VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 Reveiw by WatchBox Studios

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 360 18K Rose Gold Limited Edition

CV5041.FC8164

I'm encountering a bit of a lull in being able to find video content for some reason, I guess it ebbs and flows but there have been times when I had 20-30 videos in the queue, right now I've got nothing. So you might find my posts become every other day for a while until people start uploading videos a bit more frequently. Thankfully Baselworld is just around the corner so that should prompt some movement!

Anyway, so I just had my refund confirmed from my ill fated Searacer purchase. Obviously I was straight on eBay, and failing to find anything particularly interesting my next port of call was Watchfinder. Nothing in my price range particularly grabbed me there either, but I did come across this rather tasty morsel.

There's something vaguely Ulysse Nardinish about this watch, it looks like the ideal piece to wear when sitting on a nice big shiny yacht, albeit with a water resistance rating of just 30M it's entirely unsuitable for anything remotely water-adjacent! Not that you'd want to get that strap wet anyway, and while we're on the subject of the strap - well, long term readers will know that I'm not overly keen on brown straps, but with rose gold pieces I have to say that I find them entirely appropriate!

There were just 500 of these made, which makes it something of a rarity, and it also contains one of the rarest TAG Heuer movements, the Calibre 360. This was TAG's first attempt at in-house manufacturing, albeit it was more a case of modifying an existing movement than starting from scratch. But still, there aren't many ways you can own a Calibre 360 and it's an important piece of TAG Heuer history. You can read more about the Calibre 360 on Calibre 11 (CLICK HERE)

I've never seen a TAG Heuer box that looks like this either... very nice!

It seems the Carrera Calibre 360 was intended to be released in stainless, rose gold and black PVD, but according to David's article it looks like the PVD was released as a limited edition of 10 pieces and the rose gold 500 pieces, but the stainless never made it into production. It's a bit of a shame as it would have made it a lot more affordable, but I guess it only adds to the exclusivity.

At 41mm this is the perfect size for my wrist, but unfortunately (if not entirely surprisingly) this one is a bit out of my price range. I don't know what the original list price was*, but this one is currently available through Watchfinder at an asking price of £8925.

Wow, that's a lot of money, but then it is 18K Rose Gold so you can't really expect a bargain. As much as I like it, I still think if I had £9,000 in my pocket I'd probably take the new Carbon Carrera and save the balance.

Would you sell your CV5041 through 'Cash Converters'???

Intriguingly, while trying (and failing) to find the original list price, I came across a CV5041 on 'Cash Converters' website for £4995. I can't quite comprehend how a high end, solid gold, limited edition TAG Heuer ends up on Cash Converters website... but maybe I need to check that site a little more regularly in future! Sadly the watch has already been sold which at that price isn't really surprising, especially as this one had been serviced by TAG Heuer as well!

*Now had it confirmed that the original list price was £18,000...... WOW!

VIDEO: Changing the Battery on a TAG Heuer 2000 by Avg Joe Watch Reviews

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 02T Tourbillon Limited Edition

CAR5A97.FS6463

TAG Heuer Boutique / Sheffield, 26th January 2019

I was led to believe that this limited edition tourbillon (and the orange lume variant) were only for the German market, so I was more than a little surprised to find this one in the distinctly un-German city of Sheffield a few weeks ago! Indeed, such was my excitement that the other two watches I was looking at (the Rose Gold Carbon Aquaracer and the Alec Monopoly Carrera) rather paled in comparison...

Distinctly 'Bamford-esque' in design, this Carrera is a real stunner and answers the question that literally nobody was asking: 'What would I buy if £17,000 fell into my lap?' quite conclusively. Sure the blue isn't going to be to everyone's taste and you could make a case for a plainer finish, but I really liked it. Yes, it's possible that it might get 'old', and I would want to know if replacement straps would be available before comitting to purchase (this piece is limited to just 50 and I've seen enough limited edition Grand Carreras with the wrong colour stitching on the strap to know that replacements with the blue stitching are probably not going to be easy to come by), but leaving that aside... like the carbon Carrera I tried on at the start of January, this was another one I really didn't want to take off.

