SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph (S.A.E.F. Special Edition)

 

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Back in the early 90s, TAG Heuer seemingly made quiet a few 'special edition' watches for 'business' customers. We've seen various special dials which were clearly made for companies or other organisations, one obvious example being the first generation Formula 1 with a BP logo on the dial. This still goes on of course, with AMJ Watches in the UK seemingly at the forefront of organising and retailing watches for groups such as the Freemasons and the Emergency Services...

But this one was a new one on me, a green dial Formula 1 quartz chronograph with the TAG Heuer logo removed and in it's a place on octagonal logo with a horse's head in the centre. Nope, definitely doesn't ring any bells with me!

Turns out (if you blow the picture up large enough) that this one was made for the 'Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation'... which is 'a governing body that sets plans and systems to accelerate equestrian sport in Saudi Arabia' (according to their website).

This organisation was apparently founded '1410/5/29 AH' (from the Islamic Hirji Calendar) which relates to the 27th of December 1989, while the logo on the dial carries the date '1990'. 

Which doesn't really help us pin down the year of manufacture, at all. You see, the familiar 1/10 second style quartz chronographs we all know and love replaced the original 'date dial' models around 1991 (they appear for the first time in the 1991 catalogue) but this watch can't have been made then because the model number clearly means it must have been produced in 1992 or later*

(*In the 1992/93 catalogue TAG Heuer assigned new part numbers to all models, ditching the old XXX.XXX system in favour of a two letters/four numbers configuration.)

As usual, the watch carries a standard model number on the reverse, which tells us that the dial colour would originally have been black. I really like the green that they've used here, it's a pity they didn't make a standard dial in this combination of colours as there's a distinct lack of green dial TAG Heuers and this is definitely one of the more aesthetically pleasing ones.

This one presumably started life on a bracelet, but here it is being sold on a leather strap (which looks rather out of place to me). Funnily enough, I know someone who recently bought an early 90s Formula 1 chronograph and he quickly took it off the bracelet as he decided it was completely 'unwearable' - but then he went and put it on a NATO (to my utter dismay), still, each to his own.... I guess! :)

The watch was listed on eBay with a starting price of £249.99, it received fourteen bids and eventually climbed to £400. Although I liked the watch, knowing that it didn't come on the original bracelet (and knowing that the original bracelet is apparently 'pretty terrible') it did make me wonder what I would have put it on if I had bid for it myself. 

I think it looks a bit odd on this leather strap, and I don't like NATOs, so what's left? Rubber, of course. Presumably the rubber straps for the original series chronographs would fit, or could be made to fit, but as to whether they are still available I really don't know. A pity, because the watch itself is really quite nice.

As a 'historian' it's always interesting to come across these unusual bespoke models, but at the same time it's frustrating that TAG Heuer didn't give them unique part numbers, even it was just another letter on the end or something... still, I guess nobody really thought that anyone would be interested thirty years into the future, back then quartz watches were viewed as fairly 'disposable', even relatively expensive ones.

If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years it's that there's always something else waiting to be discovered and I kinda like that about TAG Heuer. Contrast that with a brand like Rolex where there are so many people interested and so much money to be made for any little deviation that probably almost everything about them is 'known'. From what I can gather TAG Heuer's record keeping pre-LVMH wasn't exactly what you would call meticulous, I guess they were more interested in keeping afloat and trying to turn the company around from the dark days of the early 80s.