FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Aston Martin Red Bull F1' Special Edition

CAZ101AB.BA0842

Those of you with an interest in Formula 1 will no doubt have heard the news last week that Lawrence Stroll, father of F1 driver Lance and owner of the 'Racing Point' (nee Force India, Stryker, Midland F1, Jordan, etc) racing team, purchased a significant interest in the Aston Martin car company recently and as such his F1 team will be branded 'Aston Martin' from 2021 onwards.

This was obviously bound to have consequences for Aston Martin's association with the Red Bull team (and by extension of course TAG Heuer) and sure enough, it was announced pretty much straight away that Aston Martin's involvement with Red Bull would come to an end at the close of the 2020 Formula 1 season. Now I'm not sure if TAG Heuer's involvement with Aston Martin is entirely dependent on the Red Bull tie up or not, after all there have been 'Aston Martin' Formula 1 and Carrera watches released over the last couple of years which had seemingly nothing to do with Red Bull; but if Racing Point have a watch sponsor or if Red Bull attract another car maker it could certainly complicate things going forward. 

Strangely, barely a few days after this bombshell dropped, we now see the launch of the 2020 'Aston Martin Red Bull Formula 1' quartz chronograph, which could of course be entirely coincidental I suppose... but which does somehow feel a little forced. And while I say the 'launch' of the CAZ101AB... it doesn't seem to have launched so much as just appeared overnight on several watch sites alongside another new Formula 1 and a brown dial Aquaracer, which seems a bit odd really given the high profile of the TAG Heuer / Red Bull sponsorship deal.

Could it perhaps be that Mr Stroll's investment and subsequent announcement has caught TAG Heuer off guard and the imminent end of the Aston Martin deal means they need to shift these watches pronto before the deal expires and they have to stop selling them? I guess that rather depends on what is engraved on the back plate, does it say Red Bull Formula 1 or does it say Aston Martin Red Bull F1? I guess we'll find out once some pictures of the backplate surface, but at present I can't find any. 

CAZ1018.BA0842

Okay, before we look at the new watch it's worth mentioning the piece it effectively replaces, the venerable CAZ1018.BA0842. Hard as it is to believe, that watch is now nearly four years old and truthfully I would have been happy if they had just kept on making it. I think it's one of the best looking TAG Heuer Formula 1s of recent years and I have considered buying one on several occasions, albeit as yet it has not come to pass. Actually, I found one at an incredible price (£650) a few months ago on the Est1897 website but I was too slow and somebody else snagged it instead, which was a real shame. 

I recall writing a post where I floated the idea of buying a CAZ1018 and paring it with the 'Link' bracelet found on the Senna CAZ1015; I think that would look fantastic... but obviously it's not something TAG Heuer are likely to put together as they strongly associate the Link bracelet (through it's S/EL heritage) with Ayrton Senna and as such it wouldn't be right for them to put it on a Red Bull watch (but that doesn't mean you or I can't).

So the CAZ101AB has a tough act to follow and while the two watches give an impression of looking quite different, when you look at the details they haven't really changed all that much. It's still the same 43mm case, with a quartz chronograph movement and the main difference is that they've substituted black subdials for the white ones on the original and made the white outer ring around the dial blue; they've also made the 'Tachymetre' text on the bezel red instead of white and given the watch a bright yellow second hand, which may or may not have anything to do with Aston Martin... I've already seen it called 'Aston Martin' yellow in the marketing blurb on a jeweller's website, but the truth is that Red Bull have always had yellow trim on their racing cars so that may be somewhat open to interpretation if you ask me!

Black and blue is a bit of a strange colour combination, it can work, especially if the blue is on the lighter end of the spectrum but we have seen a couple of F1's with a similar colour combination in recent times (one of which was a very limited edition piece) and they did look okay. I think it's a bit of an acquired taste though and I don't think it will have the obvious appeal of the previous watch. Maybe that zing of yellow will help though... 

The white lume on the hands certainly stands out though, perhaps giving this watch the legibility edge over it's predecessor, and I must admit I do like that (very clearly visible) chronograph second hand. The central metallic blue dial looks a little more 'luxurious' than the flat blue of the CAZ1018 as well, which is ironic really given the Red Bull Racing team's choice to use matt paint on their cars! It's always been a pet niggle of mine actually, that the blue on the Red Bull watches (and that absolutely includes the Heuer 01 Carrera) isn't really the right blue at all, admittedly this new one looks like it's moving in the right direction, but it still needs a touch more purple in it and it needs to be a few tones darker too if you ask me.

Price for this one (according to the websites that do have it) is £1350; I know our CAZ1018 owning Swedish friend Jim Dollares is already weighing up the possibility of adding this to his collection... and I guess it would make a nice little 2 piece set after all; but for me I think I will reserve judgement until I get to see one close up, you just never know until you get it on the wrist.