Saturday, 17 October 2020

HISTORY: TAG Heuer Golf (2005-2009)

 


The TAG Heuer 'Golf' watch is perhaps one of the strangest models ever to come out of the factory in La Chaux de Fonds. Renowned mainly as the 'square' TAG Heuer that isn't the Monaco (although that doesn't stop some people listing them as Monacos on eBay...) the watch was designed to be worn when playing Golf - hence the name. As such it is on the small side for a modern watch and it features a unique and inventive fastening system, leaving the impression that the watch has no clasp.

In fact the case of the watch folds open (that's what the two buttons are for on the case) to reveal the end of the rubber strap which has to be cut to approximate length. It's a unique idea and presumably was designed to remove the clasp from the strap to maximise comfort and security for the player. Also to this end, the crown was fitted to the left side of the case, taking it out of the way when in use (assuming it was worn on the left wrist).

2005 CATALOGUE

The Golf was first featured in the 2005 catalogue, presumably born out of TAG Heuer's association with legendary golfer Tiger Woods, but just one watch was included; the WAE1111.


WAE1111.FT6004: 37mm, black 'golf-ball' dial, titanium/steel case, black rubber strap


2005 SPRING CATALOGUE

In the Spring Collection catalogue of 2005, the second Golf was added, this one featuring a 'Tiger Woods' logo at the '6' position. This one was apparently a 'limited edition', though with an 8000 piece production run it's the second least 'limited' limited edition in the TAG Heuer collection.


WAE1110.FT6004: 37mm, black dial, titanium/steel case, black rubber strap (L/E Tiger Woods)


2006-2007 CATALOGUE

Again the 2006-2007 catalogue adds just one new watch, the all white WAE1112. While this is identical to the WAE1111 in all but colour, the advertising clearly establishes that this is for the 'lady golfer'.


WAE1112.FT6008: 37mm, white 'golf-ball' dial, titanium/steel case, white rubber strap


2007-2008 CATALOGUE

The next catalogue announces two new Golfs, alongside the WAE1111 and WAE1112 (presumably all 8000 WAE1110s had sold out by this point?), one of which brings a vivid shock of colour to the range.


WAE1113.FT6004: 37mm, grey dial, titanium/steel/PVD case, black rubber strap
WAE1114.FT6011: 37mm, pink MOP dial, titanium/steel case, pink rubber strap


2008-2009 CATALOGUE

The 2008-2009 catalogue shows all four Golfs as featured in the last catalogue, with no new models added. This was the last catalogue to feature the TAG Heuer Golf watch.


NON-CATALOGUE MODELS

There are three Golf watches that were never shown in a TAG Heuer catalogue. The WAE1115 was a 500 piece limited edition and the WAE1116 and WAE1117 appear to be mildly facelifted versions of the WAE1111 and WAE1112.


WAE1115.FT6004: 37mm, grey/red dial, titanium/steel/PVD case, rubber strap (L/Edition)
WAE1116.FT6004: 37mm, black 'golf-ball' dial, titanium/steel case, black rubber strap
WAE1117.FT6008: 37mm, white 'golf-ball' dial, titanium/steel case, white rubber strap



A page from the 2007/08 catalogue illustrating the fastening mechanism

The WAE1115 is very hard to find information on. Googling it only brings up a lot of replica sites and I actually wondered if it was a genuine model at all. But Tom at Bicester Village helpfully confirmed that it does appear on the TAG Heuer system. Finding a genuine piece might be something of a challenge though given the amount of replicas out there, personally I think I'd go for the WAE1113 instead.

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