VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Review by Edinburgh Watch Company

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: 2018 TAG Heuer Alec Monopoly Editions

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You may remember when the first Alec Monopoly watch came out I was a bit undecided at first and then after a few days when I had decided that I did in fact like the watch, all 200 pieces had sold. So of course I resolved to be more decisive next time, and here we are....

Unfortunately I don't really like the white background. I think if this had a black background (I can feel some photoshopping coming on!) it would look so much better. True it wouldn't look as obviously 'different' from the first watch, but for me there's just too much white going on there. I think it's a shame Alec didn't graffiti the TAG logo as there's plenty of room at the 12 position, or indeed they could have just applied a shield on top.

In some ways it's a better design than the first watch, as it moves the character out of the way of the hands, but in the process, and perhaps partly because of the white background, it now looks a bit empty. Also, although it perhaps wouldn't fit Alec's free-flowing style, wouldn't it have been cool to use the dollar notes as hour markers?

Quick photoshopped version.

There we are, even with my risible photoshopping skills this already looks better.... and Alec could have put a white haze around the character to highlight it like he did on the first watch if he'd wanted to. Or maybe I'm wrong? What do you think?

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Then we have the first 'Alec Monopoly' Carrera... on the one hand, the sub dials fill up the dial a bit more, which seems positive, but then again it squashes the character down in the corner, perhaps it would have been a good idea to remove the TAG Heuer shield in this instance as it looks a bit shoehorned in. Again I think the white is a mistake, although I'm not so sure a harsh black is the answer here, maybe a darkish grey would have helped? Let me give it a try...

Apologies for the very poor rendering, but you get the idea... I'm still not sure it's 'right' (or even close) and to be completely honest I think this kind of thing works better on the Formula 1 range. It's one thing to spend $1250 (these aren't on the UK website yet) on a 'novelty' watch, it's quite another to stump up $6050 for one. I guess this will definitely show us just how strong the Alec Monopoly brand really is... but I for one won't be in the queue.

Actually, maybe a grey background would work on the Formula 1 as well?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 36 RS Review by Watchbox Studios

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 1887 Rose Gold Chronograph

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 21st November 2018

Aside from the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore 'Vampire' that I tried on in Selfridges, I'm reasonably certain that this is the most expensive watch I've ever had on my wrist, and certainly the most expensive TAG Heuer (working on RRP, the Carrera Heuer 02T is a bit less). Admittedly it's not something I would ever buy as it isn't really my style, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate it for what it is, and who knows as I get older maybe I will gravitate towards this kind of aesthetic (although as I'm nearly 50 as it is, maybe not!).

The watch is 41mm in diameter and looking at it in the display cabinet I actually wondered if it was a 39mm, but on the wrist it feels very 'right' and to my mind this is the biggest you really want a gold watch to be. Any bigger and it could start to feel a little brash, at least in this type of design... the rose-gold lug version of the 45mm Carrera Heuer 01 is a different kettle of fish entirely of course.

I have about a 7.3/4" wrist, and the leather strap as fitted is only just long enough, but for most people I think it will be just about right. I imagine it wouldn't be a problem to find a longer replacement and as this watch comes with a regular pin and buckle style fixing (also gold) you wouldn't be restricted to TAGs own range.

The watch has a clear display back to show off the Calibre 1887 movement (the slightly controversial 'in-house' engine that was modified from a Seiko original), which is much loved and highly thought of by TAG Heuer collectors and certainly a lot nicer to look at than the Calibre 16 which has replaced it in the newest models.

The watch is chunky, without being excessively thick, but it's nice that you get a decent case width on this one as, after all, that's where your money has gone. Bicester have both the white dial and the dark grey dial in stock and while I initially went for the darker one but I found the white dial a lot more legible, largely because the gold hour markers and hands contrast much better with the paler face. 

And so we come to the major sticking point for most people... this watch retails at a price of £15050, making it one of the most expensive (non Haute Horlogerie) pieces that TAG Heuer has ever made. Price aside, it is a stunning watch and currently you can pick one of these up for £10535, which while still a considerable outlay does represent a substantial 30% saving. Admittedly it wouldn't be my first choice if I had £10,000 burning a hole in my pocket, but if money was no object then maybe it would be nice to own this as something to wear on a special occasion.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Mikrogirder 2000 Demonstration by A Blog to Watch

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 Hawaii Limited Edition

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 21st November 2019

It being only a fortnight since my last visit to Bicester Village, not a lot had changed... but, notably, both the black dial Monaco and the smaller blue dial Monaco had both gone (and, I noticed, the seemingly endless availability of the Monaco 24s seems to have finally come to an end). Not much in the way of new arrivals, in fact this was, I think, the only new piece.

