WAJ1111.BA0870
When I first clapped eyes on the 500M Aquaracers with the rubber bezel insert, I really didn't like them very much. Actually, that's not true, I didn't mind the PVD ones, but I thought the steel ones looked awful! So one day I was in the TAG outlet at Bicester and I decided to try on a Calibre 5 grey dial 500M Aquaracer, basically just so that I could review it. The one I tried on was on a rubber strap, which I wasn't totally convinced by, but to my surprise I found that I really liked the watch itself and a few days later I found myself searching for a pre-owned one on the internet.
I decided that because I would probably wear it to work etc, I'd prefer a reliable and easy to put-on-in-the-morning quartz model and I was pleasantly surprised to find that TAG Heuer made exactly the same watch in either a Calibre 5 or a quartz movement. In hindsight, if I'd known how much I'd grow to love this watch I might have paid the extra for the Calibre 5 version, but then again, maybe the reason I wear it so often is partly because it's quartz...?
One thing this watch has done is to cure my of my Cyclophobia (fear of date magnifiers!), I mean I still don't like them very much, but between this, my 3-hander 6000 Series and now my WAY208C Aquaracer, I've learned to tolerate them. I wouldn't mind so much if they actually made the date easier to read, but if anything they seem to make it harder... and since my eyesight is surprisingly good for one rapidly approaching his 50th birthday, I can read date wheels perfectly well without thank you very much!
The watch is, as you've probably already guessed, 43mm in diameter, and it's chunky with it. There's no getting away from it, this wears quite big. The crown also sticks out quite a way, but I've never found it to be a problem, and I do wear my watch right down as low as it will go. But if you've had problems with crowns digging in the back of your hand before then it's definitely something to bear in mind.
My WAJ1111 has some slight damage to the case on the left hand side, usually I would have run a mile from that but when I was looking there wasn't that many about and the price was pretty favourable at £910. To be honest I barely notice it anymore, I wouldn't have bought it if the bezel was damaged, but where it is you just don't notice it once it's on the wrist, and in a way I think it has helped me relax a little bit about condition.
That was something that needed to happen as my collection grew because I was getting more and more watches and still just wearing the same Formula 1 'beater' every day, and ultimately I made the decision to sell that watch because it just became a wrist blocker. Maybe that was a bit rash, since I didn't get a tremendous amount of money for it and I did quite like it, but at the same time I think I needed to make a clean break with it to ensure that I started wearing my other watches. It definitely worked as I now wear all but three or four of my watches regularly to work.
As I'm writing this I'm wearing my WAJ1111 after a period off the wrist and while it does feel quite bulky (especially coming straight after my 37mm F1 chronograph) it doesn't feel particularly heavy and now that I've adjusted the clasp to take up some of the slack caused by recent weight loss it's actually surprisingly comfortable. The lume on this is fantastic and it seems to charge with the slightest exposure to light, even just wearing it in the office if I go into a dark place it jumps right out at you, very impressive indeed!
Admittedly, this isn't going to be a watch for everybody, the styling and bulk will put a lot of people off for sure... but I really like it, and I think I made the right choice going for the grey dial. It's also available in black, orange and blue (actually I wouldn't mind a blue one as well), but the grey is definitely the most unusual of the three and the vertical slatting on the dial looks great too.
I also really like the black edged hour markers, which is something that also appealed to me on the recent Calibre 5 'Polar Explorer' Aquaracer, and that combined with the orange second hand... hmm, maybe I can see why I like that new Aquaracer so much now, it's actually quite similar to this one isn't it? Albeit without the rubber bezel...
WAY2013 Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Polar Explorer'
I do like the modern, almost brutal design of the watch, the crown guards in particular look like they've been chiseled out and everything looks very 'hardcore'. It doesn't come over in pictures so much, but on the wrist it definitely feels like a watch that might have been designed by Tonka.
I do flit about between watches quite a bit, but as time goes on and the more I wear older, thinner and smaller diameter watches, the more I seem to appreciate them. Which means every time I go back to my 43mm Aquaracers (this and the Chronotimer in particular) they seem very bulky and unwieldy. It wears off after a while of course, but this isn't a watch I'd want as an only watch. And I have to say that I can see a time in the future when I might decide to move this on, possibly in favour of the WAY2013. That watch is certainly more flexible and could potentially be worn with a suit whereas this one is a T-shirt only really. Which is not to say that it's not fun to wear, but would I wear it when I'm sixty? Probably not. Thankfully that's a little way off, so I can enjoy this for a few more years I think...
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