SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Tristar Quartz Watch

 

956.313

The Tristar is, perhaps, the most overlooked TAG Heuer of all. But unlike the Titanium and the Executive (two other models often forgotten) the Tristar was never a Heuer, and is only available with a TAG Heuer logo on the dial. It appears in the 1987-1988 catalogue, but not the 1987 nor the 1988 ones and makes only one other appearance, in a 1988 Japanese leaflet which I wrote about some time ago. 

Let's be honest, it's not exactly a 'classic' and if there's one watch from the archives that's NEVER going to get the re-release treatment, then this is it. But I must admit, I do have a little bit of a fascination with it, particularly in this gold and black configuration.

I came across this one on eBay a couple of weeks ago (wrongly listed as a 356.313) and was immediately struck by the NOS condition. The watch was being sold by 'Japan.Premium.Shop' which is probably no great surprise, given the aforementioned Japanese leaflet. It looks pretty magnificent, but then the price was also pretty magnificent as well, approximately £912 ($1235).

On top of that you have to factor in import tax, which as I found out not so very long ago, can add a significant amount to the bill. I would presume somewhere between £300-400 for this one, making it very expensive indeed for me to buy it.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately.... the 13 at the end of the model number signifies that this in fact a 'mid-size' piece, I'm guessing somewhere around 34mm. As you can tell the crown looks quite a decent size and if this was a full size watch that crown would be excessively large. It's a shame it's not a 956.306, but then I guess the price would be even higher.

And really, you can't quibble over the price when the watch is in this condition. Black and gold TAG Heuer's from the 80s don't come up all that often and when they do the condition is usually fairly poor. The black and gold is almost always worn away, especially on the bracelets - unfortunately they just weren't built to last back then.

As ever with the Tristar, the hands look a bit too small to me, but maybe that's because hands have got thicker in recent years, mainly to facilitate the application of more lume. They do look rather skinny though, especially since the bezel is quite chunky and 'Soviet-industrial' looking!

So perhaps it's not actually that surprising that when I revisited the item yesterday I found that the item was no longer for sale and had in fact been sold for the asking price. The seller did say that this is not the original box for the watch, but that it was included in the sale. I do rather wonder what this box did come with, as it looks quite a step up from the box I got with my steel 3000 Series. Perhaps this is the box the Golden Hours watches came in? I really don't know...

I'm going to keep looking for a Tristar, but it has to be full size for me. I'd prefer the black and gold, but I know the chances of finding a full size one in an acceptable condition are slim... so it will most likely end up being the more common two tone model with the silver face. One of those came up towards the end of last year, but again it was mid-size, so I had to let it go. 

If we are talking about supercool 80s black and gold TAG Heuers though, my dream watch would have to be a NOS full size 3000 Series. I don't think I've ever seen one of these for sale and Googling the part number brings up absolutely nothing of any use. This page is from the same Japanese leaflet I mentioned earlier and it also contains a black and gold 3000 Chronograph, which is also pretty gorgeous. 

Ah well, I can dream...