FEATURE: My Difficult Relationship with my Grand Carrera GMT

WAV5111.BA0901

It seems a funny thing to say, but I never really liked the WAV5111 or indeed any of the non-chronograph Grand Carreras, and yet I ended up buying one. It all started when I visited Bicester earlier in the year and arch diamond peddler Liam showed me a bling-bezel version of this very watch, suddenly I could see its appeal, and indeed even looking at the picture above I think of it as a very smart looking watch. It's clearly well put together and when the light catches it just right it looks amazing. So why then do I have reservations... indeed why am constantly thinking about selling or trading it in for something else?

I think it's partly because I made the schoolboy error of settling for something less than what I really wanted. I wanted shot of my CAU2012 and the best option was trading it in with Watchfinder, but all their Grand Carrera chronos had scratches on the bezel and I can't be doing with that. I know what I'm like, it's one thing for a watch that costs a few hundred quid to be marked but there's no way I'm going to be satisfied with a sub-par watch that costs nearly £2000. No doubt I would have ended up shelling out for a polish or possibly even a new bezel if the scratches were too ingrained.

So instead, I decided to opt for the (considerably cheaper) Calibre 8 GMT, and when I got it I loved it. The watch is quality through and through and added not only a 'GMT' into my collection, but also a 'Grand Date'. Admittedly a GMT is something I'll probably never, ever use (I was going to take this to Switzerland to use it, but ended up taking my Carrera instead) but the Grand Date is a pretty cool feature and the bracelet is one of the nicest I've owned.

The watch seems a little on the large side though. I had to go to a work event the other day and having to wear a suit (which I rarely do) I decided this would be the perfect watch to wear, but it seemed too big and showy and made me wonder if the 41mm Grand Carrera without the GMT and Grand Date (but with the running seconds window) might have been a better fit? 

I always knew this would be an occasional wear watch for me, but I'm disappointed how rarely I've chosen to wear it and how often I've meant to wear it but chosen something else at the last minute. I don't think there's anything wrong with the watch per-se, I just don't think it's quite the right watch for me. And that makes me very nervous of trading it in for a chrono Grand Carrera, because even though I've tried several of those on over the last couple of years what if I get one and end up in the same position all over again?

I'm not going to rush into selling this or trading it in, because I loved it when I bought it and there's every chance that maybe I will fall in love with it again. But as it stands it isn't holding up it's end and as my collection grows and the competition for wrist time increases it makes less and less sense for me to have this sort of money tied up in a watch I don't absolutely love. 

It's in great condition, with only one tiny little mark on the plain bezel, but if I decide to trade it in I will need to find something considerably more expensive to get a decent price, so realistically we're talking £2-3000. I suppose I could try selling it on eBay or something, but I'm slightly dubious about that when it comes to this sort of price range, plus I'd lose about £300 in fees, which isn't great (and when you take that into account trading it in makes a LOT more sense).

I think I'll sit on it for a while, maybe see how I feel next year and see what new pieces become available through the usual pre-owned outlets. I do actually like the watch, just not on my wrist somehow - which is a bit of a shame really.