ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Tribute to 844' Calibre 5 Limited Edition Watch

 

WBP208C.FT6201

Harrods / London, 15th September 2021

Last time I visited Harrods, the room at the end of the corridor which houses the TAG Heuer (and other assorted) watches looked like a bit of a dump. Well that's a bit unfair, it wasn't a 'dump' as such, it just looked like a spare room that the 'rest' of the watches had been put in while they waited for the decorators to visit. This time that had all changed and the walls and ceiling were nicely finished so that they matched the rest of the 'boutiques' along the bottom floor corridor.

So I was more than a little surprised to be told that all this was about to be ripped out to make way for a dedicated TAG Heuer boutique, fitted out just like the one on Oxford Street. The man who told me this was the manager Darnell, a great guy who seemingly has almost as much enthusiasm for TAG Heuer as I do. Impressive!

But I wasn't expecting a great deal from the TAG Heuer section if I'm honest, because the last few times I'd visited there was nothing in there that couldn't be had in my local Goldsmiths. So I was pleasantly surprised to see the 'Porsche' Carrera (bracelet and strap versions), the newly released Aquaracer 'Night Diver', both the tortoiseshell bezel Aquaracers, the blue dial limited edition Carrera Calibre 5 with the red second hand and the Aquaracer 'Tribute to 844' on display. There may well have been even more goodies available but I never actually made it all the way to the end of the cabinet and I had a 'timed-entry' ticket to the V&A (which was a bit of a nuisance).

But still I managed to try on three watches while I was there, this one, the blue tortoiseshell bezel Aquaracer and the Carrera 'Porsche edition' on the leather strap, both of which will be reviewed soon. And apparently we have Darnell to thank for this change of fortunes as he made clear that if this is going to be a 'proper' TAG Heuer boutique going forward then he needs the right stock on hand. Couldn't agree more, especially since the TAG Heuer Oxford Street boutique was still restricting access when I visited London so I couldn't actually go in...

Now, when the new Aquaracer came out, I'm not afraid to say that I didn't really take to it. But as time goes by and I get more and more exposed to it, I can feel that I'm warming up to it and since the 844 was the pick of the bunch at launch it made perfect sense to try this one over the 'Night Diver' which I'm sure will be much easier to hunt down another time. Indeed, I never actually thought I'd get to see a 'Tribute to 844' in the flesh as I assumed it would be sold out before it ever hit the shops; after all the TAG Heuer website shows the product as out of stock right now, so this must be a pretty lucky find eh?

When I wrote about it back in April I said I liked it 'but'... I wasn't keen on the fauxtina, and there were too many octagons all over the bloody place. Well, I still hate the fauxtina, in fact it's even worse than I thought because it's so dark, but the octagons really don't bother me anymore - and it turns out the octagons in the rubber strap are actually quite cool, which I wasn't expecting!

The new Aquaracer definitely 'feels' like a higher quality watch than the previous model. I'm not too sure why that is, and oddly it's even more the case when you pick up a model on a rubber strap. Unlike previous rubber straps the new ones are more like the Breitling ones, much thicker and substantial and of course they come complete with the new, improved clasp which features quick and simple adjustment. Of course you have to cut the rubber strap to fit so it's hard to get anything like a good fit in the shop but regardless they really look the business.

The '844' looks good on the wrist, despite the wretched and overly dark fauxtina, and like I said when I tried on the blue dial a couple of months ago the features that caused concern like the round cyclops really aren't the issue that I thought they would be once I got to see the watch in real life. Even so, this isn't the new Aquaracer for me. I'm going to save my pennies for a while and see what comes along, there's bound to be some cool special editions over the life of this model and I want to be in a position to strike when the perfect one arrives...