CBN2A1E.BA0643
Selfridges / London, 15th September 2021
Honestly the 44mm Carrera Heuer 02 Dato 45 160th Anniversary Limited Editions never really made the same impact on the watch scene as the 39mm Heritage Carrera Heuer 02 'Silver' 160th Anniversary Limited Edition or the 39mm Heritage Carrera 'Montreal' Heuer 02 160th Anniversary Limited Edition did they?
Like those two fantastically lauded watches the two Carrera Dato 45s (let's just stick with that shall we or we'll be here until Christmas!) which came later on in 2020 were both released as limited editions of 1860 pieces and came either in a blue/white colour scheme or a white/black option (although whether that white is actually silver is open to debate). I still haven't seen the white/silver/black one and it's taken almost a year for me to come across the blue version, but boy am I glad I did!
The photographs didn't really impress me that much, and I thought having the date at the '12' position was stupid. I still think it's stupid actually and telling me that there was some historical precedent for it alters my perspective not one jot. In fact having now seen it for myself and confirmed that the red chronograph second hand does indeed obscure the date (just like I thought it would) I think it's even more stupid, but you know what - I don't even care, because this watch is absolutely gorgeous!
In fact, if I had seen this watch before the end of last year it would have got my vote for 'Watch of the Year' instead of the Bamford Aquaracer (although to be fair I still haven't seen one of those either). I'm not kidding, this is stunning in the flesh and brightened up an otherwise fairly dreary trip to Selfridges no end!
But let's forget about the date, I mean who cares anyway. You can't see it, so it's a no date. The important thing is that the blue dial is just incredible, I was utterly mesmerized by it in the store and perhaps all the more because I wasn't expecting to be blown away by this and particularly on a day when I'd already marvelled at other (much more expensive) creations from the likes of Chopard and Dior. The colour combination could be thought a little too contrasting for a more expensive watch (as opposed to, lets say a Formula 1 Red Bull) but it does not look in the slightest bit inexpensive, in fact it looks incredibly top drawer!
As I said when I tried on the 44mm Carrera Heuer 02 previously, it wears so well for a big watch that you can't quite believe it's only 1mm smaller than a Heuer 01. The short lugs (which I know annoy the Carrera purists) work so well in scaling down this watch, even though it is certainly thick and chunky, that this is totally wearable, though whether it would slip under a tight cuff is certainly open to question.
The bracelet reminds me of the Grand Carrera which was always a good one and really, aside from the nonsensical positioning of the date, I can't really think of anything about this watch that I would want to change. It's kind of a pity that they couldn't make the date a Grand Date if they were determined to put it up there at the '12', but I guess it would be difficult/expensive/impossible to modify a Heuer 02 to do that so it wasn't an option. But at least then you might have a little separation between the wheels in which the red second hand could sit. Just a thought...
It may well prove to be a temporary fixation, but as I type this I am kind of wondering if I could somehow afford to get one of these before they finally disappear. Probably not, but this one definitely gets the T.H.E. seal of approval and once again proves that there is absolutely no substitute for seeing watches in real life!
No comments:
Post a Comment