Leaving aside why you'd want a 'Hawaiian' dial Aquaracer (unless of course you happen to be Hawaiian yourself, or you've been on holiday there) it has to be said that this is a rather lovely watch. I spied it in the cabinet, but it wasn't until I got it onto my wrist that it really came alive. The light blue accents on the dial really lift the background blue as well and it's a lovely watch to look at. The vibrant colours of the dial work extremely well with the subdued, brushed case of the Aquaracer as well. At 40.5mm it's a watch that will work for most people, I'm more used to the 43mm Aquaracers with the chunkier cases, but this felt very nice on the wrist.

I can't find a photograph of the back of the watch, which is a shame. On the rear you will find a solid caseback, engraved with a couple of palm trees and some text in (let's call it) Hawaiian font, I can't recall the exact phrase but something along the lines of 'Hawaiian Edition'. Around the edge the watch is marked with it's piece number as this watch is limited to just 300 pieces.

Inside the watch you'll find the standard Calibre 5 movement that you find in many of the Aquaracers these days, being distracted by the dial I assumed the watch would be quartz and only realised my mistake when I noticed the second hand wasn't moving. List price on this one is £2050, but currently Bicester are offering this at a very attractive price of £1435. If I hadn't just spent all my money on other watches I might well have been tempted to add this to my collection, even though I'm not Hawaiian and I've never been...*

*To Hawaii I mean, not that I've never been Hawaiian!

VIDEO: Interview with Jean Claude Biver (Part Two) by The Watches TV

SPOTLIGHT ON: NOS 3000 Series Steel Quartz Watch from Italy.

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Regular readers will know that I've been looking for a 3000 series TAG for a long time, and seeing one in the TAG Heuer museum only reinforced the view that a 3000 was a must have for my collection. But trying to find a 3000 being sold in the UK is a bit of a nightmare as nearly all the eBay listings originate from Japan (and the average wrist size there seems to be well under 7"), so finding this NOS (unworn with the complete bracelet) example for sale from an Italian seller really piqued my interest.

As you can see from the pictures the watch is is stunning condition, save for a few scratches to the bezel, but that condition is reflected in the asking price. It's hard to say exactly what this is worth since I've never come across one in this condition before, but personally I wasn't really prepared to pay £815 for a watch that is 30 years old and that I've never been able to try on.

It was perhaps slightly insulting in hindsight, but recently I've come to realise that when a seller invites offers, it's an opportunity to buy at a rock-bottom price - if the seller agrees, and after all 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'. With that in mind I made an opening bid of £375, which I knew would be turned down, and indeed it was. I upped my price to £425 and again the offer came back denied. eBay only allows you to make three offers after which you can only then buy at full price or you have to negotiate directly with the seller to see what you can both agree on. So with that in mind, and being a bit more realistic about it, I upped my offer to £550. This was also refused.

A little while later I received an offer from the seller, his bottom price was £650, which is probably fair, but to me it was still a bit too much. I think, maybe if the bezel hadn't been scratched I might have put my hand in my pocket and gone for it, but I felt like with the rest of the watch being so perfect, that scratch would drive me nuts, better in a way if the whole watch was a little worn rather than a flawless piece with one scratch in the most noticeable place possible.

And so, reluctantly it must be said, I walked away from this one. But all was not lost, and this morning I have taken delivery of a much more affordable 3000 series, with a full bracelet and from a UK seller no less. It certainly can't compare with this one as far as condition goes, but then again it was almost a third of the original asking price, so I can't complain - more on that in a few days.

VIDEO: Interview with Jean Claude Biver (Part 1) by The Watches TV

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Autavia Heuer 02 1972 Re-Edition

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It seems like there's a new TAG Heuer every few days at the moment, and mostly they aren't all that appealing. This on the other hand, while it's not to my taste, is definitely a class above the latest Max Verstappen and Alec Monopoly watches. You really can't go wrong with a black dial and a red second hand, so this is something of an open goal. I also rather like the white subdials, and actually ditching the 6 position subdial makes the watch look a bit less fussy and allows the date window space to breathe (although I don't mind it inside the subdial as it usually is to be fair, better than squeezing it in at 4:30).

