Tuesday 31 July 2018
Monday 30 July 2018
ON THE WRIST: Carrera 'Black Mother of Pearl' Limited Edition Calibre 16 Chronograph
CV201P-0.BA0794
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 16th July 2018
Here's something you don't see everyday, indeed when I heard that Bicester had one of these in stock I made tracks to check it out for myself. This model is a limited edition for the Japanese market (300 I believe) and features a black mother of pearl dial. In truth though, it's not really black, it's more of a grey colour. But as you can see from the three pictures I've posted here it has a chameleon quality to it and looks completely different when the light hits it at different angles.
I'm not really a massive 'classic' Carrera fan if I'm honest, I feel about them kind of the same way I feel about the classic Monacos, they are nice enough, but for the money there's always something else I'd much rather buy. But having said that, I did think this was rather special, and well worth the effort to see. It's a 41mm but I actually thought it might be a 39mm when I had it on my wrist. It is reasonably thick though, which can also create the illusion of a smaller diameter.
Inside it's a Calibre 16 as you can probably tell from the dial layout, but the star of the show is undoubtedly the dial. It really is quite spectacular and when you think about it, can you name another men's model with a mother of pearl dial? There surely must be one, but I can't think of an example.
One other thing worthy of note is the bezel which is very highly polished and renders the usefulness of the Tachymetre somewhat null and void, but then this watch is clearly about looks before function, and who actually uses a Tachymetre anyway? With such a mirror polish finish, you are sure to be wiping fingermarks off the bezel, but it didn't seem to pick up as bad as some of the ceramic bezels I've tried on recently (they really are an absolute nightmare).
The bracelet is a five piece with small polished links either side of the centre links. It looks very classy and is the perfect choice for this piece I think. I guess you could put this on a strap, but I don't think it would look quite as good. With this one you definitely want all the focus to be on that fantastic dial, and while the small polished links do create a smidgeon of secondary interest, they don't take away from the main attraction.
Since my visit I've also seen this in the York Outlet store as well, the price is £2730, which seems very fair for a very unusual and limited edition version of an otherwise classic design.
Sunday 29 July 2018
ON THE WRIST: Grand Carrera Calibre 6 Diamond Bezel
WAV511E.BA0900
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 27th July 2018
As you may (or may not) remember, it wasn't many moons ago that I went to Bicester and bling enthusiast 'Liam' persuaded me to try on the diamond bezel Grand Carrera GMT. Shortly thereafter I traded in my orange CAU2012 Calibre 16 Formula 1 at Watchfinder for a black dial Calibre 8 GMT (albeit without the diamonds). When I was looking for my GMT, I also came across a Calibre 6 version with a small running seconds, which I (thankfully) discounted due to the 41mm case. I say thankfully because as it happened I was wearing my Grand Carrera when I visited the store this time and holding my watch next to this one confirmed that I had definitely made the right choice.
It's not that the WAV511E isn't attractive, but it does look a little dainty on my 7.3/4" wrist and with the brown dial and the diamonds it does strike me as a little bit feminine. Whereas when I tried on the larger Calibre 8 GMT with the black dial and the diamond bezel it didn't seem that way at all. I think it's the size that's making me think that rather than the colour, but the colour seems to reinforce the idea as it makes the dial appear just that little bit softer and warmer. Inded, while at 41mm this is probably pushing it on size for most ladies, I could still imagine a lot of women would like this watch all the same.
Incredibly the list price for this watch is £8900, which is quite hard to believe... but apparently this watch was only made for one particular market (I'm not sure where that was) and clearly TAG believed that market could take the price. As a result, now that this has found its way into the outlet it's being offered at quite a discount. In fact, with the 40% discount applied this watch is now priced at £4895, which is still a chunk of money, but a big saving all the same (and sensibly makes it a touch cheaper than the 43mm black dialed alternative.
Personally I think for the sake of a few hundred pounds more I would get the Calibre 8 version with the grand date and the GMT, but with this one you're definitely getting something a bit more unusual and if you have a smaller wrist you might prefer the 41mm case. As for me, I think I'll stick with the plain bezel. I don't really mind a diamond bezel, but the way I look at it, for the extra money I could buy a Carrera!
Saturday 28 July 2018
Friday 27 July 2018
YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph
CG1110-0
Well that didn't take long, did it? So here we go again, with another tale of hesitation and regret...