Admittedly I haven't seen both versions in the flesh, but judging from the pictures I definitely prefer the blue. Orange is a difficult colour to get right and it seems it works best when applied in small doses - on the tip of a second hand for example, but still, I'm sure the orange model will have it's fans.

Cased in matt ceramic, this one also features a matt ceramic bezel and a very, very nice strap which prompted me to ponder the possibility of getting something similar for my own Heuer 01. Again, this one is 45mm and while it is big, it fits perfectly on my 7.3/4" wrist. As with all these 45mm modular Carreras, the fitted strap goes a long way to making the watch fit comfortably and look 'right'. Incidentally, if you have a smaller wrist I would certainly suggest you take a Carrera with a rubber or leather strap over a bracelet as they definitely smooth out some of the watches' bulk.

It's nice to try pieces like this on, even if it's way out of my budget. I guess if I sold all 18 of my watches I could get somewhere near being able to buy this one... well, actually not that near thinking about it! But would I want to put all of my eggs in one 'blue-lumed' basket? I don't think so. I don't think this is likely to be an 'only watch' for anyone really. It's very cool and I really like it, but it's hardly suitable for every occasion.

It is gloriously bold though, and once again TAG Heuer shows why it is the market leader in affordable luxury pieces, I just wish you get this at a more affordable price without the tourbillon.

VIDEO: On the Bench - The Zombie Heuer Autavia by Grand Central Watch

SPOTLIGHT ON: New Arrivals at the TAG Heuer Bicester Village Outlet

I really wasn't expecting to bring you the next update so soon, but Bicester just got a large shipment of watches in. Don't forget to give them a ring if there's something specific you are after, stock can be extremely limited and I wouldn't want you to have a wasted journey. Their number is 01869 249008.

CAF1010.FT8011 -  Aquaracer Chronotimer

List Price £1450   Bicester Price £945

CAR2013.BA0799  - Carrera Calibre 1887

List Price £3950   Bicester Price - £2765

CAT2010.BA0952 - Link Calibre 16

List Price £3700   Bicester Price £2590

CAU111D.FT6024 - Formula 1 Quartz

List Price £1350   Bicester Price £945

CAZ1111.BA0878 - Formula 1 Quartz

List Price £1650   Bicester Price £1155

CJ1111.BA0576 - Link Quartz

List Price £2450   Bicester Price £1595

CJF1311.FC6190 - Link Ladies Quartz Chronograph

List Price £1700   Bicester Price £1190

CJF1314.BA0580 - Link Ladies Quartz Chronograph

List Price £4650   Bicester Price £3025

WAE1114.FT6011 - Golf Ladies Quartz

List Price £1650   Bicester Price £1155

WAH1110.BA0858 - Formula 1 Quartz

List Price £950   Bicester Price £650

WAH1210.BA0859 - Formula 1 Ladies Ceramic Quartz

List Price £1155   Bicester Price £805

WAH1213.BA0861 - Formula 1 Ladies Quartz

List Price £1900   Bicester Price £1330

WAK2111.BA0830 - Aquaracer Calibre 5

List Price £2300   Bicester Price £1495

WAT1314.BA0956 - Link Ladies Quartz

List Price £1350   Bicester Price £945

WAT1350.BB0957 - Link Ladies Quartz Two Tone

List Price £3950   Bicester Price £2765

WAT1417.BA0954 - Link Ladies Quartz

List Price £1950   Bicester Price £1365

WAT1440.BG0959 - Link Ladies Quartz Gold

List Price £17600   Bicester Price £12320

WAU1114.BA0858 - Formula 1 Quartz

List Price £950   Bicester Price £665

WAU2210.BA0859 - Ladies Automatic Ceramic

List Price £2750   Bicester Price £1925

WAY1313.BA0915 - Aquaracer Ladies Quartz

List Price £1750   Bicester Price £1225

WAZ2113.BA0875 - Formula 1 Calibre 5

List Price £1400   Bicester Price £980

WV1440.FC8181 - Carrera Ladies Quartz Gold

List Price £7100   Bicester Price £4620

WAP2014.BA0830 - Aquaracer Calibre 5

List Price £2000   Bicester Price £1300

That's it for now, more info as and when I receive it!