Unfortunately, so far this is the only picture available of the watch, which doesn't give much to go on, but since the Autavia is largely already a known quantity this one is really all about the dial, and that definitely looks good to me. Elsewhere the 1972 Re-Edition sticks with the aluminium bezel from the standard model and teams it with a white stitched strap, which again while not to my particular taste does look like a good match for this piece.

At present, this is only on the US website and is priced at $5800 (£4500). It is listed as a 'Special Edition' rather than a 'Limited Edition' so production figures are open to speculation and will probably depend on sales.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrra 02T Tourbillon Hands On Review by A Blog to Watch

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Max Verstappen Special Edition 2018

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The first two Max Verstappen Formula 1 models were at once 'under-the-radar' and seemingly a 'hot ticket', I've never seen either of them, probably because they never reached the stores... selling out before they were even released (I presume), and so here we are in 2018, with Max's F1 career going from strength to strength and almost everyone predicting that this guy will be a World Champion one day (though whether that comes with Red Bull or not is harder to predict), and here we have the third Max Verstappen watch.

The first watch celebrated the fact that Max was the youngest driver to ever drive in a Formula 1 race, the second his first Grand Prix victory and this one... well, nothing so specific. As yet, despite winning five races, Max is yet to get himself a pole position, so even that is off the table - for now, maybe next year's watch will celebrate that particular feat?

That remains to be seen, but what of this 2018 model? Well, I have to say, unfortunately that I think it's the least appealing of the three watches so far. The first two watches came on coloured rubber straps (orange for the first watch and red for the second) which made total sense when viewed in conjuction with two very colourful watches. I really don't understand why they thought it was a good idea to go with the dressier steel and ceramic bracelet this time, it doesn't seem to work with the dial very well in my opinion.

I'm not a big fan of the red, there seems to be just too much of it really... and it's not even a particularly nice red. Also it would be interesting to see how well the red on the bezel and dial matches with the red hands, because while the coloured markers resemble the pinky-red of the Red Bull Racing team, I'm guessing those red hands are straight off the F1 Senna. That might look a bit jarring in the flesh...

I don't have a problem with the '33' logo so much, I just wish it was done in a subtler way, a white outline would probably look better than that big splodge of red, and then there's that awful stripe. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. It looks ridiculous, I never liked it on the James Hunt Formula 1, but this looks even worse. I hate the way it gets in the way of other details on the dial (the date window, the '1' hour marker and the text at the '6' position) in fact any reservations I may have about the rest of the watch pale into insignificance against this awful, awful stripe. Take the stripe away and you have a watch that I could live with, I don't think I could 'love' it, but I could live with it and might even come to like it... 

No stripe - so much better!

But as it is... well admittedly in this wrist shot it looks kinda 'okay'... but that stripe still looks all kind of wrong. If they'd made it (a lot) thicker I think it would have worked better, but really, they should have just gone with my version instead.

Other than that it seems reasonable to assume this will wear well on the wrist, being the same 43mm case as that used in the 'Aston Martin' Special Edition and countless other Formula 1's. I haven't seen a photograph of the entire bracelet as yet, it will be interesting to see what kind of clasp this watch has, I hope it has a nice one, but I fear it might have a tacky pressed steel clasp which at this price is a tad out of order.

So there we have it, I wonder if I'll actually get to see one of these or if the entire run of 1300 will be sold out before they reach the stores again? These are priced at £1850, and I can't help but think that a lot of these will be bought and stored, unworn, for the day when Max inevitably becomes an F1 Champion. What price a complete and unworn 'set' appearing at auction within five years?

SPOTLIGHT ON: An unusual Fake TAG Heuer on eBay

Pointless at it seems to be, I still regularly report fakes to eBay, it doesn't seem to make any difference as I see the same watches there time and time again - but you've got to try. What amazes me sometimes is the variety of fakes, from the 'that doesn't look quite right' to the 'that's not going to fool anyone', and then there's this kind of fake - which is fake, but at first glance looks interesting and quite inventive.

I can actually see how the unwary might believe this was something more than it is, but I hope if anyone buys it they don't waste too much of their money. Clearly powered by a Miyota quartz movement, it probably works (well... who knows how much of it actually works) but it's quite funny that they put Mikrogirder on the dial but Mikrograph on the sides, fakers can't even decide what they are making!

The crown might fool some people as well, since it looks a lot like the crown on some of the current Carreras... and they've gone all out with the 'brickyard' dial design - to tie in with the Indy 500 theme. In some ways, while all fakes are bad and made with the intention of fooling people into parting with their money, I much prefer these outlandish designs to the bad 2000 copies. At least they give me a laugh... and hopefully anyone looking into buying will quickly realise that no such watch exists.

