915.613
It's amazing how even now I manage to learn new things about TAG Heuer and the watches they have produced over the last 35 years. Flush with excitement from my recent purchase of a gold plated 3000 Series chronograph from the mid 1980s I decided perhaps I should seriously think about adding some of those other 'crossover' pieces to my collection. I'm talking of course about the pieces that started life as late era 'Heuers' and which carried over into the post buyout years with TAG Heuer on the dial but not necessarily on the clasp, crown or backplate...
And so I headed to eBay, keen but expecting to be disappointed and typed in 'TAG Heuer Executive', really not believing that anything would come up in the UK, and probably not that much from the rest of the world. Imagine my surprise then when this lovely looking Executive 915.613 popped up at the top of the listings with what looked like a very long bracelet and a 'Buy It Now' price of £500. I was more than intrigued and wondered if I should buy it and stash it a while to avoid an unnecessary 'consultation' with the wife over yet another TAG Heuer appearing in my collection.
The seller reckoned the watch was 36mm in diameter, which I can just about live with; my Kirium WL1116 is 36mm and it's surprisingly okay. It is a little small, but somehow with the leather strap it looks quite good, almost dressy actually... but realistically (plastic Formula 1s aside) 36mm is a hard bottom limit for me really. Sadly I noticed that the part number ended in a '13' which suggested 'mid-size' so I fired off a message asking for clarification.
Sure enough the seller confirmed my fears, the watch was 36mm including the crown, so realistically we are talking 34mm (about the same size as a plastic Formula 1) but even more catastrophically, the bracelet wasn't as long as it appears in the photograph, the seller claiming a maximum wrist size of 7".
Discussing this with our friend Jim Dollares, he brought up a very good question: 'Did they make it in a larger size?'. I assumed they would have and that the part number would be the same but with an '06' on the end instead of the '13'. But looking in the 1987/1988 catalogue I was extremely disappointed to find that actually no, they did not make this exact watch in a larger size, it only came in two sizes: midsize (13) and ladies (08).
In fact the Executive range is largely midsize and ladies throughout, with the exception of three full size pieces (215.406, 216.406 and 214.306), all of which are chronographs. This is a bit of a shame really, because that means I can't get a nice three handed 'full size' Executive, I'd have to get a chronograph, which no doubt will be more expensive to purchase and more likely to be faulty. Sigh...
I tried Googling those chronograph part numbers by the way, two of them brought up absolutely nothing at all, but a Heuer branded 214.306 was sold at auction in 2019 by David Duggleby Auctioneers in 2019 for £300! It looked in pretty nice condition as well, but there's no detailed description, length of bracelet or confirmation that it was in working order so it's of limited value.
I checked Chrono 24 too and all they could offer me was the watch I found on eBay and another mid size piece being sold in the USA (for a slightly unrealistic - I feel, £1008!)
Despite the size issue, the one I found on eBay certainly looks in good condition, especially the bracelet with it's gold plated tips. I can't help but think a more careful seller might have deigned to wipe the fingerprints off the crystal before taking the photographs, but there we are. I do like the watch as it is, if only it was 37/38mm... and if it had a few spare links for the bracelet.
I can see why the Executive range might be a bit of a hard sell in 2021 though, it does not look particularly 'cool' like say a '3000 Series' does. It's also rather uncharacteristic of TAG Heuer generally and many TAG Heuer enthusiasts may find it rather, umm... dated, perhaps?
I must admit I quite like it, much more than the 'Titanium' from the same era, but I don't really like the chronographs as much as the three handers and it seems a bit of an odd choice to put a chronograph into a watch which is clearly meant to be rather 'dressy'.
Link to the eBay sale page:
Link to the Auction page on the David Duggleby site:
Link to Chrono 24 page for the 915.713 grey dial variant
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