NOT BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Link 'Searacer' Regatta Chronograph

CT1113.BA0550

This is a disappointing tale... I wasn't going to buy anything else for a while, I was going to be good and save for something special. But you know how it is, you start looking on eBay and something catches your eye, the price looks good, maybe a little too good... 

This one was bidding at less than £300, albeit it hadn't hit its reserve price, and it had a buy it now of £495. Checking around I could see this going for over £495, in fact I could see it going up around £600 (if not more) and I knew that as soon as someone hit the reserve the buy it now price would disappear. The price climbed up to £319 and still hadn't hit the reserve and I figured £495 was a good price, sure it might go for less, but £495 was a good price and I didn't want to lose this one - so I took it. 

But before I did I contacted the seller to establish that everything worked okay and that he had all the extra links for the bracelet. This was important because in the picture it was clear that the owner had a very small wrist - indeed I couldn't even get this over my hand when it arrived.

So two days later I get my post and there it is. The box and barrel case were in excellent shape, and the watch itself... well, it wasn't pristine, it had clearly been well worn, but the glass was scratch free.  I figured I'd be quite happy to spend a little more to send it off for polishing and have it looking perfect again.

The watch felt great, I've always had a not so great feeling about Links in general, but this one looked and felt great. It's a nice size and weight, it's certainly not light and feels quite chunky. Obviously I couldn't get it on my wrist, but I was surprised how substantial it felt actually. I really loved the dial, it really is pretty damned cool and the Regatta function itself is pretty badass too. Not that I would ever have a use for it of course, but really... who cares about that?

The booklet that came with the watch wasn't overly helpful it must be said, and looking on the internet for assistance didn't produce much of worth. But after I played with it a bit I figured it out, and the Regatta function did seem to work just fine. The function is a countdown of ten minutes which then initiates the chronograph to time your race, pretty clever stuff... except when you revert back to chrono mode the hands didn't reset to 12 like they should.

So I figured, okay, I've been here before... watches in the post get dropped, so I pulled out the crown to reset the chrono. Well I got the second hand to reset but that was it, heaven knows how you're supposed to reset the other hand. I contacted the seller, but he had no idea how the watch worked, he'd never used it other than as a time telling tool, so that was a dead end.

And then I noticed something else, that being that the 1/10th of a second hand had not moved once since I'd picked the watch out of the box. Clearly something was awry. My Kirium chrono was all over the place when I got it, with every hand knocked off centre, but the 1/10th subdial still moved, this one was stuck at 4. I checked the photos on the auction and sure enough the 1/10th hand was stuck at 4. 

This was enough for me to call time. The seller offered me a £100 discount, but I didn't think it was worth letting myself in for a potentially big bill. Being quartz there's every chance it would need the movement replacing, so I figured that even though it was tempting, it was a bad idea. It's such a shame as well because I really liked the watch, and I kinda want to hunt another one down - preferably in a lot better condition and working properly, obviously. I know it will cost more money, but I think it will be worth it, this is a very cool looking watch.

My only slight niggle is the bracelet, I can't comment on the comfort as I couldn't try it on, but Links are notoriously comfortable. What I didn't like so much was that the first two links are one size and then it jumps down to a smaller size link for the rest of the bracelet, which I thought looked a bit weak. I realise it would have cost more to make, but it would be nice if there was more of a gradual taper to the bracelet. Not a deal breaker, I'm sure I would have gotten used to it. Just an observation really.