But then given people's ability to self-delude, the chances are they might think it's some kind of rarity... which is unfortunate. It does annoy me when you see garbage on eBay selling for the kind of money where you could actually buy a decent pre-owned TAG, but until eBay get their act together and react when people report the items being sold on their platform then I'm afraid this will continue.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 Watch Review by A Wrist of Time

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph Two Tone Watch

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So while I was waiting for my CG1110-0 to arrive, I kept returning to another S/EL I had been looking at previously... and wondering if I'd made a mistake. Matter of fact, even as I was waiting for the CG1110 to arrive I was already thinking about buying this one as well (and maybe sitting on it for a few months before I told my wife!). :)

And then when I got the email about the problems with the glass on the CG1110 and I decided to cancel the order, my thoughts immediately returned to this one. I'm sure I could have waited for another CG1110 to come along, and maybe, eventually I'll pick up one of those as well, but something was drawing me back to this two-tone version.

After checking, double checking and indeed triple checking the size of this one... I decided to make a move. But because I'd been watching this one for a while I already knew it had gone through at least one eBay sale cycle without selling at it's asking price of £599, so I decided to put in a low offer and see how it went (whilst being fully prepared to come up if necessary). So my initial offer was £485, and to my great surprise it was accepted!

As ever, and especially in light of my recent experience, the nerves kicked in then... but within a couple of days I had the watch in my hands and while it is smallish (but 38mm as expected) it looks absolutely fine on my wrist - and I love it. I get that two-tone isn't for everybody and I'm sure that's a huge factor in why the seller was having a hard time shifting this one, if he'd had a CG1110 in this condition then I don't think he'd have had a problem - but that doesn't bother me overly because I have no intention of selling this.

I must say, in the pictures the gold comes across as a lot more in your face than it really is. This was much the same when I bought my 2000 Exclusive two-tone, it's a lot more muted than you think it's going to be. Maybe it's more noticeable to other people, but to me once you've been wearing it for a few moments you don't really notice the gold so much and it's not until you really study it that you realise quite how much gold there is on this one.

This is my first (technically second if you count the Kirium I sent back) white dial and it looks great with the two-tone and is the perfect backdrop for the green and red TAG Heuer logo. Finally, the green and red TAG logo! Can you believe I've got thirteen TAGs and only one of them has the classic logo? Admittedly, it's probably because I'm drawn to oddities like the Kirium F1 and the Chronotimer which have white or silver logos... and I did used to have a couple of 2000s which had the classic logo (actually I wish I'd kept my 2000 on a rubber strap, might have to re-buy that one!).

It seems it's taken me forever to finally get my hands on an S/EL, and it only took three goes to get it right! Speaking of which, I've just sold the 32mm SEL I bought on the leather strap for slightly more than I paid for it (I'll lose about £10 overall) so I'm well happy with that and glad to have got that off my hands before the battery goes and dies on me. Ideally I would like one of the larger 42mm SELs, but to get one of those you're talking £800 upwards and I'm reluctant to spend that kind of money on a watch of this age, and besides I'm super happy with this one... my priority now is probably to look for a 4000 Series of some kind, unless of course I can find a decent sized 3000 that isn't in Japan!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera In Depth Review by Edinburgh Watch Company

NOT BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer S/EL Chronograph

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About three/four weeks ago I decided to look for a S/EL again, and this time I wanted to get myself one. After the disappointment of losing the CG1110-0 that Watchfinder had on their site for just £400, I was determined not to lose out again, and so I came across this beauty on 'Birth Year Watches' website.

The asking price was £599, and the watch looked to be in generally good condition - however in their description 'BYW' noted that there was a scratch on the glass, so I contacted them to enquire if they could replace the glass for me, and if so I would buy the watch. 'BYW' came back to me promptly and said they could do so and they would charge £30, which I was more than happy with. However, there was one slight snag, that being it would take a week to get the glass and moreover their watchmaker was going on holiday the week after, so it would probably take a couple of weeks to get the watch to me. No problem, I've been waiting ages anyway, so a couple more weeks wasn't going to kill me.

After about two and half weeks I fired over a quick email to 'BYW' asking if the watch was getting close to being ready, and got a prompt response from Scott, telling me that the glass had come in and that they should be able to send it out that afternoon or failing that the next day. Happy days!

