ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M Calibre 5 Dive Watch

WAJ2111.FT6015

TAG Heuer Boutique, Bicester Village / 29th April 2018

I must admit I've only recently started to come around to this style of Aquaracer, and realistically when I asked to try this particular piece on it was more with a view to producing material for the blog than a potential purchase. However, once I got it on my wrist I have to say it worked it's magic on me and I came away rather converted and wondering if perhaps there might be another Aquaracer in my future...

When your collection gets to a certain size you have to try and avoid buying the same watch over and over again, which isn't always easy as I've discovered recently. I mean some people do, and there are people who only buy Submariners in different dial colours, hell there are people who only collect black Submariners with slightly different text on the dial! Personally, I want my collection to be diverse and so the fact that this 500M Aquaracer doesn't look like my Aquagraph or either of my other two Aquaracers is a huge plus. In fact, if anything, this watch reminds me of another watch that I quite like, the white dial 'Explorer II' Aquaracer.

WAY2013.BA0927

Somehow though, I find the grey dial a bit more attractive, although I did like the white one when I tried it on last year. I think perhaps the black/white contrast is just a little too harsh, and I notice on the new 41mm version coming out later this year they've changed the hour markers to polished metal, which is a shame in one way but still I can kind of see why they've done it as it will give the watch a more luxurious look.

This WAJ2111 is a tool watch first and foremost and wears the rubberised hour markers better, and of course the grey/black contrast is a little more subtle and dare I say it 'classy' looking. I also really like the vertically fluted dial which sets of the splash of colour on the second hand perfectly. It's a bit unusual having the date on the left hand side, but again it's a point of difference versus other watches and less of a problem than the cyclops which I could definitely have lived without.

This model has an 'Omega' style helium release valve, which sticks out from the case at the 10 position. It doesn't bother me, but I much prefer the Aquagraph style valve which is barely noticeable, but then maybe people don't like that, because for them it's a 'design feature' rather than a practical function of a watch which will most likely never actually be used?

These bezels have definitely grown on me, although I still think the gold ones are pretty disgusting looking things... again they initially give an impression of being slightly agricultural in photographs, but when you actually see them they are better than you expect. As ever, the thing that gives me most concern is the rubber strap. While the strap itself is fine, I am slightly concerned that the end of the clasp might stab my wrist as so many others seem to do, and that makes me think that if I was going to buy this then I would be looking for the bracelet version which comes on a very similar bracelet to my own CAF7103 Calibre S with the push button clasp (hmm, I wonder if they are compatible, that would be a bit handy!).

WAJ2111.BA0870

Finally, as you can see above, the watch has a display caseback - always quite impressive on a 500M diver, and all the more impressive that it hasn't made the watch uncomfortably thick. It's not thin, at 14mm, but on the wrist it feels great and not at all clunky. As ever, you never quite now how you're going to feel about a watch until you actually get it on and I must say this watch feels a lot better on than you probably think it's going to. It's design tends to give the impression that it's a bit of a lump, but in reality it's not at all.

Well, I wasn't expecting to like this watch half as much as I do, which gives me some food for thought. This watch could have been mine for under £1500 yesterday (there was an extra 10% deal going on) but I managed to resist, after all I'm not made of money and I've already got a new watch on the way as it is, but this one is definitely going on my list of future possibilities! 

But maybe not in this Calibre 5 version, because this watch is also available with a quartz movement as the WAJ1111, which is quite interesting, because it's quite unusual to find a watch that looks almost exactly the same in an automatic and a quartz. In my experience it's nearly always the case that the automatic looks just a bit nicer, with a red second hand tip or something. Hmm, definitely food for thought!