Thursday, 31 January 2019
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 1 / Classic Ladies Formula 1s
WV3010.EB0025
Parkers Jewellers / Sheffield, 26th January 2019
This is a watch I've seen plenty of times on eBay, but I don't think I'd ever seen one up-close before today, and I've certainly never had one on my wrist before. Supposedly it's a 44mm case but it didn't strike me as massively oversized, which is a little strange since I was wearing my new 2000 Exclusive which is only a 38mm and usually the watch you take off has a bearing on your perception of what you try on afterwards.
I have to say, this one looks pretty spectacular and the back is probably the nicest I've seen to date. Really this photograph doesn't do it justice, it is quite stunning!
I really like the simplicity of the face, which is countered nicely by the tapisserie section in the middle of the dial and the rubber strap is super flexible and I imagine really comfortable. Unfortunately I couldn't do this one up properly as it needed the strap making bigger (there was plenty of spare) and also the strap was fitted the wrong way round so the clasp was backwards - amazing how difficult that makes it to do up!
The crown is strangely narrow, which is odd considering this is a manual wind watch so the owner is going to be using it a lot, and as the watch has no rotor this is a little bit thinner than you'd probably expect it to be. Actually the hand winding wouldn't bother me too much because I only wear my automatics sporadically so I always have to wind them anyway.
WA1419 WA1411
Actually the Calibre 1 was just a lucky opportunity, the main reason for driving up to Sheffield was so that my wife could check out these two classic ladies Formula 1s. They were both the same price £295, which seems a bit nuts to me as I would have expected the one with the bracelet to be more expensive. I guess the full lume dial on the WA1411 has an appeal and it still works, although it's obviously not as bright as it once was. Personally I really liked the WA1419, and I thought for sure my wife was going to buy it, but in the end she decided not to.
The trip did give her some much needed clarity though, she now knows she definitely wants the ladies version (my 35mm is definitely too big for her tiny wrist, these 28mm versions suit her so much better) and she also knows that she wants a bracelet as opposed to the resin strap. I think this is definitely the right decision for her. I wanted mine on a strap because I wanted something akin to the 'first' TAG Heuer watch, as mine is less something to wear and more a part of my 'collection'. Oddly enough I've just noticed that the strap on my classic F1 is on backwards as well!
While she appreciated the condition of the white/blue piece, she's decided that she wants to hang on and see if she can get either the black/green or black/pink version on a bracelet - preferably with a replacement or mint bezel. She feels that because the bracelet is lacking the colour of some of the resin strap pieces she's seen, she needs to compensate with a bright highlight colour and I think that makes total sense.
Tuesday, 29 January 2019
FEATURE: The Rolex Steel Sports Situation
I don't, and I have never owned a Rolex. I don't think I ever will either to be perfectly honest... and the more I hear about them the less I think I would want to. But you can't be interested in luxury watches and not take a passing interest in the brand, and you have to admire the way they have elevated themselves right to the top of the watch tree, whether it's fully deserved or not.
So if you watch videos by the likes of CRM Jewellers and Archie Luxury or frequent watch forums you'll probably be aware of the shortage of steel sports watches that is afflicting the Rolex fan at the moment. I don't usually pay much attention to Rolex, but a few weeks ago I was passing Goldsmiths and looked in the window and noticed that it was true. There was a decent number of watches in the window, but almost every single one was two tone. I can't remember now if they even had one steel watch, they may have but it was something fairly unexciting like an Air King... they certainly didn't have any Submariners or Daytonas that's for damn sure!
And this is seemingly the case everywhere. I read a post the other day on a watch forum where a guy was in Heathrow airport and wandered into a Rolex boutique to kill some time. This guy had bought Rolexes in the past and making conversation with the salesman he established that they had a couple of different steel watches in their safe that he wanted to buy. Now, as you may or may not know, at the moment you can't just walk in to a shop and buy a (popular model) steel Rolex, at the very least you will need to be able to prove that you have bought from an AD previously.
