This is a post that's been languishing in my 'to-do' pile for quite some time now, probably six months or thereabouts actually... (long enough that I felt the need to change the title from 'First Impressions' to 'Spotlight On' at any rate). You may have seen these last Summer and completely forgotten about them, or you might never have seen them at all and be wondering exactly what it is that you are looking at?
Well, these are a creation of Bamford Watch Department, who were originally much known for modifying Rolex watches to customer specifications (without Rolex's approval, needless to say) and who are now a partner of TAG Heuer and their official 'personaliser' of choice. In addition to customising models for customers, they also create their own 'special' models, some of which are quite horrific, and some of which are surprisingly tasty actually....
So what exactly are we looking at here? Well, Bamford in their infinite wisdom, have taken a material called 'Fordite' and used it to make replacement dials for these Calibre 5 Carreras. Don't worry if you've never heard of 'Fordite', I suspect you are in the vast majority. Despite looking like a psychedelic rock formation, what you're actually looking at is paint. More specifically, paint over-spray buildup taken from a Ford Motor Company paint spray booth.
Whether you appreciate the end result or not, you have to admire the ingenuity and of course, no two of these will ever be quite the same as the paint build-up is completely random.
I must admit I was quite intrigued when I first saw these, but over the last six months my interest has waned substantially. I like the creativity of it, but I'm not sure it's something I'd actually want to hand over my own money for. They do still have them on the Bamford website, though obviously each design is a piece-unique, so I guess they upload each one in turn as and when they sell one.
Price hasn't changed since launch, it was and still is £5500.
https://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/?page_id=6233
https://www.watchpro.com/bamford-and-black-badger-collaborate-on-unique-fordite-dials-for-tag-heuer-carrera-watches/
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