BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch

 
381.513/1

I'm sure by now you must be rolling your eyes... after six months without purchasing a single watch, I've now bought five classic F1's on the trot (seven if you include my wife's pieces), and yes I'm afraid it is a pretty familiar story so I will keep this post mercifully brief!

A few weeks ago I bought a yellow/grey model from a Japanese seller called 'Spirit*Age' and I was pretty impressed with the quality of what I got, so I kept an eye on his listings and sure enough something soon came up which piqued my interest.

The 381.513 was one of the early entries in the Formula 1 range and it last appears in the 1991 catalogue. Aside from a little wear to the bezel at the '6' position, this one is in fantastic condition all round. Again, like the other F1 I got from 'Spirit*Age' this one features a much thicker plastic strap than I've found on my other watches. I don't know if this is because this is still the original strap or if for some reason the Japanese straps are made thicker? This one certainly isn't new, it's quite well worn and rounded on the end, but I guess they last longer when they are twice as thick!

After my last Japanese buying experience (my green and black 375.513 bought from 'HH7373' on eBay) I was expecting to pay import tax, but again the watch was pushed through my letterbox with no demand for payment. I'm assuming it has something to do with how 'Spirit*Age' sends the parcel, but I'm not really sure. Still, I'm not complaining.

There is a little wear to the back of the strap where the spring bar goes, not sure what happened there but it doesn't look in imminent danger of breaking. As it happens I have a spare BS0081 in my drawer just in case.

I don't want to say this is the last of my classic Formula 1 purchases, because we both know I can't make that sort of commitment. But buying these has definitely chipped away at the old TAG fund quite significantly, maybe it's time to save again and work up to something bigger, perhaps that Aquaracer 'Batman' GMT I reviewed a couple of weeks ago... or maybe something else?