So the first question was 'are you on our system?' It tuned out that he wasn't, which wasn't a good start. So they asked if he could prove that he had bought their product from an AD before. Given that he was in an airport this was a bit of an ask, but he phoned his wife and she managed to find a receipt and sent it through. This satisfied the salesman and he rang his manager who was off site at the time to get the okay to sell the watches. However, the manager refused to let him process the sale because 1) the customer still wasn't on their system already, and 2) they couldn't establish for certain that he was a big spender. Eventually the guy gave up and left after having wasted an hour of everybody's time.
Sure, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet, but this is by no means the first thing I've read from people left frustrated in their dealings with Rolex ADs. The thing is, I just don't get how this is helping Rolex. Okay so you cut production and create 'demand', but they seem to have taken it too far. What's the point of creating demand unless you are going to satisfy it at some point? And how is this good for the ADs? According to Roman Sharf of Luxury Bazaar, ADs have to buy a load of pieces they don't want to qualify for steel sports watches and they can't sell them over-list to their customers so instead they sell them on for +50% to a reseller, who then puts another 10-15% on the price and hence you get the ridiculous situation we are in now.
I can't help but think that if Rolex was a listed company (Rolex is actually a 'charity' believe it or not) this would not be allowed to happen. Why would shareholders put up with demand going unsupplied? All it's done is to artificially inflate the prices of pre-owned pieces, but again how does that help Rolex themselves? I don't get it. They are already by far the most famous and prestigious watch brand out there, how does making their watches more exclusive help them? Do they think that this will help them shift their two-tone and gold pieces? Because I really don't think it will.
Given that Rolex are actually a very secretive company, is it possible that there is some other undisclosed reason why this is happening? Rolex make a lot of their own components and even their own steel, so is it perhaps possible that there is some problem somewhere down the line that is causing this shortage, but in the absence of any word from Rolex people are just putting it down to the company 'cutting production'.
Maybe that's a long shot, but whatever the reason, surely this can't go on too much longer without the company risking a backlash of some sort. But then Rolex fanboys are a peculiar breed, it seems that far from being annoyed by the company's way of operating they just suck it up like some sort of collective masochism and accept it as the cost of being one of the chosen people entitled to own a Rolex.
I don't get it, and to be honest I don't get the watches either. So while I'm sure I would get short shrift in a Rolex AD, I'm not sorry. To be fair, I suppose the ADs are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They're short of stock and thus missing out on sales, which must be incredibly frustrating, no wonder they sell their stock on to the highest bidder. I've heard for instance that as a rule a Rolex AD will get an allocation of two steel Daytonas per year. Two. It's ridiculous! And yet, the ADs are terrified of losing their AD status. What a bizarre situation...
Kinda makes you glad you don't want one. At least I can get pretty much any TAG Heuer I want as long as I can afford it!
Monday, 28 January 2019
Sunday, 27 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Oxford Street' Limited Edition
CAR201F.FT6087
TAG Heuer Boutique / London, 5th January 2019
Technically I didn't have this 'on the wrist' (because my wife was tugging at me to go and get some lunch) but I did have it in my paws for a minute or two and I have to say this is one which definitely looks much better when you see it close up. Some watches don't come across well no matter how good the photographs seem, and this is definitely one of those watches.
I was a bit concerned that the red date wheel would look a bit 'plastic', but it actually looks better than I expected. It definitely looks great when you adjust the date and gives the skeletonized movement more depth than on my original Heuer 01 Carrera, and again I found myself wishing my watch had the Arabic numerals... maybe I really need to start saving for a Drive Timer for my 50th birthday?
I'm still not crazy about the text on the display back, as usual I would much prefer if TAG didn't obscure the movement when they've gone to all the trouble to fit a glass back, and if they must then I wish they had done it with a bit more style - maybe instead of the just 'London' in red text they could have done a simple skyline or something? But leaving that aside, the polished ceramic bezel looks great and that combined with the red date wheel definitely conjures up a significant 'WOW' factor, which probably explains why there aren't many of these left now (this 43mm piece was limited to just 100 and has sold very well apparently).
I must admit, while it didn't completely distract me from the carbon Carrera I'd tried on a few minutes earlier, this is a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Personally I'd pay the extra and take the blue carbon model myself, but I can see why this one is selling.