But then the next day I got another email, apparently the glass didn't fit, and it wasn't the first one they'd tried either. So the only other option was to get one from TAG Heuer (if they would supply a dealer) or there was a place in the USA that had one but they wanted $60 carriage... the curse of the S/EL strikes again.

Not only that, but in the process of trying to fit the glass they had discovered that there was a problem with the movement whereby if you move the minute hand backwards the hour hand didn't follow and the only option was a replacement (non TAG branded) movement. BYW offered to sell me the watch as it was (with the scratched crystal and defective movement) for £399 which is fair enough... the scratch probably wouldn't bother a lot of people and they might never even notice the problem with the hands - or if they did they might be prepared to live with it, but for me it was a deal breaker.

I definitely didn't want the hassle of trying to secure a glass myself, and knowing the movement had an issue would bug me too, so in the end I decided to pass on the watch and get a refund. It was a real shame as I really liked the model and I felt sorry for Scott who now has a problem watch on his hands, but sometimes it's just best to walk away.

Oddly enough, there was another S/EL I was looking at when I decided to go for this one, and while I was waiting for the CG1110 to arrive I started looking at that one again and began wondering if I'd made the right choice.... more on that in a day or two!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carbon Aquaracer 60 Second Review by Crown Your Watch

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer SEL Quartz Watch

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Sometimes, you just know something is too good to be true... and so it proved with this one. I found this one on eBay going for £50 or thereabouts and (obviously) put it on my 'Watch List'. And then promptly forgot about it. Then, several days later, I got an email reminding me that it was ending soon and since it was now about £62 I thought I'd better get myself in the game!

When I logged on there was about 20 minutes of the auction remaining, and since the photos were so good the only question I really had was how 'midsize' was 'midsize', actually? With such a short time remaining I opted to Google the part number and was unreliably informed that the watch was 38mm in diameter. You can see where this is going can't you?

Yep, you guessed it... it's not 38mm and not even close - it's 32mm. Way too small for me of course, but I didn't know that... and so I placed a bid of £147 and eventually won the watch for £120. I should have known, and I did have a niggling doubt - but I was optimistic, at least until the watch arrived.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice looking watch and the brown strap doesn't even bother me, in fact I think it goes perfectly with the cream dial and the gold links, and if it had in fact measured 38mm across the bezel then I would have been perfectly happy to pay £120 for it, in fact I would have been happy to pay double that... but, 32mm it is, and it looks very silly on my 7.3/4" wrist indeed.

Of course, the vendor doesn't accept returns, and they never disclosed a diameter so I'm stuck there and will have to try and sell it on myself. Part of me actually wants to keep it, but it's silly to keep something that I can't actually wear, I know £120 isn't a vast amount of money, but it's better spent on something I can actually wear and so I will be listing it very soon (because knowing my luck at the moment the battery will die before I can sell it!)

It has been nice to see it though, and it's really... I was going to say it's 'changed' my opinion, but that's not true - it's reinforced my belief that the strap versions of the S/ELs are actually quite cool. I'd prefer a bracelet everytime, but this looks a lot nicer than I thought it would - if only it were 37mm or more, I'd gladly wear it with pride!

I have a friend with a (just under) 7" wrist and this watch looks surprisingly good on him, I think this style lends itself to being undersized, just not this undersized when you have a 7.3/4" wrist. Oh well, I guess this is another one that gets put down to experience... I shouldn't think I'll lose too much on it, I might even break even - worst case scenario I'll keep it and give it to my wife!

This is a picture of the watch on my friend's wrist, I think it looks great... I just wish it looked like this on my wrist, but sadly it doesn't.

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera Bamford Basketball Special Edition

In theory, I don't have a problem with Bamford. The idea that you can pay to have your watch customised to your own tastes is fine by me and I don't really understand why it bothers some people so much. However, it seems like every few days I get exposed to some new Bamford special edition and while some of them are okay, for the most part they aren't exactly topping my wish lists.

And then there's this... thing. For once I can see why people are irritated, because this is HORRENDOUS!

Orange is a divisive kind of colour at the best of times, but this particular orange (along with that textured dial) is particularly noxious and it doesn't help that the lines on the face look like they've been drawn on with a stick. Then there's the day/date windows... what on Earth has gone on there? I imagine the original watch has an hour marker at the three position, but as they've taken them away the windows are left floating in the middle of the dial and look absolutely ridiculous.

Then there's the text at the bottom which seemingly applied randomly, completely ignoring where the black lines are... and again, it looks like they've designed this with the markers in place and then taken them off, leaving everything on the dial squashed into the middle for no apparent reason.

