BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Executive Quartz Watch

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Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time will perhaps remember the trials and tribulations I have experienced when it comes to watch sizes. I bought a 35mm 2000 Series in 2015 and immediately sold it on because it was too small for me, then I bought a 37mm 2000 Series, wore it for a year and decided it too was too small for my 7.5/8" wrist and sold it (my biggest watch regret to date incidentally)... but then fast forward to 2021 and my collection is festooned with 35 and 37mm watches, in fact so much so that the average size in my collection is currently standing at 38.7mm!

But aside from my classic F1s, the smallest 'normal' watch I own is my 36mm blue dial Kirium (on a blue leather strap). This works in a smaller size because the whole thing is highly polished and the blue leather strap makes it feel more substantial somehow. I think, much like gold, when you have a very eye catching and highly polished watch it doesn't need to be quite as big, in fact a watch like that in 40mm could be a bit too big for its own good.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco 24 'Racing' Calibre 36 Chronograph by WatchBox Studios

 

FEATURE: Is Hublot the New TAG Heuer?

 

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When I first really got into watches, one of the things which annoyed me the most was how much vitriol TAG Heuer attracted. Thankfully it seems to have died down a bit now, but a few years ago it was de rigueur to slag TAG Heuer at every opportunity and even now YouTubers looking for a few extra clicks often resort to reasoned, balanced videos with titles like 'TAG Heuer; just how CRAP are they?' and 'Let's talk about how much TAG Heuer SUCK ASS!!!'.

I'm paraphrasing of course and I talked about this at length in a previous post so I'll try not to bore you by repeating myself, but recently it seems like while the heat has gone off TAG Heuer a little bit, it's perhaps only because the watch community has found itself a new whipping boy and a target with a softer underbelly at that.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 Titanium Chronograph by Jim Dollares

 

Instagram @ JimDollares

VIDEO: TAG Heuer/Hodinkee Dato 45 by Timeless Sneakers and Watches

 

HISTORY: TAG Heuer Calibre S Movement (2007-2014)

 
 

Back in the mid 2000s and under the control of Jean Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer had aspirations to move upmarket and part of this was the drive to showcase its technology, which in turn led to the brand winning numerous awards for horological achievements (the TAG Haters never want to talk about those do they?). While TAG Heuer made some real high end haute horlogerie movements like the V4 for the Monaco and the Mikropendulum for the Carrera, they also created during this period an 'in-house' electro-mechanical movement that was attainable for those of us with more modest budgets.

The Calibre S was announced in 2005, but it wasn't until 2007 that it first appeared on the market. Initially it was offered in just two product lines and right off the bat it was available in two variations: the standard Calibre S in the Link and the Aquaracer and the Calibre S 'Regatta' in the Aquaracer. 

The 'Regatta' version of the watch had a countdown function, which was intended for use in yacht racing. When the ten minute signal is given you would activate the watch and it would count down the ten minutes until the start of the race and then automatically switch into standard chronograph mode to start timing your 'elapsed time'. This feature was also available at various times in the 2000 Series and Link Searacer models.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 4000 Series Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: Unboxing the TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300 Professional 43mm and 36mm by 2ndopinion ph

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Black Ceramic & Rose Gold Ladies Watch

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village 20th August 2021

Some of you may remember just over a year ago I wrote a post about which ladies watches I'd like to see made in men's sizes; one of those watches was this beautiful black ceramic and rose gold Aquaracer which my wife tried on today at TAG Heuer's Bicester Village boutique. I'd seen this on previous visits to the store, but this was the first time my wife was with me and she was as keen as I was to get a closer look at it.

It really is quite stunning close up; the ceramic looks matt in the render above but I can assure you that it is a very rich, glossy black and looks absolutely fantastic. The entire exterior of the watch is made of black ceramic except for the backplate, the butterfly clasp and the bezel inset (and possibly the crown - not 100% sure on that) and I just love the contrast between the highly polished rose gold and the black. It really reminds me of some of those fantastic old 80s Heuers / TAG Heuers that are rarer than hen's teeth to find in good condition these days (albeit they were yellow gold back then of course, not rose).

GALLERY: Heuer Monaco 50th Anniversary (1969-1979) Limited Edition Chronograph by Calibre 1972

Instagram @ Calibre1972

Also visit Calibre 1972 / Remo's You Tube Channel

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Monaco GP' Limited Edition Calibre 16 Chronograph by Swiss Watch Expo

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Pieces in the Latest 'EST 1897' Sale

 

Apologies to anyone not living in the UK, unfortunately this may not really be relevant to you...