That said, it does seem a bit of a shame that it's so similar to the 'Tokyo' Carrera, I know there's some variety in the materials used, but at first sight you'd think it was the same watch. Still, there's only 100 of each so I guess it's not exactly a major problem, the chances of ever seeing either of them out of a boutique are pretty slim after all!
Saturday, 26 January 2019
Friday, 25 January 2019
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL Chronometer Certified Automatic Watch
WG5111-PO
This S/EL has been kicking around eBay for quite a while now, and it seems like the seller got tired of waiting for someone to buy it and put it up for auction. I did place a cheeky bid early in the proceedings but I pretty much knew that I wasn't going to get it for the amount I bid. In the end it sold for £445, which when you think about it isn't bad at all for a chronometer certified automatic in what looks like pretty excellent condition.
As ever, hindsight is a wonderful thing and looking at it now I must admit to feeling just a tiny bit of regret at not bidding again, but at the same time I was also bidding on a 2000 Multigraph and I didn't want to go too far and end up winning both! In the event I didn't win the Multigraph either, and actually after I placed my bid I noticed a rather annoying mark on the bezel so I wasn't entirely unhappy about that! Also, there is another S/EL on eBay at the moment, albeit a quartz piece, with a green face and I find that a little more intriguing. The only problem with that particular watch is that the bracelet is a little short for me and I will have to source several links to fit my 7.3/4" wrist (which I'm not overly enthused about), I did think about making a low offer on that, but as yet I haven't been moved to.
I'm probably slightly over-cautious about these three-hander S/ELs at the moment, largely due to my recent experience with the one on the leather strap that turned out to be just 32mm in diameter. But also I tend to think the S/ELs with chronographs look a bit better somehow, and if I was going to buy another S/EL my first choice would probably be something like the CG1110 I tried to buy last year...
But that said, this is a nice looking watch too. It's interesting to see a photograph of the movement, though I'm struggling to see the point of the gold plated rotor when there's no display back...
As usual, the more I look at these photos the more I think, why didn't I get this? I guess it's the curse of the collector, but in reality I can't just buy everything regardless of price, much as I'd like to. £445 seems like a reasonable price, but how much further could it have gone if I'd also got involved?
As ever it completely defeats me how TAG took the S/EL, one of the most characterful watches they've ever made and rejigged it into the rather bland 'Link' series. Admittedly the new Links are a different kettle of fish, but even they seem to be something of an afterthought in the range. They are also rather pricey, albeit the bracelets are no doubt quite expensive to manufacture. Interestingly, when I visited the factory last year I was told that one of the reasons the Kirium was discontinued was the excessive cost of manufacturing the excellent bracelet, in which each link is curved to produce a very comfortable fit...
If there's one thing I would criticise on this particular model, it's that the Arabic markers on these do look slightly off. I guess it's something you'd get used to, but they always strike me as a little out of place for some reason, especially here where there's only a '6' and a '9'. I think it's the font they've chosen, it just doesn't seem quite right somehow. Maybe that's why I tend towards the chronograph models instead?
As ever with these things, one door closes and another one opens. No doubt something else will pop up soon enough, and it's not as if I even have a 'budget' at the moment, I'm still wiped out from my recent double purchase! Indeed, my next buying experience could well be second hand, since my wife is looking at a classic, Formula 1 on a bracelet on eBay right now... we'll see how that plays out.
Thursday, 24 January 2019
Wednesday, 23 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Tourbillon Volant
Harrods / London, 5th January 2019
I'd like to point out that I don't make a habit of trying on watches that are way out of my price range, I feel like it's a bit unfair to waste people's time like that, in fact I can only think of three watches that I've tried on that are completely out of the realms of reality. The first was last year, I was in Selfridges and I was talking to the lady on the Audemars Piguet stand and she talked me into trying on the £22,000 Royal Oak Offshore 'Vampire'. That record stood for nearly a year until on the morning of the 5th of January I tried on the £33,000 Mikropendulum in the Oxford Street store - I wouldn't usually have done that either, but Evan was a nice guy and made my day with that one!
That same afternoon I was showing my wife the newly revamped watch room in Harrods (I'd seen it part renovated last year when I visited London with my friend Rich, but my wife hadn't been since they'd started doing it) and after she had finished drooling over the ceramic Black Magic Hublots, we nipped into Roger Dubuis for a gander at some dream watches.