This morning I had an email from Watchfinder, inviting me to view their 'New Arrivals', and the first thing that caught my eye was this S/EL Quartz Chrono CG1110-0. It was up for £460, which immediately struck me as a very good price - considering it probably wouldn't be much less on eBay, with none of the advantages of inspection and verification. So I rushed to send an enquiry to check if the watch had enough links to fit my 7.3/4" wrist (I think Watchfinder actually have quite considerable stocks of links - but it's best to check first, especially if it's something out of the ordinary or two-tone. Although, of course, I'm re-evaluating that opinion now!).
Well, perhaps predictably, here we are two hours later, no reply... but the watch has been sold. So that's twice this week I've missed out on a bargain (although admittedly this isn't quite as outrageous a bargain as that blue dial Kirium was...). What's the betting next time Watchfinder get one of these it'll be more like £500, they must be kicking themselves!
Ah well, I should have known - it seems I'm destined never to get another TAG with a green and red logo, I haven't had one since I sold my 2000 a few years ago. In fact this has become something of a running joke with my watch enthusiast friend and my wife!
I must admit, I kinda miss that watch a bit... it was too small for me, but it had a lovely matt black dial and the rubber strap (which I bought from Goldsmiths) was excellent, if bloody expensive! Plus it had the classic logo, which is sorely lacking in my collection.
So I'm back to square one on the S/EL and I'm no nearer to working out whether I should buy a 38mm for £4-500, or a 42mm for £900+. That seems to be the way of things when it comes to the S/EL, which is understandable I suppose, as there's clearly a a surfeit of 38mm pieces out there and a shortage of 42mm. You can see the same issue with the original F1s which can be had very reasonably if you can live with the 35mm size, but the chronograph versions which are 41mm (IIRC) can be two or three times the price.
What a frustrating hobby this can be sometimes... I guess the lesson learned is to buy first and ask questions later with Watchfinder, since they offer a 14 day returns policy on internet purchases anyway, and if they can't provide the links they aren't going to waste everybody's time sending it out only for you to send it back.
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Watchfinder did eventually get back to me, adding to my surliness by telling me the watch was still available and wouldn't need any extra links... until of course I pointed out that it was showing as sold on their website, after which they quickly retracted that and asked if I was interested in anything else...
Thursday 26 July 2018
YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE: TAG Heuer Kirium Quartz Blue Dial
WL111F-0
The start of a new, but hopefully 'infrequent' feature... today we introduce 'You Snooze, You Lose'. And boy did I lose out today...!
I was browsing eBay this morning, when I spotted a nice looking WL111F-0. I've been wanting another Kirium for a while, and particularly a blue one. Though I do own a Kirium already, I am rather too attached to it as it was my very first TAG Heuer, and so I really can't bring myself to wear it everyday and accept that it will get marked.
The pictures weren't great, but looked good enough to get a general idea and I fired off a question to the seller about the bracelet size. I wasn't sure I'd get a response in good time, but I figured I would have time to check it myself later, since there was a picture which clearly showed the links and I could count them and compare it with my own.
As it happened the seller did come back to me fairly quickly and said it would fit a 6-7" wrist - which is helpful, but not terribly helpful. It's amazing actually how few sellers list the wrist size and indeed the diameter of the watch, but they're all too keen to tell you they're 'Only selling because I got a Garmin now'. It never seems to enter their heads that those spare links they lost mean that their watch isn't going to fit everyone's wrist now.
And then of course there's those despicable people who say 'Will fit a 7" wrist, but I can supply extra links if required'. Which basically means, I have all the links for this watch, but if your wrist is bigger than 7" it's going to cost you extra, and if not I'm going to sell those extra links just as soon as your payment clears...
Sorry, I'm getting off track. So I was getting quite excited about this one and was looking forward to getting home and checking the links on my Kirium to see if it was close. As it turns out, it really wasn't that close - this one has six links one side and six and a half on the other, whereas mine has seven and a half on each side, so I needed another two and half links anyway.
But even so, the price was very low and later in the afternoon I went to have another look. To my dismay, the page loaded and it showed the time remaining as 5 seconds which meant that all I could really do was watch those few seconds tick away and the auction finish. I had completely miscalculated the end time of the auction and some lucky bidder got this watch for just £207.
