SPOTLIGHT ON: Suspicious Number of Excellent Condition TAG Heuer 1000 Divers on Ebay

Browsing eBay lately I've noticed a suspiciously high number of excellent condition 1000 Series TAG Heuer divers. The one above seems an overly bright red, which is a red flag, but they also seem to be coming in blue, black and two tone.

I would be very wary of buying any of these watches to be honest, however attractive they might be.

These all seem to be coming from Germany and Austria, and seem to be selling, which is not surprising because the prices are way lower than you'd expect. Most of these are starting around £200, which given that we know a 'genuine' red 1000 sold for over £1000 not that long ago, is pretty odd!

It makes sense for a fake-maker to take a basic model and produce different colour versions of the same basic watch, that is after all what the watch makers themselves do, but it does help the buyer spot the pattern when there's so many on eBay at once. I wonder then, are the buyers being duped or are they knowingly buying fakes because they think they look nice and they are cheap?

VIDEO: Baselworld 2019: Scientific Talk on the Autavia Isograph with Guy Semon of TAG Heuer by Watch Advisor

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Autavia Isograph Watches

The new Autavia Collection

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 25th May 2019

A few weeks ago I got an email inviting me to the Oxford Street store to view the new Autavia range. As it happened I was going to London that day for a gig, but I didn't fancy the idea of trying to persuade my wife to treck all the way across the other side of London just to look at five watches I wasn't particularly fussed about. So I passed on that occasion, but luckily, walking in to the Meadowhall store today I was confronted by not only the new Autavia range but also the Nanograph!

The watches were not available to purchase as they don't start shipping for another few weeks, but they certainly seemed to be attracting a lot of attention; at least the Autavias were. I'm not sure the Nanograph was in the best place as it was positioned directly behind you when looking at the Autavias; I didn't even spot it until I'd been in the store for about fifteen minutes!

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The first Autavia I picked up was this brown dial, bronze cased version and straight away I could see why people were saying these look better that the photographs suggest. For some reason the pictures really flatten them out and when you get to hold them in your hands you quickly realise there's more dimension to the dial than first appears. The indices to the edges (outside the Arabic numerals) are far more angular than I thought and rather than being printed white lume as they appear, they are actually applied polished rhodium. These also sit on the rehaut, which again is not obvious from the photographs I've seen, and while I'm still not crazy about those retro numerals, I assume at least they are going to give plenty of lume-glow.

As far as I can recall this is the first bronze watch I've ever tried on and I don't know if I expected it to be heavier than steel, but it wasn't noticeably so. As I presume these watches have been touring the country working hard to drum up business the bronze is already looking quite tarnished, which is good really as it gives a good indication of how your watch will actually look after a few weeks. On the other hand I'd like to see a brand new one and see what it looks like when the wrapper has just come off.

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The second model I picked up was this green version of the same bronze cased Autavia, and I have to say that the render above is a bit misleading. The green is a lot more subtle than this suggests, particularly on the strap which I didn't even realise was green until I got it in my hands. This is all to the good I feel, as sometimes a little bit of subtlety works better in the long run, and the dark green works extremely well with the bronze case. I think this one is going to sell particularly well once people get to see it.

One of the things I was worried about (perhaps 'worried' is a tad strong...) was that in the renders here the crown looks too big. I know they are going for this 'Pilot' watch aesthetic, something that doesn't particularly appeal to me personally it must be said, but in reality the crowns look much more in keeping with the overall dimensions than you might imagine. Yes the crown is oversized, but it doesn't look too big for the watch, they've got it spot on I think; big enough to match the brief but not so big that it's off-putting.

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The last Autavia I tried on was this blue dial, steel bracelet version and while I'm a bracelet guy and definitely not a brown (or green) leather strap guy, for me this doesn't work anything like as well. The bracelet and clasp remind me of the ones fitted to the Grand Carrera, which is no bad thing in itself, but it doesn't seem to fit with the style of the dial somehow. 

