CW2118.FC6207
#3. WI2110.FC6009: S/EL Leather Automatic Watch
When considering 'luxury' products, white can be a tricky colour to utilise well: it can easily look 'inexpensive' or (heaven forbid) 'entry level', but can also work very well... particularly when used as a 'partner' colour or (as with silver dials) if you want a watch that can wear a variety of coloured straps. So I thought I would trawl the TAG Heuer Enthusiast Gallery Blog once again and pick out my favourite white dial watches and try to put them in some kind of order of preference.
One thing that's worth mentioning before we go any further is that some watches that you think have white dials, when you look them up you find they actually have silver dials. One such example was the Carrera Calibre 360 which made my short list but fell out when I looked at the Watchfinder listing and realised it might not actually be white after all. Same goes for the quartz Aquaracer 'Night Diver' which looks white in pictures but definitely looks more silvery in the flesh, which is a bit of a shame really as it rather spoils the monochrome effect.
One watch which definitely is white is the white ceramic ladies Aquaracer, which I would be more than happy to wear if it was made in a larger size. Alas it's only available in a diameter of 35mm which is too small on me for a watch that looks this 'feminine'. A real pity that, cos it would make a nice, unusual addition to my collection.
Then there's the Monaco CW2118 pictured above; man, this wasn't even close and honestly I do think this one looks just a little bit tacky, like a 'knock-off' of the real thing. I can certainly see why they didn't continue down this path anyway... definitely not for me.
Another one which made the short list is the CK111R 2000 Series Searacer. This one has a bright white dial with red and green highlights and was a pretty strong contender. The dial isn't the cleanest looking but I have a bit of a soft spot for it and I'd really like one if I could find it for a sensible price (i.e. £500 not the £750+ it seems to go for on eBay).
And finally a couple of others that are worthy of mention but which didn't make the final cut are the 160th Anniversary 'Montreal' Carrera and the 385.513 classic F1. I kinda like the bonkers Montreal, although again it's definitely not for me and I while I own it (twice) I felt like the Formula 1 didn't stack up to the rest of the competition because the white dial was merely incidental; all the impact of that watch comes from the red strap and case and while the white dial does look good, it's not really that impressive on it's own.
So with that out of the way, here are my top five 'white dial' TAG Heuer watches to date...
#5. CAR2A12.FT6033 Carrera McLaren 1974 L/E
Originally this post began with my 1500 GMT, a watch that I credit with 'changing my mind' about white dials. However someone pointed out to me that they were surprised I hadn't included the Carrera McLaren 1974 Limited Edition watch, and so was I! I must have missed it when I was compiling my shortlist. Anyway, I decided that it deserved to go in, even at the expense of the 1500, which is still very cool.
#4: 530.806K: Pilot Quartz Chronograph
The first piece from my own collection and admittedly the white dial here is serving merely as a backdrop for the gorgeous blue subdials, chapter ring and bezel; but it's so 'clean' it really does look amazing and I couldn't possibly leave it off this list. Nowadays it wears an original blue leather strap (still available from TAG Heuer believe it or not) which looks even better than the bracelet in my opinion.
Another watch that I've chosen from my own collection, this one is the perfect watch for any strap but also features a stunning dial in it's own right. I bought this primarily because I wanted an S/EL Leather that could wear any of the eight available strap colours (red, garnet red, dark green, torquoise, blue, navy blue, brown and black) and it was only when it arrived from Japan that I realised quite how nice the dial was. It certainly looks a lot higher end than you would imagine with an almost 'enamel' finish to it.
#2. CBE2114.EB0131: Heuer Autavia 'Calibre 11' Ltd Edition
#1. WAY2013.BA0927: Aquaracer Calibre 5 Watch
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