually hope to shift?' I mean, TAG Heuer's bread and butter business is commonly accepted to be in the £1500-6000 region, so it's surprising that the brand feel comfortable making so many pieces in this price bracket.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Sprite' GMT by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Heuer Monaco 'Racing Green' Calibre 11 Limited Edition

When I first clapped eyes on this new 1000 piece limited edition 'Racing Green' Monaco Calibre 11 I was quite impressed, thinking it an improvement over last year's blue version. However, the more I've looked at it the more I feel like I need to see it in person to make a proper judgement.

Because to me it looks like the strap and the subdials aren't quite the same hue of green, and if that's true I would find that rather annoying... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco Special Editions by Swiss Watch Expo

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Green Dial' Solargraph

 

I guess we should have seen this coming, shouldn't we? Given the ever expanding Solargraph range and TAG Heuer's current obsession with the colour green, it was surely only a matter of time until the two were put together and voila... I give you the green dial Solargraph! Must have been a long day at work thinking that one up, eh?

Still, that doesn't really matter if the finished product works and on the face of it this one looks quite successful. I'm not entirely sure about the combination of green and pale blue, I honestly think the black and blue dials provide a better colour base for the usual 'Solargraph' highlight colour. Perhaps, as we've seen with some of the ladies 34mm Aquaracers, a polished steel hand would have been a better fit?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Skipper by Hobby of Hours

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Red Bull World Champions Edition' Quartz Chronograph

 

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You may remember back in March I wrote about a visit to the Red Bull Formula 1 factory in Milton Keynes that my wife treated me to for Valentine's Day. In it I mentioned that I had attempted and failed miserably to get hands on with one of these 'team only' watches, being told that no one actually wears them in the factory and that everyone had them safely locked away at home.

With little information and only a couple of not so great pictures available I decided to wait a while before writing about the watch and I'm glad I did because now not only do I have the part number for said watch but also some decent photographs to go with it.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Chronograph by Birth Year Watches

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by Jemagloh

Once again it's time to mull over the last twenty years of Aquaracers and pull ten magnificent examples out for inspection. This time our guest judge is C.O.C.O. and THF Forum member Jemagloh (otherwise known as Matt). Unfortunately Matt literally works 27 hours a day so commentary was never on the cards, so once again it falls on my to provide the same. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 - 6 Year Review by Time & Crown

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports Chronographs & Tourbillon Chronographs

Six new 'skeleton*' dial Carreras for you today, which follow on from the 'Porsche 963' limited edition of a couple of months ago. These new Carrera Extreme Sports (as they are called) don't carry the exact same dial as that one, but there's definitely a similar design philosophy at play and these also carry the same 'integrated' straps. 

I say 'integrated' because while these look the part, the centre piece between the 'air scoop' V is actually part of the strap and not part of the case. This unfortunately leads to my first head scratching moment, because why go to all the effort to create this well constructed illusion, if only half of the watches actually carry it though? 

*These aren't really very skeletonized at all, you can barely see anything of the movement (especially the tourbillons which don't have a date wheel) but they certainly don't have what you would call a solid dial either. Perhaps 'sculpted' or 'architectural' dial would be a better description?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 - Which Colour? by Brent Miller Watches

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Green Dial

It's been a few months over a year since I picked up my WBP2115 from the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield and in typical fashion it's been a journey of mixed emotions. When I found out there was going to be a new green dial Aquaracer I was right on it, desperate to avoid a repeat of the WAY2015 debacle. Actually there was no need to rush as even now it's perfectly possible to walk into an AD and pick up a WBP2115, but I didn't know that at the time.

Truth be told, when I went to buy it I was less than sure about it. It certainly wasn't love at first sight... but I'd made such a fuss about getting it, badgering Maxine at TH Sheffield regularly until it arrived that I felt rather obligated to buy it. Not that I actively disliked it, but it certainly wasn't a Chronotimer or Grand Carrera Caliper situation where I gazed lovingly at it all the way home... maybe it was just that I'd wanted the WAY2015 for so long and this didn't look quite the same - because, well it isn't!

VIDEO: Which New TAG Heuer Aquaracer Was Your Favourite? by Brent Miller Watches

 

FEATURE: The Best of the Best of the Last Four Years...

 

2020 - 2023*

As the summer slowly starts to turn to autumn and we start sporadically thinking about the big end of year vote, I thought it might be interesting to cast our eyes over the last four years of results and remind ourselves of the best of the best of the main four TAG Heuer product lines. 

For these purposes I am using the compiled list of final scores which can be found HERE and for the purposes of splitting ties on points I will use the WOTY votes themselves. I did briefly consider using the WOTY votes as the main indicator but quickly came to realise that this would not give a very accurate result overall, especially in years where one watch crushes the competition (plus there's only been two Formula 1s that have received a vote, so that won't work).

VIDEO: How to Use the TAG Heuer Warranty Checker by The Watch Village

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Pink' Calibre 7 Watch

 

I think it goes without saying that this Carrera was never going to receive the same warm welcome as the very recent 'Ice Blue' version of the same watch from the decidedly male-dominated Council of Considered Opinion. I mean not only does it have a pink second hand, outer dial ring and strap, but it also has every girl's worst nightmare - a Mother of Pearl dial and a diamond inner bezel! 

The horror.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer's New Aquaracer by Chisolm Hunter

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by Rich T

As you surely know by now, each month in this 20th Anniversary year of the Aquaracer we're inviting a special guest to pick their 'Top 10 Aquaracers'. This month it's the turn of my friend, colleague and fellow COCO member 'Rich T'. Rich has long admired the Aquaracer and very nearly bought one a few years ago (he eventually bought a Tudor Pelagos LHD instead, but we don't hold that against him - 🤣) and he's accompanied me to Bicester Village and London's watch stores a few times too. Not to mention of course, he's exposed to my watch collection on a daily basis, which probably explains a few of his choices here... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sport Chronographs by Time & Tide

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Ice Blue' Calibre 7 Watch

The 36mm Carrera seems to be the chosen range for TAG Heuer to experiment with bright colours and finishes and while this kinda makes sense given it appeals to women and also men with smaller wrists I can't help feeling that us men with larger wrists are being somewhat left out in the cold.

Sure, we've had the pale blue / lilac / call it what you will Aquaracer chronograph... a model with a life slightly longer than a butterfly it seems, but aside from that there's not much in the way of unusual colours floating around in the larger sizes.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre TH31-03 COSC GMT by Random Rob

 

FEATURE: My Top Five 3000 Series

 

I've always had a soft spot for the 3000 Series, but it wasn't until I saw the watch above in the TAG Heuer Museum in 2018 that I really fell in love with it. Subsequently I collected three models, all of which have made my 'Top 5' as it happens, albeit I only currently own one of them. 

Truth be told there aren't that many 3000s, so these five cover a lot of what's available... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'SLR300' Calibre 1887 Chronograph by FN Watches