SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

 

WG1112

As you might imagine, I spend a goodly amount of time browsing eBay every week, but for some reason Sunday evening is my 'time of choice' for really digging deep. It's usually then that I post hilariously bad fakes to the Calibre 11 forum, while simultaneously adding the sellers names to my 'Ebay Blacklist'. 

This past Sunday I was watching yet another classic Formula 1 (and indeed it is currently on its way to me from Japan), when I spotted a really rather nice quartz three handed S/EL with a white dial. The price was ludicrously low at £205, but with a couple of hours to go I figured it would climb to about £300, nevertheless I kept the window open just in case.

I returned to the window a few times during the evening, expecting every time to find the watch had bid up to and passed the £250 mark, but no, it was stubbornly refusing to budge. With an hour left I was starting to wonder if I had room in my life for a very clean looking white dial S/EL on a black strap and I concluded that if it stayed at that price then maybe I did!

There was a niggling doubt though, something didn't look quite right though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As the time ticked away and the price remained steady I cast my furrowed brow over the details once again... 'Strap fits 190mm or 7.1/4" wrist'. Hmm, that's a problem as my wrist is at least 7.1/2". I looked at the photo again and decided the strap didn't look unusually short - but still, it sowed a few seeds of doubt in my mind, after all the last thing I wanted was a bargain watch that immediately needed new a £90 strap!

But then 190mm is 7.1/2" not 7.1/4"... my finger hovered over the bid button anxious to add another watch to my somewhat 'out of control' collection. But no, the doubt was too great and I silently cursed as the watch sold for £205. Turning to my wife I said, 'Look at that, someone just got that for £205!'. She humoured me as she usually does in these moments, almost managing to keep the 'do you really need another watch' look off her face.

As is often the way with these 'missed opportunities', I mulled over the listing for some time until I realised what had triggered my doubts. You might assume, given the odd shape of the strap ends that this watch originally came on this strap, but in fact the WG1112 was only ever available on a bracelet. Furthermore, any S/EL's that came on leather bands either had a rather elaborate end link like this:

Or, later in the model's life TAG Heuer did away with the end link and modified (some might say mutilated) the case to accommodate a normal square ended strap, like this:

As you can tell from my choice of words, I do not find this solution particularly aesthetically pleasing, but I will concede that the original idea was a bit unusual and perhaps not to everyone's taste (and perhaps a somewhat expensive solution for TAG Heuer, especially for the cheaper 'three hand' models).

While I do think TAG Heuer's solution to the problem was unappealing, this 'aftermarket' solution has it's own problems for sure. Like the 4000 Series (with it's bizarrely protruding TAG Heuer shield), without the bracelet in place the lugs look... well they look like they were designed with the bracelet in mind to be honest! But I still think this looks better overall than the 'moustache' shaped case edge they eventually plumped for!

So in a way, I was somewhat relieved that I hadn't purchased the watch, seeing as I like to keep my watches on genuine TAG Heuer straps and bracelets, but this wasn't quite the end of the story, because two days later the watch re-appeared on eBay with a new starting price of £285!

So I don't know what happened here, maybe the seller was unhappy with the price realised and cancelled the sale, or maybe the buyer flaked on him - or maybe the £205 was 'shilling' by the seller? On the one hand I think £285 is probably a fairer price for the item, but on the other if it only reached £205, why would it sell at £285? Maybe the seller feels the price scared people off, in a 'why is that so cheap' kinda way... which is a possibility I suppose. 

I can't help feeling this is one of those watches I might have purchased (at £205) because it was 'cheap' and lost interest in a week later, but even so, looking at it now I can't deny that that white dial looks very sharp indeed!