These watches are all 42mm, and while the first two sat nicely on my wrist, this last one felt much bulkier and less wearable. In contrast, the steel looks a little unexciting after the novelty of the bronze cased versions, which is slightly surprising as on paper I thought this would be my Autavia of choice. 

All of the new Autavia's have ceramic bezels as you'd expect for this kind of money really and while I'm still not 'in love' with the Autavia, I definitely feel a lot more warmly to this version (and in particular the bronze cased versions) than I ever have towards the Heuer 02 Autavias. 

I can't help wondering what will happen to these five Autavias that are touring the country drumming up business. Clearly they will be handled a lot and won't be fit for regular sale, is it possible that they might end up in the outlets at some point? And how many more 'display' Autavias might there be knocking around?

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ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Two Tone

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Goldsmiths (Lower Floor) / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 25th May 2019

I don't know how many times I must have seen the WAZ1121 (and the blue version WAZ1120) in the windows of various Goldsmiths branches around and about, and never felt moved to try it on. So today I thought, why not give it a go. I've really got used to owning and wearing two-tone watches now (I have three presently: 3000 Series, 2000 Exclusive and my S/EL) so I'm in a better place to judge the watch on its own merits rather than judging 'two-tone' as a whole.

But first, I just have to comment on the staff member who served me this morning in the lower ground store: Ashley. What a warm and friendly guy, we had a great chat about TAG Heuer, Tudor and watches in general and I would love to have been in a position to give him a sale. He was more than happy to show me as many watches as I wanted and told me to take pictures if I needed to. He also offered to send me pictures of the watches I had tried on and by the time I got home from Sheffield he had already sent me the pictures you see here. When I mentioned that I lived near Leicester he said he was going to Leicester on Sunday as they were short of staff. I hope his personality rubs off on the staff in there, as for the last few years I've never felt much warmth from that place and my experience buying a strap (for my 2000 Series) there put me right off.

As for the watch itself, well... it's fair to say it didn't really make that much of an impact on me if I'm honest. It's comfortably sized at 41mm, which is a good move in my opinion, the more 43mm two tone Aquaracers I see, the less I like them; there's just too much gold on them for me. But, well... this one feels a little bit, tacky really. It reminds me of how I used to feel about two-tone watches before I found ones that I actually liked. It just has this 'cheap' aura about it, which is partly from the watch itself and partly from the particular tone of gold that this one sports.

I've noticed, looking at many different two-tone watches over that last year or so, just how many different tones of gold you can get and how much they can affect your perception of the piece. You'd kind of imagine that TAG Heuer would have a universal yellow and a universal rose gold tone for their watches, but nothing could be further from the truth. The gold coating on the links and bezel here is a particularly 'naff' looking yellow tone which is also polished; a shame, because it's amazing what a difference a bit of brushing can make.

To me, the watch doesn't really have a lot of character, its surprisingly bland for a watch which I've already described as 'tacky', which is quite an achievement if you think about it! Even when I had it in my hands I wasn't all that focused on it, it just doesn't command your attention. I guess at £1600 it offers an entry level TAG for people desperate to get on the two-tone ladder, but personally while black and gold can look incredible (I'm thinking of the Heuer 01 with rose gold lugs in particular here), unfortunately this one just doesn't come together for me.

Going back to the 'cheap' feel, I was also pretty disappointed when I opened the clasp, it's a bog-standard, uber-basic pressed steel clasp which just doesn't sit well on a watch with delusions of grandeur like this one. For me, this is one to avoid. TAG have plenty of better options if you want a two-tone under £2000, and in truth it's probably better to move up and buy a pre-owned Aquaracer or Link.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer's Autavia is Blue Steel Realness

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco 50th Anniversary 70s Edition

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Several weeks ago someone sent me a leaked picture of the first of the five 50th Anniversary Editions expected this year, and I did not like it at all. The picture appeared to show a brown dial with orange and red highlights and it looked pretty awful. Out of respect I didn't publish the picture, but I did share it privately with some members of the Calibre 11 forum and the reaction was almost universally negative.

