SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Maui' Limited Edition

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Yes, another 'Island' based limited edition TAG Heuer Aquaracer, but not a new one this time, in fact I'd estimate this was perhaps about 10 years old judging by the bezel design. Some of you may remember an 'On the Wrist' post from about 18 months ago where I tried on a Carrera Calibre 16 at Bicester Village that had a beautiful black mother of pearl dial. Seeing these photographs took me straight back to that watch, which really was quite stunning although it looked rather smaller than it's 'official' 41mm size on the wrist.

Like that Carrera, this automatic Aquaracer is also a numbered limited edition, 700 pieces this time though rather than the 300 of the CV201P-0, and this one also celebrates the island of Maui, which unlike Amami Oshima I have at least heard of and I could probably have a good stab at pointing it out on a map because of course it's part of Hawaii!

I do like the back plate engravings TAG Heuer put on these 'island' watches, it must be a great reminder of a holiday and if I was ever on a cruise ship somewhere like that I reckon I'd find it hard to resist buying one myself. But the dial is the real hook here, albeit I'm not sure if I'd prefer the 'Maui' branding to be just a little bit more subtle... especially that big white whale tail. And while I'm being critical, I'm not sure there's really enough room for the day/date complication on this dial, it does look just a little bit crammed in there, don't you think?

Black mother of pearl is a rather underused material in the watch world, there have been some ladies Aquaracers of late, which look really nice, but to find a black mother of pearl watch for a guy is quite unusual. I really liked it on that Carrera and I like it here too, but I'm not sure I'd want it as my only watch... still, I guess as a reminder of an exotic holiday location it more than fits the bill.

Pre-owned prices seem to hover between $1300-$1600 for these watches, but there really doesn't seem to be that many for sale. Actually I've just found a Japanese website which had one for sale, and it describes this piece as a '10th Anniversary Diving Edition', unfortunately that's all the information I can glean on this one.