On a previous visit we'd seen the 'King Arthur' watch, several tourbillons and double tourbillons and some watches that you could barely see for the diamonds covering every single facet of the surface! But I'd never tried one on, because... well, it doesn't feel particularly comfortable to me. In the same way that I don't feel comfortable taking photos of everything I strap to my wrist.
But we came to a desk where there was a lady standing, and in the cabinet in front of her there were a lot of the more 'affordable' pieces (actually, Roger Dubuis do make some much more affordable watches, although I don't really like them) and we got talking to the lady and she asked us if we knew the brand. I said I did from Watches TV and QP magazine, and she asked if I had ever considered buying one. Rather than laugh in her face and run out of the shop like the fraud that I am, I mumbled that 'no not really', and when she asked which other brands I liked I perpetuated my deceit by telling her I like 'Richard Mille' (which is true, after all!) and she then set about encouraging me to try on a watch.
So, rather than completely embarrass myself and ask her to go to the trouble of getting one of the (approximately 8x my annual salary) double tourbillons out of the wall cabinets behind us, I perused the cabinet in front of us and pointed to the Excalibur Spider Tourbillon. The watch was still wrapped in plastic, but the first thing I did notice was that the white rubber strap did look a little bit grubby... probably from oiks like my trying it on!
(I must point out at this juncture that I had made the schoolboy error of wearing a quartz 6000 series that morning, something which I was quite happy with until I had to take it off and place it in the watch tray in front of me. Mind you, chances are that if she didn't notice the TAG logo she might not have a clue what it was anyway!)
The rubber strap features a deployment clasp which when closed gives the impression of a pin and buckle fixing. I've never really understood the point of this, since a deployment is the preferred option for most and perceived as more expensive, so quite why you'd want a deployment clasp that looked like a cheaper option I don't know, although I know Roger Dubuis aren't the only ones who do this. Plus it means you've still got strap retainers to deal with, I'm sorry but I don't get it.
The watch itself is quite light, since it's made of titanium and it is slightly strange being able to see all the way through the watch, especially if you don't have a particularly sexy wrist (mine, for example, is quite hairy...). I must admit I don't really like that, it looks good off the wrist but not so good in situ.
I did like the colour scheme, the blue and white works so well together, but am I blown away by the tourbillon? I'm not sure, it's cool yeah, but it didn't give me that wow factor like the 1/100th of a second hand on the Mikropendulum did. It's a fair size watch at 45mm but it didn't feel massive on the wrist, certainly I would be happy to wear it, and it felt comparable to my Heuer 01 Carrera which is also 45mm. Also, despite the impression you might get from the photographs, the hands are actually quite legible.
I think the thing that wrong-footed me a little was the price. In trying this watch on I couldn't help but be aware that it costs £137,000 and while it is beautifully made and executed, I just can't really see the justification for it. But I don't necessarily think that's a criticism of Roger Dubuis to be fair, in all honesty I wonder if I had tried on a Richard Mille would I have felt any different? I guess I'm a realist at heart, and I don't actually think that I will ever really crave watches like this that are so beyond my means.
I think the best way to put it into words is that, while I could enjoy a £100,000 Ferrari and it would probably give me enjoyment that I'm never going to get out of a £15,000 Vauxhall Corsa, I don't think these hyper-watches can give me something that a £15,000 TAG Heuer tourbillon couldn't. Maybe that sounds like sour grapes from someone who's never going to be in a position to make that choice, but I don't really see it that way. Also, I can't imagine walking around with a watch like this on my wrist, it would be as stressful as hell, I was just glad I managed not to drop it while it was in my care!
Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Monday, 21 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer02 GMT
CBG2A1Z.FT6157
Selfridges / Oxford Street, London, 5th January 2019
Leaving aside the slightly shoddy service I received in Selfridges, which I already mentioned in my 'London' post a couple of weeks ago, I'm still quite surprised just how long it has taken for this to reach the UK. The watch was one of the talking points of Baselworld 2018 (which took place last March) and yet it's taken until January for it to arrive here. Even more astonishing since it has apparently been on sale in Sweden since last September, and I thought the UK was a prime market for TAG Heuer?