Well, I've always said that seeing pictures of a watch is no substitute for seeing the watch in the flesh, and it seems now that we can also say that judging a watch by a single, leaked, poorly lit photograph is also a mistake. For a start the watch is not brown, but green and from the pictures I've been seeing today, it looks a lot better than I thought it was going to. A whole lot better!

As you probably know, the watch is limited to 169 pieces, which... I don't really care for. I think if you're not doing 1969 pieces then don't even bother with this, as my wife said, it's a bit like when someone has a personalised car number plate that doesn't actually say what they want it to say. They might just as well have said 150 or 200. 169 is a fudge, and not a good one. But I guess the die is cast for all five pieces now, so we'll just have to let it slide.

The dial features 'Cotes de Geneve' stripes, which is a pretty neat idea, with amber and red highlights. It also features two black gold 'sunray' subdials at the 3 and 9 positions, and is presented on a brown leather racing strap. The rear of the watch features the classic Heuer logo along with 'Monaco' text and 'One of 169'. The watch is priced at £5350, although that's largely irrelevant as it appears to have sold out within 18 hours.

So it's a lot better than I thought, but do I love it? Not really, but I like that TAG Heuer came up with something genuinely fresh. It would have been so easy for them to churn out another blue dial Monaco, put a nice engraving on the back and call it a day. It would have sold by the bucket load and everyone in the watch community could have moaned about how TAG missed an opportunity to celebrate their 50th Anniversary in style with a genuine re-edition of the original 1969 model.

But that was never going to happen. The round pushers would have necessitated a new case design and on top of that, the original Monaco is a very agricultural piece that would not look good when standing against other models in the range. So what should they have done, fudged it? Added all the touches that make a modern luxury timepiece a modern luxury timepiece like bevelled edges and polishing? Then they would have been slaughtered by the purists.

No, in my opinion they've done the best thing they could do really; low volume, standard case designs with unique dials and case-backs. This one seems to have turned out reasonably well and I'm already looking forward to the 1979-1989 edition and secretly hoping for pastels and geometric shapes on the dial. Sadly, word on the grapevine is that this is actually the most radical of the five, which is a bit of shame if it's true. But I could actually see this one becoming a collectible, if only because it's so damn different!

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SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer 2000 Exclusive Quartz Watch

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What a beauty, eh? Right up until I bought my new Aquaracer/Searacer last week (or was it two weeks ago?) I was all primed and ready to add another 2000 Exclusive to my collection. I already have a black dial chrono in mint condition that I got in January from Watchfinder and a two tone three hander that I picked up last year, and I really do enjoy wearing both of them. As a matter of fact I've been wearing the black dial chrono for the last few days and I'm wearing it right now, it really is a lovely watch, although as it's like a little Aquagraph it's maybe undermined that piece just a little bit. So much less hassle being quartz, and it's smaller and easier to wear too... not as cool though, granted. But still a very nice watch in its own right.

These pictures came from an eBay listing and they've been kicking around in a folder on my desktop for a while so I'm not sure if this watch is still available. I don't even want to look right now, I think if I brought another watch home anytime soon my wife would have a fit, so... best not even go looking!

These watches are 38mm in diameter and very wearable, but they have a lot of wrist presence, much more so than the slightly smaller 2000 Series. I think it's the bezel that does it, they are quite chunky and the raised centre section on the bezel is polished which makes it look even more eye catching.

The only downside of that polished section is that inevitably when you see these on eBay, that part is more often than not a little worse for wear, and being right next to the glass, polishing it at home is a risky business! This one looks mint though and I assume it's been polished properly, either that or it's never been worn...

I'd dearly love another one of these and this blue dial would be a great choice. There are other options though, I have definitely seen a tapisserie dial version as well, although I think that might have been a silver dial (not so great) and there's also a rose gold bezel version with a black dial.

The best thing is these 2000 Exclusives can be had for reasonable money, my immaculate black dial Chrono from Watchfinder was only about £650 and my two tone I found in a sale for about £460 IIRC. Other three handers can be had on eBay from about £350, depending on condition. I can't recommend them highly enough, they have a fantastic chunky bracelet with a positive fold-over clasp and a superb mid link design which gives an eye catching glint from some very small polished links, leaving the rest of the bracelet in a very practical brushed finish.

