SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Kirium Chronometer

WL5113

I spotted this watch on eBay a couple of days ago and it rather piqued my interest... bidding was just over £200 when I first spotted it and it eventually climbed to £310, which seems rather inexpensive for a chronometer certified automatic with a nice blue dial don't you think? Is that a note of regret you can detect in my voice? Well, yes I think it could be... but the truth is I also spotted something else at the same time, something I've been looking for for a long time and something which ended after this auction, so I needed to keep my powder dry for that... more on that anon.

But let's not get distracted by that, what we have here is a rather attractive Kirium chronometer with a stylish blue dial. Condition is hard to determine, it looks quite scratched but I've learned from experience that it's often difficult to be sure about polished watches from photographs as they can often look much worse in pictures than they actually turn out to be. I'd say that although the bezel does look quite scratched here it would probably not be all that noticeable on the wrist, and I would certainly think it was worth taking a chance on.

Kiriums do seem to be one of those watches that were bought to be worn daily, and many have led hard lives. I noticed in one of the pictures something of a scuff on the lower right hand lug, but again it's probably nothing to get too worked up about and something that could probably be minimised with a bit of judicious polishing.

My main concern when assessing this though is the movement. This watch is probably around twenty years old and who knows if it has ever been serviced. Chronometer certified is all well and good if it's been looked after but here's a prime example of a watch that's potentially going to cost more than it's worth if it needs servicing. Which is a shame because it's a very nice looking Kirium and I would liked to have added a third Kirium to my collection, but maybe it's for the best that I never got involved in the bidding.

To be fair, the seller says it works well and it comes complete with spare links, so somebody probably got a lovely watch at a very fair price... maybe I'm too cautious when it comes to buying automatics pre-owned? But then again, the whole point of the watch is that it's a chronometer, so if it's not running to that spec then wouldn't that annoy you? I think it would me...