ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Drive Timer

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 22nd July 2019

This is an unusual watch from TAG Heuer, it's a Carrera that is supposed to mimic the style of the Heuer dashboard timers, but until that was pointed out to me my first impression honestly was more 'pilot' watch and indeed 'prototype 2019 TAG Heuer Autavia'. It's certainly not dissimilar with those particular Arabic numerals, but I do prefer this watch's less oversized crown.

Traditional 'pilot' watches the likes of which you'd get from Zenith or IWC have never held much appeal to me, and the same goes for 'field' watches if I'm completely honest. I do have a soft spot for the TAG Heuer 'Pilot' watches, especially the blue and white 'Navitimer' style 530.806K (which I'd dearly love to add to my collection one day), and the simpler 'Porsche Designesque' 510.501 I posted about the other day, but proper 'pilot's' watches with big onion style crowns are just not my thing.

This then, while perhaps not directly inspired by the pilot watches, does present some of that aesthetic in a form that is less traditional and more appealing to those with a more modern taste. It is perhaps the 'pilot' watch for people who don't actually like 'pilot's' watches as such...?

Accepting that the design for the Drive Timer (the clue is in the name, surely) was indeed founded on the basis of the very collectible dashboard timers as shown above, it's quite a successful transformation to a wrist watch. Personally though I think the date window was a mistake, as it detracts from the clean look of the original and it also really crowds the '3' which would really bug me if this was my watch. But overall it's a generally attractive and stylish piece and something you definitely don't see everyday.

The secondary crown at the 10 position controls the inner rotating bezel for added timing capabilities, not sure how often you'd actually use that of course, but it looks neat and it provides the opportunity for a further splash of red to go with the text on the dial, the end of the second hand and the inside of the strap (also visible through the perforations in the leather) and let's be honest you could say the self same thing about the Helium escape valve on most dive watches!

As far as legibility goes, this watch is hard to beat. Those white hands and hour markers must be visible from space, and the high contrast look is the perfect foil for those tastefully added red highlights. It manages to look modern and classic at the same time, but then does it fall into the trap of pleasing nobody? From what I gather this is one Marmite watch, some people love it and some people really hate it.

If you fall into the former category then the opportunity exists for you to indulge yourself at a discounted price as TAG Heuer Bicester Village has this in stock at a reduced price of £2100, a considerable saving of £1070 on the original list price. As always though, please call the store (01869 249008) before travelling as stock is limited.