I was quite gutted, to say the least. I know if I had made a bid there's every chance the other bidder might have increased their bid too and it could have gone up a lot higher, but that's small comfort when you see this...
Still, I suppose there'll always be another one, and maybe one with the right number of links included, and looking on the bright side my TAG fund remains intact to fight another day.
Gotta stay positive! :)
Wednesday 25 July 2018
BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Alter Ego Quartz
WAA1412.BA0760
Cash Converters / Wakefield, 21st July 2018
While I was scouring eBay for S/ELs recently I came across one that was available on the 'Cash Converters' website, and realised that they actually had quite a good selection of watches available, including quite a large number of TAG Heuers. One of the watches I saw on there was an Alter Ego with a pink dial, which was up for a very reasonable £280.
I showed it to my wife as she has been trying to make up her mind about the Alter Ego range for some time and in the end we decided to take a trip up to Wakefield to see it for ourselves and even if it turned out to be a dud, at least she'd get a better idea of how much she liked the design and could then make a better informed decision if she saw one on eBay or another pre-owned site.
CASH CONVERTERS WEBSITE PHOTO
The photos on the 'Cash Converters' website weren't brilliant and it mentioned that there was wear to the case and bracelet. One thing we don't generally have to worry about when buying watches for my wife is the bracelet length as she has absolutely tiny wrists, albeit this does mean she can't really take advantage of some of those great smaller men's watch bargains that are out there like the 80s F1s, which is a shame.
We arrived at the store just before opening time and then stood around waiting as they took their sweet time to open up... finally noticing the Alter Ego right in the centre of the window display. It looked decent, by no means 'mint' but it probably looked in better condition than we feared given the price.
CASH CONVERTERS WEBSITE PHOTO
This was a bit of a red herring, because while there were five WAA1412s on eBay at the time, every single one of them was in America. The cheapest of them was in much better condition and was selling for £445, while the others were supposedly 'NOS' and were priced in the thousands. When I got home I realised that one of them which was selling for £2050, was being offered by our old friends 'Infinite Shopping' - you may remember that name from a previous 'TAGs on eBay' post, where I mocked them mercilessly for selling literally everything for twice it's original list price!
Well they haggled and haggled and there was lots of 'I'll have to go and talk to the manager' type nonsense, and in the end my wife played her ace card and said she'd go away and think about it. Suddenly they didn't want her to leave without a sale and so they agreed to a price of £270, which wasn't much of a discount, but it was enough for my wife to make the deal.
When you actually start searching, you realise that although there are a fair number of Alter Egos about, there aren't that many pink ones. I think, considering the glass is clean, the scratches on the case and bracelet are only surface marks and the watch seems to be running fine - £270 was more than a good price, I think it was an excellent price. The only slight bummer is that the bracelet is a little stretched in places, but hopefully once it's sized it won't be too bad, and it's more round the back of the wrist and so not too noticeable. The bracelet is designed to stretch anyway, albeit not to the extent that you can get it on and off, as it has a butterfly clasp which leaves a nice clean uninterrupted bracelet effect.
As we were heading to the York Retail Outlet afterwards, and (obviously) the TAG Heuer shop - we thought it might be worth enquiring if they could size the strap. I don't think the Cash Converters chaps do that sort of thing and I certainly wouldn't trust them to start dismantling the Alter Ego! James in the TAG shop kindly took it away and asked for us, but because all the TAGs they now stock use pins in their bracelets they didn't have a small enough screwdriver in store to remove the very tiny screws that hold the bracelet together.
So the next day we took a trip into Leicester to see the man at 'In Time' who has changed the batteries and resealed all of my wife's TAGs for years. He squinted at the bracelet a bit and said he should be able to do it, but when my wife asked how much it would cost to get the watch polished, he suggested sending it back for a bracelet refurb for £90. Given the bargain price paid for the watch this was a bit of a no brainer and of course they could also remove the links at the same time so all the better.
It'll be about three weeks until the watch comes back, and I'm sure it will polish up great. I don't know how much they'll be able to do with the over-stretched links, given that some of it is on the fixed portion of the bracelet. But the 'In Time' man seemed to think they could sort it, so fingers crossed (I have my doubts, but we'll see). While we were there he showed us a Breitling that had just come back from refurbishment and he said that it was the worst bracelet he'd ever had back and honestly it looked brand new.