You may or may not be aware of EST 1897; on balance I'm guessing not since they haven't really penetrated the market to the same extent that (for example) Watchfinder have, but they do have a considerable amount of pre-owned watch stock including a lot of TAG Heuer pieces. You may even have one of their branches nearby and not know it, because while they do have their own branded stores they also operate through any network of pawn shops, which means you can have watches sent to your local store to try on.

I have personally bought two watches from my local EST 1897 pawn shop and had zero problems with either. Both had a year's warranty (now expired) and both were bought during one of the company's fairly frequent sale events. I was very lucky to pick up my Link Searacer for the ridiculously low price of £500 (reduced from £995 - which is much more like it, but in fact still quite low) and I also bought my 2000 Exclusive in two-tone from them at a decent discount too.

This morning I got an email from them telling me that their latest sale was starting today and I headed over to their website to check it out. Unlike most pre-owned watch companies, when EST 1897 do a sale they don't just pick out some slow moving stock and drop the prices, they just reduce almost everything they've got - which is pretty silly when you think about it, but it does present some great opportunities for the potential customer.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Targa Florio by Marshall Time

 

FEATURE: My Top Five TAG Heuer Monzas

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The Monza is perhaps the most overlooked of all TAG Heuer's model ranges and most definitely plays second fiddle to the ever popular Monaco. The case is a truly curious shape; from some angles it suggests a squarer shape than it really is (though it's impossible to deny that it has four 'sides'). Looking through the post-1985 Monzas I quickly realised that I'm not a big fan of the three handed models and with those discarded I wasn't left with a huge pool of references from which to compile a top five. Still, that's never stopped me before and the Monza has definitely been overlooked on this blog in the past, so let's begin...

 

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 2000 Series WE1110-R by Anthony Ranalli

Instagram @ Anthony_ranalli

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 6000 Series Quartz Watch by Birth Year Watches

 

FEATURE: A Brief History of Ladies TAG Heuer Watches

Link Lady Diamond Star Haute Couture Concept Watch

In the 'olden days' (and by that I mean the 80s and 90s) ladies TAG Heuer watches were basically variations on men's models... or perhaps you could say that watches were available in a variety of sizes. This was certainly the case for models such as the 3000 Series which were available in four different sizes ranging from ladies, to boys, to midsize, to full size men's. Can you imagine TAG Heuer (or indeed anyone) offering four sizes of one pretty much identical watch today? And of course the irony is that back then full size generally meant 37/38mm (with 40mm considered 'Jumbo') so the sizes might be 25mm / 28mm / 33mm / 37mm - which is why you must be very careful buying older pieces on eBay. if you don't want to end up with a dinky version of that 3000 you thought you were getting cheap!

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 GMT by Talking Timepieces

 

FEATURE: Is the Carrera CBN2A1B.FC6481 Really a 'Special Edition'?

 

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If there's one subject that divides the watch community right down the middle it must surely be 'Limited / Special Editions'. Some people love them, some people hate them... personally I don't see a problem with them, but some people feel very strongly that they undermine a brand's integrity and point to Rolex as the absolute way to do things. Of course this conveniently overlooks certain anomolies but just think, if Rolex had made some more special editions along the way then maybe people wouldn't be so obsessed with 'water damaged' and just plain 'cracked'... I mean 'exotically patinated' dials.

In the past Limited/Special Editions were fairly straightforward, at least in my mind: Limited Edition meant 'X' number available, but may or not be individually numbered. This doesn't necessarily mean a low number though; in the fairly recent past TAG Heuer made a Kimi Raikonnen limited edition Formula 1 of 10,000 pieces - which by today's standards doesn't sound very 'limited' at all. Think about that for a moment, ten thousand watches at a grand each or somewhere close is £10M. Kimi must have been incredibly popular back in the late 00s!

GALLERY: Heuer Carrera 160th Anniversary Limited Edition Chronograph by Thingz I Like Too

Instagram @ thingziliketoo

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch by Birth Year Watches

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: New Arrivals at TAG Heuer Bicester Village

 

Call the store on (01869) 249008

As expected given their disappearance from the TAG Heuer website recently, the discontinued ladies Formula 1 range is starting to show up at the outlet. Here is a selection of what is on offer along with some other nice pieces for the gentlemen...

Please note, the 41mm Carrera Calibre 16 is also available in the Limited Edition 'Indy 500' variant, though it costs an additional £300 (on a black leather strap) over the basic version. It's worth the extra though if like me you have an aversion to 'fauxtina' as the Indy version has plain white lume on the hands. 