Selfridges actually had both the rubber strap and bracelet versions of the watch on display, but as ever with the 'modular' Carreras, I find the lugs don't work so well with the bracelets as while the rubber strap joins seamlessly to create a fluid transformation to the case the bracelets form a rather cumbersome looking step.
CBG2A1Z.BA0658
But you pays your money and you takes your choice, and actually it's fairly unusual for me to choose a rubber strap over a bracelet these days. Two years ago I was mad for anything with a rubber strap, but I've definitely changed my views on that with most watches. Not with this one though and so I chose the FT6157 to have a look at.
At 45mm this is a sizeable watch and it looks it too. I'm used to my own 45mm Carrera but I think this appears slightly bigger, which is probably because the case is steel rather than black PVD coated titanium. Actually I'm pretty sure the man in Selfridges told me this was titanium, but it isn't. He also told me it was 43mm, and again... it isn't.
This one looks a little different close-up than it does in the photographs, I can't quite put my finger on what exactly looks different, I guess maybe the blue of the bezel looks darker than I expected... and one minor detail that is different from just about every single photo that I've seen is that TAG have replaced the text 'GMT' with the words 'Twin Time'. I really don't know what the reasoning behind this is, because the watch is listed on their website as the TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 GMT. Also, everyone refers to it as the 'GMT' and personally I think the GMT text looked a bit neater as well, but in the end it's a tiny detail which doesn't sway my opinion of the watch as a whole.
This is a watch that I thought was a probably contender for my next 'big' purchase, but I have to say on the wrist it didn't make me want to max out my credit card there and then. I don't know whether it's because I've just sent my Grand Carrera GMT to Watchfinder and so I'm slightly down on GMTs...? As a complication it's true that I have zero use for one as I travel abroad about as often as Mars goes round the sun... two or three times, and even when I did go abroad I took my Heuer 01 instead!
But I don't necessarily think it's that. Maybe I just don't like the black/blue bezel combination as much as I thought I did? I always thought the Rolex 'Batman' looked quite nice, but I was less impressed with the David Guetta Formula 1 bezel. At the time I put that down to the materials used in an entry level watch but now I'm not so sure and I also think that blue sub-dial ring just reminds me that I'd rather have the carbon Carrera instead...
The TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 GMT is £4900 on a bracelet and £4800 on the rubber, and if it isn't already in your local AD I would imagine it will be soon, just don't ask for the 'Twin Time' Carrera because they probably won't know what you're talking about!
Sunday, 20 January 2019
Saturday, 19 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Mikropendulum
CAR2B83.FC6339
TAG Heuer Boutique / Oxford Street, 5th January 2019
In all honesty I never thought I'd get closer to a TAG Heuer Mikropendulum than peering at it through the glass in the TAG Museum. That in itself was a tremendous privilege, but when the opportunity to actually handle this £33,000 masterpiece presented itself, well I wasn't going to pass it up. As I said when I reviewed the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Tourbillon, I don't make a habit of trying on watches that I can't afford to buy, but in this instance I felt a little more comfortable since I had already struck up a rapport with Evan in the Oxford St boutique and he was kind enough to spend the time to show me the piece without casting aspersions on my ability to purchase!
Despite the fact that I'll probably never be able to afford a V4 Tourbillon or (whisper it) a Mikrotimer Flying 1000 (if you can even buy those?) I've always loved the idea that they exist. While I can understand Mr Biver's desire to focus the brand on the defined 'entry-level' luxury market that makes up the vast majority of their sales, I do think it's a shame that they've turned away from the challenge of creating Haute Horlogerie pieces* (and seemingly shifted that responsibility to the Zenith arm of LVMH). But still, at least we can enjoy the watches that are already out there, and I certainly enjoyed this one for the brief time I had it on my wrist.
*Maybe not, since in the last few days TAG Heuer have released the Carrera Nanograph!
