ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16

CV201AH.FT6014

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, April 2019

This is one that I might have tried on a very long time ago, like maybe five or six years ago, way before the blog was even an idea! But to be honest I can't really remember if I ever tried it on or just saw it in a cabinet... so it was nice to see it (again) in the Bicester outlet last month. This is the one 'classic' Carrera that's always appealed to me, mainly perhaps because of the unusual, perforated rubber strap.

I realise of course that the strap is probably a little contentious to some, and you can of course get this one on a BA0725 bracelet if you so desire. But personally I love the unique mixture of old and new, and the red highlights on the dial really work for me too. The watch is also nicely sized at 41mm, sits great on my 7.3/4" wrist, and has a 42hr power reserve from the Calibre 16 movement.

I'm not so keen on the white day/date wheel though... to my mind it would have looked a lot better if it had been white on black, and as usual the double window means the TAG Heuer shield has nowhere left to go but up to the very cramped '2' position. I get that there's literally nowhere else to put it, but it still looks a little bit of a mess...

I didn't know the caseback would feature Juan Manuel Fangio (which is a little bit odd as the watch doesn't seem to be anything to do with him specifically), but apparently a lot of 'classic' Carreras have a similar caseback. It's very nicely done mind you, and makes a change from diving helmets (of which I seem to have rather a lot), but you might be disappointed if you were hoping for a glass display back? 

The unusual strap itself is very nice, very soft and flexible and I'm sure it would look good on any number of different TAG Heuer watches. Sadly, as you can see from the picture above, it's designed specifically to fit the lugs of the Carrera, and I've actually seen fakes of the FT6014 on eBay (very rough looking fakes, actually) so it's obviously quite a popular design.

I'm not sure I'll ever actually own a 'classic' Carrera (like the Monaco they are just too much money to buy to tick boxes) but if I did then this one would probably be my pick. The CV201AH.FT6014 is  available in the Bicester Village store at a discounted price of £2870 (list price is £4100), at least it was last time I was there... please phone 01869 249008 first before travelling a long distance.