Right, that's enough for today. We're all waiting for the first of the new Monaco 50th Anniversary pieces which will be unveiled tonight in Monaco. I've seen it already and I can't wait to write about that one...

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OWNED: TAG Heuer Classic Formula 1 Quartz Watch

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I'm not really one for 'collecting' watches for the sake of it, if you know what I mean. I don't think I'd ever buy a watch with the knowledge that I would never wear it, just to have it and keep it in the box to look at occasionally... but in the case of this classic Formula 1 I did make a bit of an exception, even though as it turned out I've already worn it more than I thought I would.

I've wanted a proper original Formula 1 for a long time now, and I specifically wanted one with a resin case and strap, because, without getting too picky about the exact model, I wanted something representative of the 'first' TAG Heuer wristwatch. I'm sure you all know, but the Formula 1 was the first new watch that TAG Heuer launched under their own steam after taking over the Heuer Watch Co and essentially re-branding their existing product lines for a couple of years.

This decision probably laid the cornerstone of many years of negative comments to come from watch snobs, but you have to remember that at the time the watch industry was not in good shape (and Heuer certainly wasn't). Quartz was the new thing and watches were cheap and plentiful, Joe Public was not in the mood for buying complicated and expensive automatic timepieces; this was the age of Swatch and this was TAG Heuer's attempt to get onboard that particular gravy train.

For all that some thumb their noses at these watches, there's a lot of people out there who love them and there's a big market for pre-owned ones to this day. I found mine on eBay for £200 with a new battery, replacement bezel, new strap, new glass... pretty much everything really, and while I really would have liked a red one, they seem to command something of a premium and since this was more of a collectible than a watch I really intended to wear, I decided not to pay that premium.

The reason I didn't think I'd ever wear it was the size. At 35mm it is pretty small and having previously owned a 35mm 2000 series I figured it would never take up any wrist time at all, but I still wanted one all the same. In truth, it wears a little bigger than that suggests and while it still looks pretty small on my 7.3/4" wrist, it doesn't look completely stupid. Let's say I don't mind wearing it now and again.

The strap is very comfortable actually, although mine seems to have been put on the wrong way around. I keep meaning to sort that, but I'm not sure if it isn't better this way as the strap retainer seems in a better place as it is, which is slightly odd, but there you are.

I think one of the reasons it wears a little bigger is those 'TAG Heuer' shields on the rubber strap, I bet if you put this on a standard F1 bracelet it would look a lot smaller. I know my F1 chrono looks small on me and that's 38mm, so I'm sure the black resin strap has a lot to do with it. It's kind of contradictory really as black usually makes watches wear smaller, not bigger.

The watch runs great and the lume is surprisingly strong for such an old watch, there is one issue though. It appears the back side of the glass wasn't cleaned properly before re-assembly and as such there's a smear around the edges which you can't see generally, but becomes startling obvious if you look at it through polarised sunglasses or if you take a photograph of it. Of course, once seen it can't be unseen, so when it eventually needs a new battery I might talk nicely to my battery man and see if he can't give it a wipe for me.

Overall, I can't really fault this watch, especially for £200. Ebay prices are all over the shop, one week you might pick up one of these for £100, another you might have to pay £300, so if you are interested I'd recommend playing a waiting game and striking when the time is right. Also, if you want one of the more colourful models, you might consider buying from Japan as there seems a lot more choice from that region and the prices are surprisingly competitive - just watch out for import duties.

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SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'CSL' Limited Edition

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When I first came across these photographs I really thought this was a fake, but after some digging I found some photographs taken at the launch party and so it turns out this is actually a genuine limited edition Aquaracer made in honour of the CSL (Chinese Soccer League). To be fair, I think it's partly the poor quality pictures that led me to believe it was a bit iffy looking...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like it as such... at first I didn't, now I'm undecided if anything. But it's cool that TAG have given us something genuinely different rather than just slapping a logo on the dial and a bit of engraving on the back.

