SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Alarm Watch

WAU111D.FT6024

Obviously while I'm working on my 'BIG LIST' I'm viewing hundreds of watches a day, but one that caught my eye was this quartz Alarm Formula 1. There have been lots of alarm F1s over the years, but I don't think I'd noticed that they had made a black PVD model before - and one with a grand date no less!

I really like the boldness of the design here, the white contrasts superbly against the black dial and bezel and makes me pine for my old WAH1110 somewhat. This piece looks the same size as that dear departed watch, but apparently it's 1.5mm bigger, which just makes me like it all the more, because at 40.5mm I always felt the WAH1110 was just a little on the small side.

I like how they've created the impression of a chronograph by putting the alarm and the running seconds in symmetrically positioned subdials, that's pretty smart thinking. This in turn has left plenty of room at the base of the dial for the grand date (with colour matched date wheels) and the 'TAG Heuer Formula 1' text in bright white.

Again they've played it smart keeping almost everything on the dial white, including the TAG Heuer logo itself: this makes the watch very legible and also makes the small flashes of red on the alarm hands really pop too.

I really like the design of these FT6024 rubber straps, but if I was to buy this watch I would do it in the knowledge that I'd have to buy a replacement because the clasps on these are evil and they rip your wrist to shreds in minutes. It's a real shame, but at least there is a quick simple and relatively affordable fix in the shape of the BT0714 rubber strap which also features a ribbed design with the TAG Heuer logo and critically a pin and buckle fastening.

All in all this one looks really smart, but tracking one down looks slightly challenging. There's a couple of them available on eBay; one from America that is £850 and one from Japan which is slightly more expensive at £1015. Amazon will sell you a new one for about £1400 - but it's from a third party seller (as everything seems to be on Amazon these days) so I would be ultra-cautious about that, particularly as the seller has an 84% rating, which doesn't sound terribly promising to me!