For quite some time now I've been considering purchasing an original 'TAG Heuer' blue leather strap for my Pilot watch. As long ago as last year I enquired about the cost and was pleasantly surprised when I was told it was only £87 including the buckle. If that sounds a lot to you, well... imagine my surprise when I was told the brown textile strap (without the clasp) for my WAY208C Aquaracer costs over £200! And sure, I could have found a similar, cheaper alternative, but I am a bit of a stickler for sticking to genuine straps and I thought that was pretty reasonable considering.
It's not that there was anything intrinsically wrong with the bracelet on my Pilot. It fits fine, albeit it does strike me that it could have been a bit wider especially since the watch head is quite a chunky lump. It rather reminds me of the time I tried on a gorgeous blue dial Rolex Yachtmaster* in Selfridges; that had a rather narrow bracelet too, but otherwise it was a very nice watch... if a little out of my price range!
But every time I saw a photograph of the watch on the strap I thought it looked great and so eventually I decided to go for it and boy am I pleased I did. I liked the watch before, but I really love it now. The blue leather strap really suits the watch and really accentuates its 'Navitimeresque' potential to the full.
The leather is incredibly stiff, but I am told it will soften up with use. I'm guessing it will help being kept on a cushion as well, rather than storing it flat. Believe it or not this is the first leather strap I've owned for about thirty years, and definitely my first TAG Heuer one. Now that I've tried it I'm thinking, 'What else can I put on leather?' Maybe one of my Aquaracers perhaps, or my 1500 GMT? It will have to be genuine TAG Heuer obviously, so I'll need to do some research. I did like that boutique edition Aquaracer on the brown leather strap that came out last year, so food for thought perhaps...
I also ordered a couple of other straps, one each for my recent resin case Formula 1 purchases. The black and yellow model originally came on a yellow strap, but when I got it it was on a black one (which subsequently snapped after a few days use!) and the red one was available on either a black or red strap when new, and I thought it looked better on the red. I also ordered a spare black one in case the yellow one got grubby, or in case the black one on my all black resin F1 broke or if I fancied going back to the black/red colour scheme as received (of course I've also got the black one that was taken off the red model as well, still you can't have too many).
I have to say, they look pretty fantastic and the price is very reasonable. If you go to eBay for these things you will be paying upwards of £70 per strap, which is a complete and utter rip-off! TAG Heuer charges just £32 for these straps (which come complete with the buckle and spring bars) so there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to pay a third party more than double the money when they are just going to order them from TAG themselves and work you over.
I've never been one for switching out straps in the past, the only ones I've done previously were the yellow Calibre S Aquaracer which I had put on black rubber - mainly because I could only find one on a bracelet, and my Mutligraph which I also had on black rubber - but that was because the bracelet irritated my wrist. Oh and of course I had my Aquagraph put on rubber a little while back too, so that's three actually... the others I can remember were again because I had issues with the clasps they came on, but I don't own any of those anymore. Oh and I actually got a rubber strap for my WAY208C Aquaracer when I bought it, which I'm sure is going to look really cool when I put it on one day, but as yet it's still sealed in the packet.
Hmm, so maybe I am a bit of a switcher-outer after all!
I think there may be more straps in my future, it seems like an affordable way to create new interest, which is a splendid thing in these uncertain times. I'm really quite blown away by the change it has made to my Pilot watch and I love how fresh these Formula 1s look now!
*http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/03/on-wrist-rolex-yachtmaster-blue-dial.html
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