ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Indy 500 2019 Editions

CV201AS.FC6429

£3850

Goldsmiths / Sheffield, 25th May 2019

I remember trying on the standard version of the new 41mm Carrera Calibre 16 in the TAG Heuer boutique in (very) sunny Geneva last year, and aside from the logo on the dial and the engraving on the back plate, obviously little has changed. I was however struck by how small this watch is, at least in diameter, which combined with it's considerable thickness makes it appear somewhat chunky on the wrist.

I suspect that 'chunkiness' is going to be a deciding factor for a lot of the Carrera Indy 500's potential customers, because it's not something everyone's going to be okay with. Personally, I'd much prefer a 43mm Carrera if it has to be this thick, because it really does sit high and if it's going to big that way it might as well be big all round and possibly balance the height out a little bit.

I will say this though, if I was minded to buy a 41mm Carrera Calibre 16 then this one would probably be at the top of my list, not because I have any interest in the Indy 500, but because I can't stand the fake 'aged' lume used on the standard model and critically not used on this version. It looks so much better without it!

CAZ101V.BA0842

£1350

Moving on to the quartz Formula 1, and... well for me it's a bit of a backward step. I think I'd prefer the standard 'Black Bull' as on this occasion the red highlights don't work that well for me. Notably the 'INDY 500' text on the bezel is a bit off-putting as the red seems darker than it could be and looks hard to read and verging on tacky if I'm completely honest. Not sure the 60 works in place of the 12 either, I guess it's a point of difference, but it just strikes me as a little bit odd. Not as odd as the mixed numerals on a Rolex Air King granted, but still...

I think you can discern from my tone that I wasn't exactly blown away by this one and in truth the Indy 500 Formula 1s have always been a very mixed bag from my point of view. Sometimes they incorporate neat little details (one had the famous bricks incorporated into the dial) and sometimes they have some fairly ugly (not to put too fine a point on it) ones as well, sometimes both on the same watch... and as someone pointed out on the Calibre 11 forum, the irony of having an Indy 500 logo on a Formula 1 branded watch is a little bizarre in itself.

I've already mentioned the stellar service I received from Ashley in the lower mall Goldsmiths in my review of the WAZ1121 two tone Formula 1 quartz, but it bears repeating. Compare and contrast with the guy I had to deal with in Selfridges (London) when I tried on the Breitling Exospace B55 and it was like night and day. Ashley couldn't have been more helpful and was more than happy for me to take pictures of the watches. In the end I didn't bother taking pictures of the watches themselves as I knew I could find pictures online, but I did take a picture of the box the Formula 1 version comes in as it was rather nice. As it turned out though I found a better one online, mine came out rather dark and didn't do it justice at all.

I'm not really sure how popular the Indy 500 is outside of America, although I do know that when these watches hit the outlet (as they inevitably will...) they get snapped up fast. It seems maybe people are more interested in the looks of the watches rather than the event itself, which is fair enough I guess. Maybe they just need to cut the production numbers a little bit?