The Mikropendulum features a 45mm brushed titanium case, and while it is quite large it doesn't feel particularly ungainly on the wrist. Truth be told I assumed it was a 43mm and only realised otherwise when I just fact checked myself while writing this post. In the wrist shot below the crown looks like it sticks out quite a lot but it didn't bother me at all, admittedly I only wore the watch for a brief period, but I doubt anyone would wear this for any extended period of time and certainly not to do anything particularly active, so I can't see it being a major issue. It's probably no different than a modern 'modular' Carrera crown to be honest (and on closer inspection it actually looks like the crown might have been pulled out when the pictures were taken anyway).
So how does it work? Well the short answer is 'the chronograph is regulated by magnets'... the long answer is: In 2010 TAG Heuer created the 'Pendulum' concept watch (you may have come across various terrible fakes based on this on eBay) which was the first movement to be regulated by magnets instead of a traditional hairspring. However, TAG encountered problems with the concept because variations in temperature affected the magnets and consequently the watches' accuracy.
Undeterred, TAG Heuer continued to work on the problem for a further three years, testing different materials and geometries resulting in a magnet-driven spiral that moves the balance wheel at a low amplitude and a high frequency thus ensuring stability and accuracy. Like all Mikro creations it is a dual chain platform with a balance wheel system for the watch (operating at 4Hz and with a 42 hour power reserve), and a magnetic pendulum system for the chronograph (50Hz with a 90 minute power reserve). The crown winds the chronograph (and there is a power reserve display on the dial at the 12 position), while the movement itself is powered by a classic COSC certified oscilating weight.
So presumably then, since the crown only powers the chronograph, you have to do the 'Seiko-shuffle' to wind the main movement, and it still doesn't explain how they've managed to put magnets into a watch without it adversely affecting the rest of the movement. Maybe it's a trade secret?
In total there are 371 components in the Mikropendulum.
For further reading on the Mikropendulum, please visit the Calibre 11 article below:
https://www.calibre11.com/tag-heuer-carrera-mikropendulum/
Friday, 18 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Grand Carrera Chronograph
CAV511B.FC6225
TAG Heuer Boutique / York, 21st July 2018
Here's a post that got lost in the shuffle, and typical that I should find it again when I have plenty of things to write about! Nevertheless, it's worth revisiting especially in the light of my recent disposal of my own Grand Carrera GMT. Essentially this is the same as the black dial variant that I've tried on several times and I'm still weighing up as a possible future purchase. So while I was visiting the York boutique (this was the same day that I drove up to Wakefield to pick up my wife's Alter Ego) I noticed this one lurking in the cabinet and it struck me that I'd never seen it before and thought I'd give it a go.
43mm in diameter and 14.9mm thick, the Grand Carrera is a sizeable watch, but wears quite well on the wrist and doesn't really seem as thick as it is. If I was to pull the trigger on a GC Chrono I'm very unlikely to buy it on a strap, but the strap was quite a good one and it's nice to see a deployment clasp fitted which makes it so much easier to take the watch off and on. But let's cut to the chase, what this try-on was all about was the white dial and, in all honesty, though I really wanted to like it, I have to say that the black dial is much more attractive to look at. When you see macro shots of the dial it does look fantastic, but the one thing that's missing is the contrast you get when you put those milled and polished surfaces against a darker surface.
Admittedly I'm not a great lover of white dials, I only have one in my collection, but as you can see from the pictures here the dial is a bit of a whitewash. To be fair in reality it is perfectly legible, but somehow it doesn't come over as well as the black, brown and (Japan only) blue versions. I'm not entirely sure the strap helps it any in this regard either, it does provide some contrast I suppose but seems to make the dial even more bland than it already is. I can't help but think this one would have benefited somewhat from a coloured logo, maybe not the traditional red and green, but certainly a darker colour, something, anything to give it a bit of contrast really... even just black would have been better than yet more silver to be honest.
Finding this post again has reminded my how much I like the Grand Carrera chronographs, but I'm still wary of investing my money into one. I really wish I hadn't made the mistake of buying the GMT, but it's done now and at least I've come out of the deal with two nice watches (well one nice watch so far, as the other one is probably going to be another couple of weeks before the chronograph function is mended).
