ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm Watch

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 19th September 2019

Here's something I haven't seen in the outlets before, and honestly I don't think it will stick around for long at the price (£880 reduced from £1350). This is a lovely little watch, and that might be a deal breaker for some people because it's 39mm and it does look a bit wee if you are used to the 41mm or 43mm Aquaracers. That said, I was wearing a 38mm S/EL so it didn't really bother me and it's certainly not small enough to draw comment unless you are an 8" wristed giant, and even then...

I guess the main thing which might be a factor in deciding whether you like this one or not is the 'lop-sided' nature of the dial. I don't mind it, but I notice on the newer replacement model they've made the running seconds sub dial more obvious and in fact it gives the impression of a chronograph (which is, I'm sure, exactly why they've done it). I like that this has a 'grand date', it's very legible (unlike on some of the Grand Carreras actually) and TAG Heuer made a good choice here making the date wheels black with white text I think.

I'm not sure, but I assume this is only a 12 hour alarm, so if you rely on this to wake you up in the morning then it probably goes off at 6:30PM as well, but I guess you can work with it. The red tips on the alarm hands certainly make it easy to see them and gives a welcome splash of colour to an otherwise monochrome dial.

Despite it's slightly diminutive size, I thought this looked good on the wrist and I would be more than happy to wear it. The piece is waterproof to 300M, so more than capable of taking a dip in the local swimming pool without fear of water ingress (no chance of that with your fancy minute repeaters!). If this is still in store three days after I tried it on I would be very surprised, so definitely give them a ring before making a journey if you're interested as I think they only had one on this delivery. I can't honestly say that I was 'tempted', but that's more because I'm trying to save rather than a reflection on the watch itself. I'm sure someone will snap this up and enjoy it every day, at this price it would be silly not to.