FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 and Formula 1 Quartz Watch

WAZ1018.BA0842                     WAY2018.BA0927

The 'Aston Martin Red Bull Formula 1 Racing TAG Heuer Formula 1 quartz chronograph' wasn't the only watch to sneak out onto social media last weekend; there was also another quartz Formula 1 and also another Calibre 5 Aquaracer with a new dial colour...

I must admit I've decided to completely rewrite this first part of this post... my original post went something along the lines of 'brown, why... boring, can't get a green one.... waaah!', which is rather unfair... so now we've got that out of the way, let's move on!

Brown watches are fairly unusual, but brown dive watches.... that's really unusual. Dive watches tend to be either black or blue, or less often brightly coloured (orange, yellow, or even red), but I'm really struggling to think of a dive watch in brown. Maybe it's something you could get from Longines or Oris, but I certainly can't remember there ever being a brown TAG Heuer diver. In fact brown isn't a colour that TAG Heuer have traditionally used a lot; there are a few pieces, like the 300SLR, the Grand Carrera chronograph, a Link and the new Autavia Calibre 5 but those aside I'm struggling to remember many more.

WAY2018.BA0927

Brown has an uncanny ability to look black at first glance, so it's a subtle shift away from the norm we are dealing with here rather than anything radical, but it does give a different feel to the dial. I enjoyed my time with the Grand Carrera brown dial, it managed to look warmer than black and also rather classy, I would imagine this will give off a similar aura... but is it right for a dive watch? On one hand I would say no, but then given the current trend for fitting brown leather straps to dive watches, maybe this makes a lot more sense than it initially appears? Hmm...

Despite my initial disclaimer, I honestly think I'm still far too hung up on the green Aquaracer to give this a genuinely fair hearing at the moment, hopefully by the time I get it on my wrist I will be able to be a little more objective.

List price for the WAY2018.BA0927 Calibre 5 Aquaracer Brown Dial is £1895.


The other new watch is a lot less conservative...

WAZ1018.BA0842

I remember trying on a grey dial Calibre 5 Formula 1 last year and being rather impressed with it, the grey (possibly anthracite) dial gave the watch a classy look that belied it's budget price tag, but here... well, there's nothing classy about the WAZ1018 is there? One might even say it's been 'Max Verstappen'd' with those red Arabic numerals and hands, and we already know Max's watch designing skills are a little bit suspect!

Incidentally, just checking a few websites and no one is saying these hands and numbers are lumed, they are simply described as 'vibrant red numbers', so I think that needs clarifying. I suspect the hands will be lumed but the numbers may just be regular paint. Unfortunately as yet this watch hasn't made it's way onto the TAG Heuer website yet I can't give a definitive answer on that one.

Still, the Formula 1 range isn't really about being classy, it's about fun watches and crazy colours so maybe I should give it a break?

It reminds me of those limited edition Ernest Jones watches from last year, and maybe if you put this one on a black rubber strap with some red trim it would work better for me? As it is, I can't really take to it, but maybe I'm just getting too old for this sort of watch?

List price for the WAZ1018.BA0842 Formula 1 Quartz Grey Dial is £1095