ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer Calibre S Fernando Alonso Limited Edition

CAF7113.BA0803

TAG Heuer Outlet / Bicester Village 4th February 2017

I didn't realise until today that this was available on a bracelet, I'd only previously seen it on a rubber strap. I have to say, and this will surprise no-one, that I much prefer the look of this on the rubber. It must be said that the bracelet was scratched so that didn't exactly make me warm to it, and again (like the Link) the clasp was horrible and tinny. 

The watch itself is quite nice. I've been interested to try a Calibre S because I rather like the yellow version (CAF7013.FT8011), and indeed there were two different yellow Aquaracers in the store today, but of course not the one I am interested in. Typical. Still I figured it would be worth a look, even though I now realise that this has a different case...

For those of you that don't know, the Calibre S system is a quartz hybrid movement which uses the main hour/minute hands as a chronograph. So when you press the crown in the hands reset themselves to 12 and you press the pushers to start and stop as normal. The half dials at the bottom measure 10ths and 100ths of a second (when you stop the chrono they jump to give a reading) and I believe they also indicate the date.

The lady in the shop pressed the crown and handed the watch to me, and I pressed the top pusher to start the chrono. However, for some reason the second hand hand set to 12, and then the watch started doing all sorts of crazy things which no amount of pressing pushers and the crown would resolve. Between us we concluded that this was one watch which definitely requires the user to read the manual!

It was a bit of a shame, because I love the idea of it and it looks great when the hands move and reset themselves when you finish using the chrono, but.... well, it either didn't work properly or neither of us knew how to use it. 

If I remember correctly this was on sale at £1900, which seemed a little high really. The movement is cool, but the case is a bit characterless, hardly representative of the fiery Spaniard it celebrates. This watch must be nine years old as well, since it was issued when Alonso was partnering Hamilton at McLaren (Hamilton has his own version).

I'm getting a sense of deja-vu here, probably because I've actually already done a post about this watch which you can read here - SPOTLIGHT ON: Aquaracer Fernando Alonso