Wristshot taken on my friend Rich's wrist (6.1/2")

Sadly the watch has been returned now, so I'll have to start looking for a replacement. No rush though, I need to rebuild my TAG fund a little. I do think I'm done with buying the cheaper, older models now though. I've got a good selection of interesting older pieces, I think now it's time to be more selective and get some higher quality pieces into the collection. Interestingly EST1897 have one of these for £995, which bears out my opinion that this was a great price - but only if it had worked properly, what a shame it didn't.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300M Calibre 5 Watch by Nick Shabazz

OWNED: TAG Heuer 4000 Series Quartz Watch

WF1111-0

In a recent post I mentioned that I thought my 4000 Series was 'nothing special'. It's truthfully not the first watch I would grab in the event of a fire, and if I put all my watches in line from best to least best, it would probably be in the bottom two. But having said that, I think it's more of a reflection on the state of my collection now rather than my feelings about the 4000 itself. Right now I have no intention of selling any of my watches, the only one I didn't get on with recently was my Grand Carrera GMT and that one's gone, so while the 4000 is definitely down the bottom end, I still like it a lot.

Admittedly my particular 4000 does have issues. The bezel has been fixed in place, I presume the previous owner got sick of the bezel spinning round (as they often tend to do) and on the 4000 this is all the more annoying because of the split logo. So while it's not ideal, I am not particularly bothered by it as I'd rather it was fixed than spinning around. Clearly sticking it down with mastic wasn't the answer, but that's how it is and I see no real need to spend a load of money sorting it out. Thankfully they made a decent job of it and it's fixed in exactly the right place, so I'm sanguine about it.

The other thing is that the lume has patinated quite a lot and in some lights it's quite hard to see the time. In other light, the lume still looks green and it looks great against the dark grey dial. In some ways it's probably a better bet to buy a white dial 4000 these days, since if the lume does darken at least you'll still get the contrast, but having said that I do think the dark grey dial looks quite classy in comparison. The TAG Heuer logo on the dial is also quite hard to read, but then again when you already have a big green and red logo on the case/bezel, its probably for the best!

I got a catalogue recently which showed 4000 Series models with lume on the bezel, this was something I was never aware of before and I really don't know if mine ever had a lumed bezel or not. It's possible, there are certainly places on the bezel where the lume could have been placed, but I think the same bezels were used regardless.

The bracelet on mine is nice, I've seen some of these stretched really badly, but mine is very tight. It has a rather unique design in that the centre link is concave and the (solid) end links are quite unusual as well in that they are quite large and feature a 'male' connection to the rest of the bracelet. This of course is because of the design on the top link which is shaped to fit around the bulge in the case where the logo sits. Speaking of which, as you've probably noticed the green paint has come off the 'TAG' part of the logo, this is not at all unusual, indeed if you can find one that's intact you're doing well. I've thought about repainting it myself, but I fear it would end up looking a mess so I've left it alone. I have seen one or two that have been repainted and they don't look quite right. I think it would be difficult to get the right shade of green that wasn't too matt or too shiny.

The clasp is nothing special, it has a pressed steel fastening, but it does have 4 adjustment holes which is something the higher end clasps lack. I get that it's a bit of a 'workmanlike' solution, but the fact is it works well and when you don't have any micro adjustment it can be a pain in the backside.

The watch is quite thin, I'm reading it as about 10mm, and mine is 37mm in diameter. If you're buying from eBay or the like you need to be careful as there are lots of smaller 4000s about which can look like full size models in photographs. Prices are up and down, I got mine for £375 I think it was... no, it was listed at that, I actually got it for £325, which is even better considering I've seen these well over £400, which is a bit much honestly.

On the grey dial version, the date does stand out quite a lot and maybe some people would prefer it if the date wheel was the same colour as the dial. On some watches I would agree, but here I think it looks better, just because there's so little contrast on display here that I think the date would be all but invisible if it were white on grey.