Anyway, time is a great healer and I'm sure it won't be too long before I'm sniffing around the Grand Carreras once again, I'm sure if one of those 300 blue dial Japanese limited editions turned up it would focus the mind somewhat. No doubt that will happen right after I've blown my budget on something else...
Thursday, 17 January 2019
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T Nanograph Tourbillon
CAR5A8K.FT6172
When Mr Jean Claude Biver took over at the helm of TAG Heuer, one of the things he did was refocus the brand in the £1000-£15,000 (entry level luxury) price range and in the process curtailed the extravagances of the Haute Horlogerie department. This, unfortunately, brought an end to the launch of new innovative pieces like the Monaco V4 and the various Mikro- product ranges. To be fair, Mr Biver drastically reduced the entry price for the purchase of a Swiss-made tourbillon and thus brought high-end watchmaking to the masses (relatively speaking) and in the process turned TAG Heuer into the largest producer of tourbillons in Switzerland almost overnight. But despite that, for many fans of the brand the lack of new complicated pieces was something of a disappointment.
It would be wrong to presume though that there is a connection between the appointment of Stephane Bianchi and the announcement of the Nanograph. Clearly the Nanograph hasn't been created since last November and as I understand it Mr Biver is still very much in the picture, albeit taking a less 'hands-on' role because of ongoing health issues and inevitable entropy. Besides, while this piece represents a significant step forward for the brand (TAG Heuer becoming one of only a very few brands capable of producing their own hairsprings) it is perhaps not quite as revolutionary as pieces such as the Monaco V4 and the Mikropendulum. Nonetheless, the use of carbon nanotubes to manufacture a hairspring is a significant achievement and it's nice to see the brand pushing the envelope again, hopefully we will see more in this vein in the future.
2) The carbon-composite hairspring is produced with the collet already attached, usually this small component which is required to attach the hairspring to the balance wheel axis requires complicated assembly and opens the door to further inaccuracy.
3) The carbon-composite hairspring is completely antimagnetic, which eliminates the issue of inaccuracy that can result from the watch coming into contact with a magnetic source.
4) Perfect concentruc oscillations are made possible thanks to the carbon-composite hairspring's geometry and improve the precision of the watch.
5) Optimal thermal behaviour and aeroelasticity have been achieved by pairing the carbon-composite hairspring with an aluminium alloy balance wheel.
Impressive stuff!
Furthermore, in a nod to haute horlogerie pieces of the past like the Flying 1000, TAG has decorated the watch with a bright neon green colour and also used white gold inserts in the aluminium alloy balance wheel, not to mention the company has gone to town with the hexagon/honeycomb theme, even going as far as extending it to the rotor (which is visible through the sapphire display back).
Personally, with the hexagon theme, the carbon bezel and lugs and the splashes of yellow I think the watch looks absolutely fantastic, and I'm sure I'm not the only person thinking to themselves 'why didn't the Aston Martin Carrera look like this?' Well, as I've said before, it's one thing to put acid colours on a quartz Formula 1 costing £1500 or so, but a little more risky to decorate a mass market £5,250 Carrera, and let's face it, if they had done that, then this $25,500 masterpiece wouldn't have nearly the visual impact it does, would it?
The piece also comes in this rather stylish box which incorporates a watch winder, and appears to have a wedge shaped 'foot' underneath the front edge to facilitate the opening of the front. Clearly this is way out of my budget, but it's definitely one to put on the 'lottery-win' dream list, right next to the Monaco V4, the Mikropendulum and my personal favourite, the Flying 1000. Actually I suppose you could look at this as an affordable alternative to the Flying 1000, giving you some of that watch's looks for a fraction of the price (albeit without that piece's super high-end complication).
I think it's important that TAG Heuer get back to making watches like this (and higher end still), sure most of us will never be able to afford them, but brands need that trickle down effect that products like this deliver, especially when they are trying to capture the mass market and satisfy the needs of the more 'educated' watch enthusiast.
Wednesday, 16 January 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer 2018 Max Verstappen Formula 1 Quartz
CAZ101U.BA0843
Like most people I suspect, I've never gotten to see either of the first two Max Verstappen Formula 1 watches close up. The first one being a limited edition and with Max clearly a superstar in the making, I think it pretty much sold out before they had a chance to get into stores and the second one (while a special edition rather than a limited) never made it to any store I saw either. Which is a shame actually, because judging by the pictures they were fun, colourful pieces that kind of bring to mind those original resin cased Formula 1s from the 1980s.