Annoyingly, because I wasn't expecting her to send it away, I never took any photographs in it's original state - all the photos here except the Cash Converters ones are just taken from the internet. So I won't be able to do any 'before' and 'after' picture comparisons. It wasn't what I'd call badly scratched, but it was lightly scratched all over and certainly didn't have the high polished look that it started out with.
Cash Converters then, another place to look for bargains... I'll certainly be keeping an eye on their website in future. I can't help but wonder though if they wouldn't be better shipping all their higher end stock to one store, either down South or somewhere near Manchester?
I think they could have maybe got their original asking price if it wasn't in a store next to a load of crappy watches (actually there was one half decent Tissot and a couple of others that weren't complete garbage), a £10 rowing machine and a wall full of DVDs selling for 20p a pop (I bought 'Source Code' as it happens...great film!). Still, if it keeps the prices down for the bargain hunter then who are we to complain?
Tuesday 24 July 2018
Monday 23 July 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 16 Chronograph 500M
CAJ2180.FT6023
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 16th July 2018
This is by no means the first time I've tried on this particular watch, but this is the first time I've been quite so impressed with it. It seems to be becoming a thing now, I try on another 500M Aquaracer from this particular family of watches (the one's with the rubbery looking bezel, even when it's solid gold...) and I tell you how I used to not like them at all until I changed my mind big time and bought one... and so here we are again!
From the pictures you'd be forgiven for thinking this one has a more than passing resemblance to the other 500M Aquaracer I tried on on my last visit to Bicester (the CAK2111 read about it HERE) but in reality the black/green colour scheme is even more striking. The CAK2111 has a steel case which softens the look sightly and put me in mind of the Aquagraph, but this is much more uncompromising and all the better for it in my opinion.
As usual I had my reservations about the deployment clasp fitted to the rubber strap, but it seemed okay this time. As it happened, when I adjusted the strap to fit my 7.3/4" wrist, the rubber very nearly completely covered the the clasp and prevented it from aggravating my wrist although I'd definitely want to try it on again before committing to a purchase.
It's always interesting to re-try watches I've already had on and written about, and this one is no different. In the past I've reckoned on seeing this at sub £2000 prices, but I wonder if I'm getting this one confused with the simpler Calibre 5 version (FT6015)?
At the moment the watch is selling for £2610, which is still an impressive saving on it's £4000+ list price. It's certainly a bold statement, and one which won't be to everyone's taste, but for those that 'get it' I can imagine this being something of a must-have. I really enjoyed having this one on my wrist and if it hadn't been for the gold bezel WAJ2182 I might be even more enthusiastic about this one.
But who knows, maybe the WAJ2182 is a short term infatuation and this one has more longevity? It's a shame I can't take both, but I guess that is perhaps a little greedy. Again it wears a little smaller than my grey dial, steel case version - but that's to be expected with a black PVD case. It's by no means small and it has plenty of wrist presence, but I think it could stand to be bigger still, certainly for those of us with bigger wrists.
The rubber pushers perhaps won't be to everyone's taste, but owning an Aquagraph I don't see them as a problem. I've read that people have to get them replaced regularly (at least on the Aquagraph) but mine is probably 8-10 years old (from date of manufacture, rather than date of sale) and there's no sign of any trouble so far (although admittedly I don't get it wet).
All in all then, yet another 500M Aquaracer that deserves a place on the 'potential buys' list, but for me, at least for now, it's playing second fiddle to the gold bezel CAJ2180.
Sunday 22 July 2018
Saturday 21 July 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Link Calibre S
CJF7111.BA0587
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 16th July 2018
The last few times I've been to Bicester there's been two Links sitting side by side in the cabinet. They look identical, but their prices differ by a rather surprising £400! So every time I go in there I look at these two Links and try and work out why one is more expensive than the other, but never really got to the bottom of it. There was a theory that the bracelets were different, one might be chunkier than the other, but on closer inspection I really couldn't see an appreciable difference. Indeed I couldn't tell them apart. Interestingly, they have exactly the same part number on the back, with no suffix to denote a change... so, what can the reason be?
Well, when you get the two watches close together and you hold them up to the light you realise that the dials are a slightly different colour. You see how the one at the top of the page looks silvery-white, and the one above looks sort of more like a gold/biege tint? Well that's not entirely a trick of the photograph, that is reality... although you'd be hard pushed to notice it.