But what is perhaps most worrying/upsetting/enraging (delete as applicable) is that once this was drawn up, someone didn't look at it and say 'No'. Because somebody absolutely needed to say No! Taste is subjective, but this is not just a matter of taste, this is actually badly designed, and if it came up on eBay I'd probably report it as fake (if I didn't know better).

Five minutes of rudimentary photoshopping later and it still looks bad, but it looks better balanced!

Bamford have a great opportunity as TAGs bespoke design partner, but they need to get their act together. This is just plain awful, and it wouldn't hurt for them to widen their scope a bit as well. Why do they only seem to offer three basic models to customise?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer GMT v Tudor Black Bay GMT Review and Comparison by Goran Klintenheim

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Automatic Watch

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 6th November 2018

Not too very long ago I came across one of these on eBay, it looked quite good but the bezel was a bit battered and scratched, and in the end I decided not to bid on it. I think it ended up somewhere around the £400 mark, which means it was probably a bit of a bargain really, and I've kept it in mind ever since. So it was interesting to find one at the Bicester store today, and to be able to see one up close and in perfect condition.

The bezel is highly polished and is definitely a worry, I just can't see that lasting without a scratch on it for long, but then I guess that's something that Breitling owners have to live with... and it does look pretty cool. In contrast the rest of the case is totally brushed, as is the bracelet, save for some small polished inserts between the links. The watch is a little on the small side for me (I have a 7.3/4" wrist) but it's still slightly bigger than say a Kirium which I'll happily wear, so it wouldn't worry me unduly.

The clasp is a bit of a disappointment, it's a pressed clasp rather than a milled one and at this price level that's not really acceptable (it's not really acceptable on a Formula 1 either to be honest), but if you were minded to do so, it should be possible to switch it with a push button clasp from another model.

There's no mention of a Calibre marked on the watch, but a little Googling seems to confirm my assumption that there is a Calibre 5 inside the case. The watch is relatively thin, looks smart and understated on the wrist and would look great with a smart shirt and would fit easily under the cuff.

The thing that really sells this watch is the 'tapisserie' dial. If you like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak but you only have Aquaracer money then this could be the one for you. True, the texturing is a lot smaller here, which does give the watch an under the radar kind of vibe, but close up it certainly gives the watch a certain 'something' that you don't get from a flat dial, and I really liked it. Indeed, if this had been a 41mm I might well have been tempted to buy it - although the clasp remains a slight sticking point.

The watch has a RRP of £1750 and is currently on offer at the Bicester Village store for £1050, a substantial saving of 40%.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Aston Martin Special Edition Review by Watches on You

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'David Guetta' Calibre 7 GMT Watch

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 6th November 2018

I can hear some of you wincing from here, and to be honest before I tried this on I was 100% with you. But actually, it's not nearly as bad as I thought. Ever since I was a kid I always liked 'Bund' straps, though I've never owned one, and despite my wife making a distinctly queasy face while I was trying it on, I still like them. In fact when I took the 'Bund' part away to see how it would look on a regular strap, it looked distinctly diminished. However, the strap is a) only just long enough for my wrist, b) has got those weird rivet things and c) is a bit cheap and nasty. I'd keep the back piece, but I think I'd be on the lookout for a replacement strap if I was going to wear this myself.

Obviously there are design similarities with the Rolex GMT 'Batman', and for a lot of people that will be the appeal of this particular piece, and on the wrist the blue/black bezel looks great, much better than I thought it would. I'm not sure it works so well with the black case, but then I don't think a steel case would look as good with the 'Bund' strap... and besides you can actually get a blue/black bezel GMT in steel (without the strap) so that option is available if you want it.

I think the thing that will put most people off, and is indeed the one thing that I would definitely change, is the blue lumed hands and markers. I think it's a bit too much and they are a bit too heavy handed. We charged the lume in the shop and it did work, although as you'd expect not as bright as standard lume. I just think it looks a bit too blocky and clumsy for a watch in this price range.

Overall, I must admit I was surprised. I asked to try it on because I thought it was going to be awful and it would give me an easy target, but on the wrist it actually managed to change my mind somewhat. I mean, I'm not going to buy one myself, but at the same time I wouldn't now smirk if I saw one on someone's wrist. I like that it's different, and though I thought it would be a watch that would benefit from a nice rubber strap, in truth the 'Bund' part is definitely an important element of the overall design and I would stick with that.

The David Guetta Formula 1 GMT is currently available in the Bicester Village outlet at a price of £1400 (RRP £2000).