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Flicking through the old TAG Heuer catalogues, the 3000 Series was one which always caught my eye; it was bold and different, but in a good way, unlike some of it's contemporaries. I looked for one many times, but it wasn't until I visited the TAG Heuer factory last September that I finally saw a 3000 in the metal and considering what else I saw that day, the fact that it made such an impression on me says a lot.
I returned home determined to add a 3000 of some description to my collection and once again turned to eBay, but almost everything I found was from Japan. The problem with buying from Japan, apart from the potential customs charges, is... wrist sizes. Japanese people on the whole tend to have smaller wrists and as such their watch straps tend to max out at 7", a full 3/4" too small for me (which in this case equates to about 3 links).
TAG Heuer 3000 Chronograph in the TAG Heuer Museum (La Chaux de Fonds)
Not wanting to put my 3000 on a replacement strap, and reluctant to get involved in trying to find spare links for a watch that's over thirty years old, I kept looking and hoping, until one day I came across a watch being sold in the UK and seemingly with an 8" bracelet. This one was up for £475, but open to offers.. so I offered £275 and to my amazement, they accepted!
In the end, the strap probably fell a little short of the promised 8", but I did have to use the fine adjustment on the clasp to make it smaller, which was good enough for me! Right from the moment I unpacked it I totally fell in love with this watch, yes I wish it was bigger, but once I got used to how thin it was and how dainty it seemed coming from my Aquaracers, I really began to appreciate it.
It's not perfect, obviously. The Heuer branded clasp is a little hard to get undone (not the fold over part, the actual clasp) and it hurts my fingers every time. I'm sure I could adjust it if I could be bothered. The bracelet does show some slight stretching on the links near the clasp, but nothing bad... it's just apparent that the gap is slightly larger than higher up the band.
The gold plating has also worn on the edges of the bezel (as you can see clearly below) but it's surprisingly good on the bracelet actually, I expected it to be worse than it is from the pictures on eBay. Likewise the bezel, which looked very scratched in the pictures, but again is not bad at all really.
Did I really want a two-tone 3000? No, I can't say that I did. There was (and maybe still is) a NOS 3000 just like this one but in steel on eBay and I can't pretend I wouldn't have preferred to buy that one, but the price was £800+ and while I know it's rare in that condition I just didn't feel comfortable paying that sort of money for it. Besides, NOS it may be, but it still had a scratch on the bezel!
That said, while I would like a steel 3000, even if I could find one I wouldn't sell this one. I've grown to like the two-tone scheme, it kinda complements the odd bezel and the crazy case design somehow. I just wish it didn't wear around the edges, but 80s TAG's were not well plated unfortunately.
The bezel action is very good, no problems there at all, but I'm sure the bezel is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Let's face it those black ball bearings are a bit... odd, but I really like how strange and different it is. It's an odd design as well in that the bezel sits well inside the case, and this creates an illusion of the watch being thinner than it really is. It measures 9mm thick, but it wears much thinner than that, and this in turn kind of helps make the watch not feel 'small' on the diameter.
The TAG Heuer logo is a little bit larger on the face than seems aesthetically pleasing, but this was the 80s after all and this watch is no shrinking violet. I quite like it, I've seen this same watch with the green and red logo and honestly it doesn't look anything like as good, so I'm pleased I have this version. Not sure why they produced both, but again... it was the 80s, back then TAG Heuer were cobbling watches together from whatever they had (hence the Heuer clasp on this one) and they didn't worry too much about future authenticity!
If you're up for it, you can pick these up from Japan for less than I paid, and in some instances way less. But as I said earlier, do keep in mind that the bracelets tend to be on the smaller side and links for these might be troublesome to source (although having said that, I'm not sure if this isn't the same bracelet as the 2000). Also be aware that at 37/38mm this is quite a small watch, and I believe there's a 34mm version as well, so don't get caught out there, especially if you are buying from Japan. There is a ladies version at 28mm, which looks very similar in photographs, so check the part number before you buy.
I'm struggling to think of anything negative to say about the watch that you couldn't ascribe to it being 'old'. Bracelets and clasps have improved over the last thirty years and it definitely feels a little workmanlike in comparison to today's 'luxury' watches, but I have a feeling it's the shape of the bezel and the two-tone finish that will put a lot of you off. It's certainly not what you might call a 'mass market' crowd pleaser, but again, looking through the catalogues from back when this was around... watch design was a whole lot less conservative, and while some of those more 'way-out' designs might not have aged too well, this is definitely one of the better ones.
Oddly, it wasn't until I suggested the 3000 as a model I'd like to see TAG remake in a thread on the Calibre 11 Forum, and someone posted a picture of it next to a current Aquaracer that I noticed quite how similar they are. The Aquaracer may have started out as an evolution of the 2000, but over the years the DNA of the 3000 has seeped in there quite a bit too, and if you like the general style but would like a larger, more up-to-date alternative, then that's definitely an option, they even do it in two-tone!
I definitely want one of these new shape Aquaracers (albeit I'll take it in steel), but I'll be keeping my 3000 all the same...
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