I mean, yes, there are similarities to the FA Aquaracer, but with the green and red colour scheme they've really given this piece a look all of it's own. It's a fun watch for sure, again I'm not sure about this idea of one red hand, but I guess it plays into the the whole timing the game with the bezel... which of course you can turn to sync with the start time of the game.

I would say you're unlikely to ever see one of these outside of China, but if recent times have taught me anything it's that the most unlikeliest things can turn up where and when you least expect them. So I'll keep my eyes peeled and see if one appears....

FEATURE: Some Photographs from a Recent Visit to TAG Heuer at Bicester Village

I've got a bit behind on my posts, I've still got several to write based on my trip to London in March and I also have a bunch of photographs I took on a recent visit to Bicester. Since the stock moves so quickly at Bicester, it's probably not really the best use of time to write about those watches too much as some of them I've spoken about before and they may not even be available any more (some of them were there last time I visited though). So I thought what I'd do is rather than discard the photos, I would dump them on you in one big lump and at least then I can clear one of the (many) folders that are littering my desktop!

I've reviewed the white dial / blue hands version of this Carrera previously. It features the same beautiful Guilloche dial, and looks very smart. Think I prefer the white dial version though...

Which was also still available. Admittedly this isn't one of my better photos, but this is the worst one you'll see today - I promise!

I've tried the PVD case / gold bezel 500M Calibre 5 Aquaracer on a few times and I do really like it. I was surprised to see that the steel case version had sold last time I visited, I think the black and gold version looks so much nicer!

If you like cufflinks, then TAG Heuer Bicester is the place to be. They have quite a selection, which almost makes me wish I had a shirt that was suitable to use them with.

Another watch I have commented on before, this is the Cameron Diaz limited edition Link that originally came in a box with a ring and a necklace. Now these are being sold on their own at a slightly reduced price.

Ladies who love white ceramic Formula 1s have a lot to chose from, this is just a couple of the available options...

A couple of SLRs, including a white dial Calibre S on the right.

Unsurprisingly, this Calibre 16 Aquaracer was gone when I returned to Bicester the other day. This kind of stock is exactly the sort of thing that flies out of the door within a day or two of arrival. And it's not hard to see why... this one was down from £3350 to £2345.

Not really my thing, but I understand these Heuer dashboard timers are very popular.

A very nice Calibre 45 grand date Aquaracer chronograph which I tried on, but my wrist shot photos were terrible so I haven't included them here.

This Calibre 16 Aquaracer 500M in full PVD with lime green markers has always been a favourite of mine. Maybe one of these days I'll add one to my collection.

I've tried both of these Calibre 36 Carreras on before. These dropped significantly a few years ago when TAG Heuer adjusted the list prices, the black 'Racing' version on the right used to be about £8,000!

A couple of classic Carreras for those who prefer the retro look, again not really my thing although I can still appreciate them even if they aren't a style I would choose to wear myself.

A couple of petite ladies Aquaracers, the one on the right is interesting, it is a limited edition Swiss anniversary watch and features the outline of Switzerland on the dial in red.

What better way to start your wife/girlfriend on their own watch collecting journey, this classic, elegant Carrera is sure to be gratefully received!

Bicester seems to be enjoying a glut of Grand Carreras at the moment, if you're in the market then check them out first, they have a lot of different models available.

Another shot of the Cameron Diaz Link, this time alongside a diamond bezel Lady Carrera chronograph.

Another Grand Carrera, this time the Caliper version with the yellow highlights and yellow stitched strap.

Again, if bullhead Carreras are your thing, I can't imagine anywhere you will be able to find a better selection.

Out with a bang, still the most expensive watch to pass through the TAG Heuer Bicester Village outlet. You can get this dial colour in steel, but it's a Chinese only limited edition - which my wife happens to have bought from Bicester last year. It goes perfectly with the gold and gives it a distinctly regal flavour.