In conclusion, this isn't the most special of special watches. But I enjoy wearing it day to day and it seems to work just fine. It does have a few marks and light scratches but overall it's in very good condition and the bracelet in particular seems incredibly good. I've also just noticed that the watch has drilled lugs for easy strap changes, I can't think of many TAGs that have that aside from the Kirium.

If you can find one for a decent price then I say go for it, particularly the quartz models, but I wouldn't get drawn into over paying. It's a nice watch, but it probably won't set your pulse racing. I think the way to look at it is as an affordable piece that you can wear as a beater or a day to day watch, it's nice without being flash which might be a positive if you work in a conservative industry. I won't be selling mine, but I might consider picking up another one in the future, but only if the price is right!

VIDEO: Over the Shoulder - TAG Heuer Vintage by Oliver Smith Jeweller

SPOTLIGHT ON: New Arrivals at the TAG Heuer Bicester Village Outlet

This watch collecting lark can be a very expensive hobby and everyone loves a bargain, but even those of us who live relatively close to Bicester Village can't go in every week and see what's new. So, to make life easier, periodically I will be posting updates from the store about what new stock they have available. This will give you the opportunity to score yourself a bargain, but do make sure you contact the store before you make a long journey as some of the stock is extremely limited and it would be a shame for you to have a wasted journey. The staff in the Bicester store are fantastic, friendly and helpful and you can reach them on 01869 249008, so if you see something you like give them a ring!

I'm not going to review the watches or comment on them here, I'll wait until I've visited the store again myself to do that, for now I just want to show you what's available and the prices you can expect to pay. Anyway, there's quite a lot to get through, so let's crack on...

WAR5011.BA0723 - Carrera Calibre 8 GMT

List Price: £3300   Bicester Price: £2310

WV211N.BA0787 - Carrera Calibre 5 with Tapisserie Dial

List Price: £2400   Bicester Price: £1680

CV5111.FC6335 - Carrera Calibre 17

List Price: £4600   Bicester Price: £3220

WAC1218.BC0847 - Formula 1 Ladies Diamond Bezel

List Price: £2550   Bicester Price: £1660

WAC1215,BC0844 Formula 1 Ladies Diamond Bezel

List Price: £2550   Bicester Price: £1660

WAC1216.BC0841 - Formula 1 Maria Sharapova Limited Edition

List Price: £2400   Bicester Price £1565

WAH1218.BA0861 - Formula 1 Ladies Diamond Bezel

List Price: £2750   Bicester Price £1925

WAC1215.BA0852 - Formula 1 Ladies Diamond Bezel

List Price: £2600   Bicester Price: £1690

WAH1216.BA0859 - Formula 1 Ladies Diamond Bezel

List Price: £2950   Bicester Price: £1920

CAG2010.FT6013 - SLR Calibre 17

List Price: £4550   Bicester Price: £2960

CAG7011.BA0254 - SLR Calibre S Lap Timer

List Price: £3600   Bicester Price: £2345

CAG7010.FT6013 - SLR Calibre S Lap Timer

List Price: £3600   Bicester Price: £2345

CJF2114.BA0594 - Link Calibre 16

List Price: £3650   Bicester Price: £2555

CJF211B.BA0594 - Link Calibre 16

List Price: £4050   Bicester Price: £2835

CJF1310.FC6189 - Ladies Link Quartz

List Price: £1700   Bicester Price: £1190

WK1310.BA0319 - 2000 Series Ladies Quartz

List Price: £1200   Bicester Price: £720

Yep, you read that right, that last one is a pre-2005 2000 Series, can't be many opportunities to buy one of those brand new with a 2 year warranty! My wife has the blue face model I bought her in 2004 and she loves it to death.

Well there you go, that's your first selection of bargains to ponder over. Like I said, if you're interested give them a ring before you make a long journey, and if you live near the Hull or Chester oulets, I'm sure they will have similar stock or failing that you could ask them to have the watch you are interested in transferred.

New stock can be sporadic, so I will let you know what I know when I know!