373.508
Regular readers might remember that my wife finally got herself a classic Formula 1 on a bracelet last year. After much back and forth over colourways, she eventually settled on the black and green over the pink and black and she's been very happy with it ever since. Even so, those brightly coloured versions with the resin straps keep coming up and a few weeks ago she nearly puled the trigger on a black and yellow model for £349.
She bailed at the last minute, citing the price and the yellow strap as her stumblng blocks and I can understand why. £349 does seem a lot for a watch that originally cost much less, but these primary coloured watches are very popular and the good ones do seem to fetch big money. Or perhaps more accurately, people seem to ask big money, whether they actually ever get it is another matter.
Her other worry (about the yellow strap) is understandable too - keeping that free from grubiness would be a nightmare and she also said something about it not suiting her (extremely pale) skin tone. Don't ask me chaps!
So then this 373.508 appeared on eBay with a much more reasonable asking price of £175, admittedly not in the same condition as the black/yellow one - but equally almost half the price. The seller was inviting offers too, although since it was an auction I rather suspect he was hoping for higher offers to finish the listing early.
So with less than an hour to go and with no bids on the board, I put in an offer of £165 - nothing ventured, etc... however no response was forthcoming and the auction ended without a buyer. The next day I got an email offering to sell the watch to me at the starting price, and my wife decided to go for it.
The watch has recently had a new movement, the date wheel moves crisply and the action of the crown in general is superb. The crystal does have one noticeable mark and three or four other marks, but you can't really see them unless you turn the glass so that the light is shining on it. The noticeable mark (the only one you'll see in these pictures) is near the '55' marking on the bezel.
The bezel itself is in excellent condition and also turns crisply, while the case is virtually unmarked. There are some marks to the caseback, probably where the watch has been removed over a ringed hand. The dial and hands also look great and while the lume is pretty weak in normal circumstances under a UV light it's plainly still there, as is the lume pip in the bezel.
While it doesn't really show up in these pictures (or the eBay photos), the orange strap is a little grubby around the edges, but I've seen a lot worse. I think it's fine but if my wife does decide to get a new one I've already found a place on the internet selling them for £62. Obviously before paying that I would check with TAG Heuer directly as you always should - eBay prices are sometimes hilariously over the top - see my Aquagraph rubber strap which was half the price quoted by some sellers!
I wouldn't be surprised if eventually my wife decides to replace the strap and the crystal, and if we assume a total cost of say £120, then she'll have a pretty mint watch with a brand new movement in it for under £300. Currently there's another 373.508 on eBay for £399, so that seems like a reasonable investment, not that I think she'll ever sell it.
Another option she could take would be to switch the bracelet from her green/black model onto this one and get a black strap for that one. At least grubiness wouldn't be an issue, although it would diminish the overall impact of this watch not having a coloured strap. That's one of the joys of these old F1s though, the ability to mix and match. There's also a light grey strap available which would work well with the dial, but again I really think she wants this one to be bright and who can blame her? I wouldn't mind a man-size version of one of these myself!
Link to replacement strap from 'The Watch Dealer'
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