So apparently, at some point TAG changed the dial colour slightly but didn't change the nomenclature, which is why you end up with two watches with the same part number but different prices. Interestingly, the older watch is the more expensive, not because the dial is more attractive, but because the prices are based on discounts off the original list prices and when they changed the dial they also dropped the price. I'm guessing perhaps the Calibre S models weren't selling as well as they'd hoped and they were trying to shift them by making the pricing more attractive...?
For your information, the less expensive Link Calibre S is available for £2085, a considerable saving over the original price which was £3000+ if I remember correctly. The other one, as I said, is £400 more, but still a good bit cheaper than the original list price. Unfortunately I can't remember whether the later (cheaper) one was the gold tint dial or the silvery-white one... it was all very confusing, believe me!
On the wrist it wears a little smaller than you'd expect for a 42mm, it definitely felt a lot smaller than my 43mm Aquaracer, but then the design is a lot sleeker and it's entirely appropriate for a dressier watch. I'm a fan of the Calibre S, but somehow the watch didn't really excite me very much. I love the bracelet, I have to get either a Link or a different watch with the Link bracelet because it is fantastic... but overall this one just didn't really do it for me, and that was a surprise because I thought if anything the Calibre S was one I'd most likely get on board with. But no, sadly this was very underwhelming. I don't know if it's because I'm used to seeing the Calibre S dial with a yellow background and this one came across as a bit 'safe' in comparison, but whatever it was, it just didn't give me that feeling.
It's not very often you find a watch that is overshadowed by it's own bracelet, but generally the Link range continues to appear very 'safe' and 'unexciting'... and yet it has such a gorgeous bracelet that you can't help wanting one all the same. It's quite frustrating to say the least... maybe, ultimately the answer is to stump up for a Calibre 16 with a nice pinstriped face?
CAT2010.BA0952
It's a possibility, but the problem is for that kind of money I can think of about ten watches I'd rather buy. If you do fancy one of these CJF7111 Links though, bear in mind the bezel is very highly polished, so check the condition before you buy pre-owned. If you want a nice clean one, but you want to save yourself a good chunk of money, the outlets (like the one at Bicester Village) would be an excellent place to start and you also get a two year warranty, no matter how old the watch is when sold - which is especially good for automatics and a complicated quartz movement like the Calibre-S.
Friday 20 July 2018
Thursday 19 July 2018
ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer 500M Calibre 5 Gold Bezel
WAJ2182.FT6015
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 16th July 2018
It's a funny old game this watch collecting lark, I can remember a time when I wouldn't look twice at these 500M divers, and then I tried on a grey dial Calibre 5 and ended buying the quartz version! Not only that, it's gone from being one of my least favourite TAG designs to one of the stars of my collection. So much so that I'm struggling to keep it off my wrist these days...
But I never thought I'd fall for one of these. Indeed, up until today these gold bezel Aquaracers were completely verboten - but then I saw this and that all changed in a hurry. For some reason, and this sounds completely stupid when you say it out loud... it never kind of clicked with my simple brain that this bezel is actually gold. Yes, I know - what am I like... I don't know if it was because I didn't appreciate that the list price was £4000+, but I just rather foolishly dismissed it as 'gold coloured' for some reason, and to be honest I was so disinterested in it that I didn't really bother looking at one properly. Of course, now that I've held it and seen it up close it's plain that it is indeed gold, and not just any old gold plating or even capped gold but solid 18K rose gold with applied markers!
Honestly, I'm really quite shocked by jut how much I like this watch in person, it really is pretty cool and that's from someone who doesn't really tend towards the blingy. I guess what this is for me is an affordable alternative to the Rolex Sea Master which shares some of the same characteristics - gold and black colour scheme and the rubber strap being the most obvious. Actually my lust for the Sea Master only lasted until I found out the price, and then when I saw one in a window it looked really small and unimpressive... which, after all, is probably a good thing because there's no way can I afford one of those.
Rolex Sea Master - £18,360
Despite the fact that both these watches are rose gold, as you can see from the pictures it's far less obvious on the TAG. In the cabinet it looks like yellow gold, until you put it next to a watch that is actually yellow gold, but even then it looks 'different' but definitely not the 'pink' tone you expect. Looking at pictures of the Aquaracer on the internet it's amazing how much the 'pinkness' varies, so if you're planning to buy one of these it might be worth asking to take the watch outside and see it in daylight. Just a thought...
