ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 Carbon Collection / Rose Gold Limited Edition

CBG2052.FT6143

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 16th November 2019

Anyone who's ever written a number of reviews knows that the easiest ones to write are the ones where you either strongly like or dislike the item in question, it's the ones in between that are hard because they don't stir you one way or another. But there is a different type of 'difficult' review and this is one of those... I don't know how many times I've written this review (it's at least 4 though), which is probably why it still hasn't seen the light of day four and a half months later. Still, here it goes - if nothing else at least it will be out of the way!

As you can probably imagine, I like nothing more than visiting a TAG Heuer boutique, well... maybe visiting Hotel Chocolat, which is just a few doors down here at the Meadowhall Shopping Centre. Obviously it's a whole lot cheaper in there and they often give you free chocolates to nibble on while you potter around the store drooling at all the goodies on display. I jest of course, but I've never knowingly left a Hotel Chocolat empty handed, that's all I'm saying...

The Sheffield store is actually owned and run by Watches of Switzerland, and this franchising seems to be the way things are going as I believe there's quite a few new boutiques opening now that are off-shoots of high street jewellers. On the surface you wouldn't know any different; inside it's very much like the Oxford Street store, although a bit smaller and with a bit less choice. You see, not all boutiques are equal and it pays to be aware that while the name over the door is 'TAG Heuer' the range of watches available only extends as far as those which Watches of Switzerland have signed up to stock... oh and also, if you bring your watch back here under warranty apparently you'll be asked to pay £35 to insure the watch's safe return to the service centre... which I wouldn't be very impressed with to be honest!

Anyway, I've always had a (not so) secret penchant for the old CAR2A5A rose gold and black Heuer 01 Carrera, so on paper at least this new one looked right up my street and I was excited to spot it in the store. This one is part of TAG Heuer's 'Carbon Carrera Collection' and indeed when these watches were launched I picked this as my favourite of the three on offer (based on the pictures). Since I posted that post I've seen the other two watches and taken rather a shine to the CBG2017 (bottom left) which has some blue detailing on the dial and carbon lugs to match the bezel. In fact I would go as far as to say that if there's any watch in the current TAG Heuer line-up that could potentially part me from four months wages, this is probably it.

So what then of the rose gold lugged version? 

Well, in essence, from a distance, in pictures and from a way away, this Carbon Carrera looks pretty good. But get it out of the cabinet and something goes awry. I've noticed on some of these 43mm Carreras that the straps seem out of proportion with the head, and that's also the case here. But this wasn't an issue on the CBG2017 so what gives?

Partly I think it's the gold lugs, the CBG2017 has black (carbon) lugs so the bracelet and lugs meld into one, but here it only serves to accentuate the impression that the strap is too wide for the head. Take the picture above, at first glance the watch looks great, but the longer you look at it the more the bezel looks too small, see how far around the bezel the lugs seem to reach?

And the other problem for me seems to be those gold subdial rings, again on the CBG2017 the majority of the dial is black (save the bottom subdial ring which is blue) and this helps the watch look cohesive, but here those gold rings seem to jump forward like two bug eyes and to me at least detracts from the overall aesthetic. I also think they might have added just a little bit too much red as well, the CAR2A5A was a lot more sparing with it and it looked a lot better in my opinion.

Admittedly the carbon bezel is a cool addition to the watch, but I still can't help feeling that I prefer the Heuer 01 layout with the 6, 9, 12 subdials. I know I'm probably in the minority with that view, but I've just never taken to the Heuer 02, at least not on the skeletonized models.

It's actually very confusing and frustrating to have two very different opinions about one watch, but it just goes to show that seeing pictures and videos on the internet is no substitute for going to the store and seeing it for yourself. Some of the photos I've seen do give me the same feeling that it's not quite in proportion, but it still looks better in the pictures than it did wrapped around my wrist. 

List price on this one is £7950, which puts it up against some stiff competition like the Omega Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 (for example), but honestly this really was quite a let down for me and as the CAR2A5A is now available pre-owned for less than £5000 I think if I was genuinely in the market for a black and gold TAG Heuer then that is where my money would be heading.