Of the two, I think if I had to choose I would take the original 2016 model with the orange strap, if only because the orange seems to sit a little better with the dark blue bezel and dial. But now TAG has produced a third Max Verstappen Formula 1 and with Max's design input (apparently) they've taken the watch in a new direction... and I'm not sure it's the right one.
I mean, I guess we should give them props for not just bringing out an identi-kit Formula 1 watch with maybe a yellow strap this time (although that would probably have looked pretty cool with the blue bezel, but maybe steps on Aston Martin's toes a little), but for me the use of the ceramic bracelet is somewhat bizarre, it just doesn't go with the dial for me. And while we're on the subject of the dial, I have a few issues with that as well, not least that stripe.
I know this isn't the first F1 with that very thin stripe (see the James Hunt model) but I really, really dislike it. I'd much rather they'd made it thicker like on the CAZ101H 'Fangio' Formula 1, that would have been a good start... but I also have to take issue with the hands, they are very red and very shiny. Too shiny... so they look cheap and plasticy. I'm sure they are the hands from the 'Senna' Formula 1 (the one with the red and black rubber strap), but they seem to work better on that watch somehow. The rest of the dial is okay, although that red is very dark and looks a bit wrong with the black background, and there's an awful lot of it. Everyone loves a red highlight on a watch, which is why TAG make so many watches with little bits of red here and there, but here it's applied rather too enthusiastically, let's say!
Judging by the overall look I'm not really sure that asking Max to give his input was the best option. True I suppose by doing that you are getting something more personal to Max, but at the same time if this watch demonstrates anything, it's probably that it's really not all that easy to design a watch! Even when you're largely using previously available parts...
I have a feeling it would look better on a rubber strap if I'm honest, I think if you take away the ceramic bracelet then you take away the pretensions of grandeur and the watch goes back to being a fun piece (and in the process you get rid of the crappy pressed clasp as well). I still don't think that would be enough to convince me because I really can't deal with that skinny stripe.
To be fair if you like the watch in pictures you're unlikely to be disappointed by the real thing as this is another piece that looks better in person than in print. As you'd expect (clasp aside) the watch feels substantial and well made, and I don't have any problems with the bracelet other than that it has no business being attached to this watch, in fact maybe this would be a good bracelet to match with the Aston Martin Formula 1?
I think that looks pretty good actually, maybe TAG should ask me to design a watch... hahaha.
This one is again listed as a 'special edition' rather than a limited edition, but supposedly there are only 1300 being made. This makes sense, since presumably there will be another 'Max' watch at the end of 2019 so they really need to shift 100 a month to make sure they're all gone before then. Hopefully Max will be a little less hands on next time though, as he doesn't seem to have the talent for watch design that he clearly has for driving!
Tuesday, 15 January 2019
BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer General Catalogue 1991 (+ 97/98 Price Lists)
Another fine addition to my growing collection, the 1991 general catalogue is a very thick booklet that has index tabs down the right hand side for ease of access. Really this one strikes more like a 'dealer catalogue' than a consumer catalogue, there's even a piece of paper slipped into the back cover showing which pieces in the catalogue are not sold in the UK!
Each indexed section of the catalogue starts with a large scale rendering with a schematic highlighting the selling points of each watch range. The one for the 4000 Series is interesting as it clearly shows that the bezel should be lumed - I have never seen that before.
Each section presents a variety of pieces in the range, I was also sent some random price lists which do not actually relate to the 1991 catalogue at all - but I'm still happy to receive them!
This sheet details models which are featured in the catalogue but which are not for sale in the UK, only one of the four watches below was actually available in the UK at the time.
No doubt that this catalogue is well thumbed, and there is one page which is torn (thankfully nobody has plastered it with Sellotape as this is never a good move), but it's still a fantastic buy. This one I picked up from eBay for £20, and while the seller did not point out that one page was ripped I still feel like it was value for money. Definitely a great addition to my collection!