Oddly, the pictures I found on the internet show the watch with a clear display back, but the one in Bicester Village actually has quite a dark smoked glass fitted. While it's not as good from a visibility point of view, I think it looks a bit better, though it does make it look as if the rotor is black...which I assume it isn't.
Bicester Village model with smoked back glass...
The watch is about the same thickness as my quartz piece, and with the black case it does wear a little smaller. I actually had to hold this one next to mine to check that it actually was 43mm, and it is, but it definitely appears more like a 41-42mm. Overall the watch is nice enough, but that bezel really makes the difference here and elevates it's wrist presence to a whole other level.
If there is one small little detail that I could pick fault with, it's the orange tip on the second hand. It's certainly not a deal breaker, but at the same time it doesn't particularly complement the gold bezel (although it's probably a better choice than yellow to be fair). It would have been nice if they had maybe gold plated the tip of the second hand and also the 'Calibre 5' text, but I guess they used orange because after all this is a 500M diver at the end of the day (even though literally no one is going to dive with this watch).
If I had a couple of grand in my pocket today (well £2665 actually) I honestly think I might have bought this, because it really is quite stunning. Yes there are similarities with my grey dial quartz, but colour wise it is completely different and it also has a rubber strap rather than a bracelet, and it's an automatic not a quartz - so that's probably different enough to make it a potential purchase.
Whether or not I ultimately add this to my collection, I'm really happy to have seen it up close and had my preconceptions blown away. This is a gorgeous watch and I almost want to go back and look at it again - right now!
Wednesday 18 July 2018
Tuesday 17 July 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Autavia - Harrods Limited Edition
When Tudor released their Black Bay Harrods Edition earlier this year, I was quite impressed. In fact I happened to see one when I visited Harrods in February or March, and to be frank it was everything you could want from a Harrods Edition. It wasn't a dramatic departure from the standard range but it had a 'Harrods' green bezel and a Harrods 'H' on the back, and perhaps crucially it was a numbered limited edition. The perfect blueprint for how to do a Harrods watch effectively.
So recently there's been a spate of 'Harrods' watches from Bvlgari and Roger Dubois and now this from TAG Heuer. While the Bvlgari has a green dial and strap and the Roger Dubois Excalibur has flashes of green, neither watch comes close to using the correct tone for Harrods' signature green. Meanwhile TAG have completely abandoned any notion of going with the flow and instead given us this...
It seems they've basically taken the white dial from the Calibre 11 edition (sans the blue touches) and matched it with the 'original' Autavia bezel as found on the CBE2110. Which is fine, I guess... but at first glance it just looks like a JH85 with the 'wrong' bezel and as a 'Harrods' edition it's rather underwhelming if you ask me.
Roger Dubois Pigs Ear Excalibur...
The problem is, when you think of Harrods, you think of that green colour and to TAG's credit, unlike Bvlgari and Roger Dubois they haven't had a go and made a pigs ear of it (RD especially since they've used two different greens on the same watch, neither of which is even near the Harrods green and they don't even complement each other which is the real issue...), but then they haven't hit it out of the park like Tudor did either. The other day I saw one of the Harrods Tudors on Watchfinder, going for about 50% over the list price. I think they'll sell it, and I think that watch could become very collectible in time.
Bvlgari - wrong but not as wrong as the Roger Dubois
These TAGs... I don't see it. There's nothing wrong with them but they're not different enough and there's nothing 'Harrods' about them. They might as well just have released these as a standard part of the range really...
https://oracleoftime.com/three-new-limited-edition-watches-from-harrods/
Monday 16 July 2018
Sunday 15 July 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: Formula One Quartz Chronograph 'Senna' Special Edition
CAZ1015.BA0883
Long time readers may remember my 'Top 5 Monacos' post, which eventually became my 'Top 6 Monacos' when I realised I had left out a really obvious one... so you may not be completely surprised to hear that I may have made the same mistake again! Yesterday a friend / fellow TAG Heuer enthusiast emailed me to tell me that he'd taken the plunge and bought himself one of these beauties, and of course having it drawn to my attention I realised that this really should have been on my list. So damn, I need to rectify that at some point!