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32mm Formula 1 quartz

List Price - £1700

Offer Price - £1200

GALLERY: TAG Heuer F1 Kirium Quartz Chronograph

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T Titanium Limited Edition Chronograph

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer Aquaracer WAB1112 Quartz Watch

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When TAG Heuer say that the Aquaracer's roots lie in the classic 1000 Series, I can only assume they are referring to this watch, the original Aquaracer released in 2005, or as it was called back then the '2000 Aquaracer'. Because for sure pretty much every Aquaracer that followed has much more in common with the 2000 Series it evolved from and indeed the unbelievably cool 3000 Series. But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of a good story, they are both dive watches made by the same company and that's surely enough, right?

But to be honest, to me this one has always reminded me of the Rolex Submariner. Yes it shares a lot of similarities with the 1000, most notably those round hour markers and the 'triangle' at the 12 position, but where did they come from originally? Well, who knows, probably someone more educated in vintage watches will inform me that actually those details were 'inspired' by another (older) watch, but let's be completely honest - rightly or wrongly, most people equate round hour markers, a triangle at the 12 and this kind of bezel with the Rolex Submariner.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 2000 Series 'Tristar' Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: Why the TAG Heuer Monaco is an Icon by Teddy Baldasserre

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: The TAG Heuer Enthusiast Blog

Original header from 2016!

First of all, I'm afraid there is no 'proper' post today... I have simply run out of time and to be honest 'inspiration'. I thought I had a good idea, but it turns out the idea I had I already used last year; here is a link to that post... just in case you need something to read.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2020/02/spotlight-on-tag-heuer-formula-1-ukyo.html

So instead I thought I would take this opportunity to thank everyone who visits and reads my blog every day, it is much appreciated, and also to remind you that there is more to this blog than it seems at first glance, especially if you are visiting on a smartphone.

Unfortunately the 'Smartphone' view hides all the banners down the right hand side which are there to prompt you to visit different areas of the blog (more can be found in the 'Tabs' at the top of the page - directly beneath the 'Header'), these too are missing from the 'Phone' view, but they can be accessed via the drop down menu or by clicking on the 'View Web Browser' text at the bottom of each post (you will need to do this to be able to watch the videos on your phone by the way). 

These include:

Index: This page contains links to every single post on this blog, all 2000+ of them.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/features.html

New Arrivals at TAG Heuer Bicester Village: This page features new watches arriving at the TAG Heuer outlet here in the UK.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/new-arrivals-at-tag-heuer-bicester.html

TAG Heuer Part Number Menu: This page is a menu which allows you to access all the model ranges and lists every part number I have found for each one. As I am doing the history posts these pages are being revised and updated. Most of the numbers will open a picture of the watch when you click on them.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

A Visit to TAG Heuer: This page recounts my latest trip to Switzerland and features many pictures taken in the TAG Heuer museum and factory during my visit there in 2018.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/read-about-my-visit-to-tag-heuer.html

Interviews: This is a 'menu' page which allows you to access all the interviews I have conducted on this blog. So far these have all been with members of the Calibre 11 forum but hopefully one day this may expand beyond that...

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html

Gallery Blog: This is a link to my other blog, a pictorial guide to TAG Heuer containing over 3000 images. You can search this blog using the search box at the top, although it is not 100% reliable so I would recommend clicking on the small black box at the top right and using the labels to search instead.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/gallery.html

History - An In Depth Guide to TAG Heuer: This is another menu page which allows access to each of the 'History Posts' I have done so far. It is my intention to do all the 'TAG Heuer' model ranges eventually, even the Carrera... though that might have to be done in sections. 

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/p/history.html

I actually received a nice message via my Instagram account recently, thanking me for making the 3000 and 1500 posts and asking if I will be doing the 1000 and 2000 Series models as well. I really appreciated this message since these History posts are hugely time consuming to create and of course they only stay at the top of the page for one day... 

I have already done the history of the SLR, the 6000 Series and the Calibre S and these are in the queue to be posted one per month. I have sort of started work on the Aquaracer, but that is going to be a huge job so I may well do the 2000 Series before that, we'll see.

Anyway, if you already knew all this, great! If not then hopefully you will have plenty to look at over the next 48 hours while I try to come up with something ready for Tuesday* morning... 

Thanks again for your interest in my blog and the TAG Heuer brand.

*Actually, it will now be Wednesday morning. I have reluctantly taken the decision to change my posting routine to every third day (post one day, video one day, gallery pic one day) - this may change in the future when I have more to write about and when I have more time available to create posts.