I think what really sets this one apart and really lifts it up way above many similar 1/10th of a second chrono F1s is the 'Link' style strap. I really like the Link bracelet, but I'm struggling to find a Link I can get on board with (not strictly true, but all the ones I like are £2500 or more) so this may well be something that could kill two birds with one 'relatively affordable' stone...
In fact, thinking about it, this piece seems to combine the best parts of the 'Aston Martin' and 'Black Bull' watches for me, and who doesn't like red detailing on a black dial/bezel? And didn't I say that those other Senna F1s would have looked better without the red hands? I think this watch is making that point pretty clearly... true this one doesn't have the red stripes and the reverse bezel, but I can definitely live without that in exchange for that lovely bracelet.
I mean, I really liked the Heuer 01 Senna I tried on earlier in the year, but that was a whole heap of money - and I still have concerns about the coating on a black bracelet holding up over time, but this is about a quarter of the price. Yes it's quartz, but it's only 2mm smaller and you're still getting that Link-style band. Damn, I'm getting seriously into this one... I need to see one up close.
Kind of looks like an old school Aquaracer clasp, but that bracelet looks tip-top to me...
Well this has certainly given me food for thought, not least of which I wonder if it's possible to fit this bracelet to the Red Bull F1? I thought the end links were standard F1, but seeing this shot from the back puts serious doubts in my mind about that - see the V shapes coming away from the case, are they part of the case of just the end links? I shall endeavour to find out...
Mocked up Red Bull Link bracelet combo
What about that... I'd buy that in a heartbeat. So if it is possible, that might be a lovely way to blow my TAG fund! I could get the watch pre-owned for about £900, and the bracelet would be I guess... £250, something like that? Maybe £300... sure looks a mighty nice watch for £1200. But failing that, I'm still more than open to a CAZ1015 in my immediate future!
Friday 13 July 2018
Thursday 12 July 2018
Wednesday 11 July 2018
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Pilot Watch 530.806
530.806
I've seen this 80's TAG Heuer pilot's watch before, but the more I look at it the more I feel like I really, really want one. I've always kinda liked the Breitling Navitimer, but it's always been a very retro looking watch, and I'm not really a retro kind of guy. This one doesn't really look retro at all (to me anyway), indeed it's a much cleaner design and maybe that's partly because it's on a bracelet rather than the usual leather strap you'd expect on a Navitimer. Also, while it does have a Navi-esque bezel edge, it seems far less noticeable.
I came across this particular example on eBay, where the asking price is a shade over £900. I've found another one that sold on My Tag for just £670, which makes this one look expensive, but actually I don't think I'd object to paying £900 for this piece, regardless of the actual market value.
Last time I mentioned this one on the blog I said it was 44mm, but the seller of this one has it down as 42.5mm, so it's possible that 44mm could have included the crown. Either way it's a decent size and would suit me down to the ground, the only problem is that the seller is in Japan - and that means import taxes. Also, the bracelet is only just over 7" long, so again I would need more links and I have no idea what bracelet this would come on...
Alongside the no doubt baffling slide-rule bezel, the watch has a 1/10sec quartz chrono, the 1/10 second subdial being at the top right, the bottom subdial is the running seconds by the look of it and the chrono hours are top left. The watch has two chrono hands - seconds and minutes, much like many of the quartz Aquaracer chronographs you see about (and indeed my Aquagraph).
The only thing I'm not overly sold on is that oddly square and very protruding crown guard. It's most noticeable on the top picture and I do wonder if that wouldn't stick into my wrist... that's one reason I'd really like to try it on before I buy if at all possible. But what are the chances of finding it in a shop? Probably not great. I could ask Watchfinder to search for one for me, but they obviously won't source for me without a commitment to buy, so that doesn't help much...
Actually, while I've been writing this I have managed to find one in the UK! Not only that but it's in a jewellers with a shop that I could visit (albeit it's about six hours there and back...) but they want £1500 for it (with a two year guarantee). That seems a trifle over the odds to me, albeit I'm not really sure what the true market value is. I'd have no problem paying £900, but £1500 for a 25+ year old watch, I'm not so sure. I think I'll have to try and do some more research and see if they are being reasonable or not. It's a beautiful watch though, whatever the price.
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