BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Quartz

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It will probably come as no great surprise that my purchase of this watch coincided with my research for my 'History of the 2000 Series' post. Yes, once again, rifling through catalogues and staring at images of countless 2000s spurred me back to eBay, where I found a surprising amount of these in wildly varying states of repair.

Mine came from the UK and was listed for about £349 or so IIRC. I watched it but wasn't entirely sure about it, until the seller dropped the price to £299 which convinced me to click 'Buy' and I haven't regretted it since. 

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Naomi Osaka' Limited Edition

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You may remember when I reviewed the 'Ibiza' Limited Edition Aquaracer 300M Professional a little while back that I said that there are two kinds of 'Limited Editions'. Well this is the other kind; featuring a unique to this model dial colour, a never seen before green rubber strap and a bespoke to this model backplate.  

If I'm honest I can't say that I pay much attention to tennis, and it seems like only about eighteen months ago that I first heard the name Naomi Osaka. But still, aged just 24 she has been incredibly successful in her field amassing four grand slam singles titles and currently ranked thirteenth in the world. Naomi is also a global brand ambassador for TAG Heuer and now we see the first 'Naomi Osaka' limited edition Aquaracer. 

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HISTORY: Heuer/TAG Heuer 2000 Series (1982-2004)

 

It seems to me that one could quite convincingly argue that the 2000 Series launched in 1982 is the 'quintessential' TAG Heuer timepiece. Yes of course, others would argue for the Carrera, Monaco and even the S/EL-Link, but really when we think of something truly 'representative' can the 2000 Series truly be discounted?

Not only did it survive in the range for 22 years straight, in reality it continues in the modern day as the Aquaracer. Indeed were it not for a name change in the mid 2000s we'd be talking about celebrating 40 years of the 2000 Series this year.... I wonder how TAG Heuer would have celebrated that? Or if indeed they would have bothered, since it isn't considered a 'Heritage' range?

It must be said though that the 2000 had a slightly shaky start with some bizarre looking pieces with what look like ball bearings stuck into the bezel and the legend 'Heuer 2000' printed in best 'future Sci-fi style' font too... hmm!

Indeed the 2000 Series took a little while to really settle, with some 'interesting' dead ends along the way ('Tristar' anyone?). But once they hit on the winning formula, they stuck pretty close to it and even today these 'everyday' TAG Heuer models still look great and good ones hold their value pretty well too. Good luck finding a red dial 2000 Series for under £700....

Okay, let's delve in to the History of the 2000... this is gonna be a long one!

NB: This post does not include the 2000 Exclusive range which has already been covered in its own separate post:

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2020/10/history-tag-heuer-2000-exclusive-1999.html

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GALLERY: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Quartz Chronograph

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Ibiza' Limited Edition

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Realistically, there are two kinds of 'limited editions' in TAG Heuer world. On the one hand you have the full-on all singing and dancing (often black PVD) editions and on the other you have the more subtle variations with fairly minor (or inexpensive if you prefer) alterations to an otherwise standard model, possibly using another standard part from a different model or possibly a different coloured second hand.

And that's exactly what we have here. In essence what you are looking at is a blue 2021 Aquaracer 300 Professional (aaah, that name never really caught on did it?) with a black bezel insert. Simple as that. So is it a lazy 'cash grab' or a 'stroke of genius' or something in between?

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ON THE WRIST: Seiko Prospex Padi Automatic Watch

 
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An unusual 'On the Wrist' post today, because this was not the result of a shopping trip or a soiree around London... no, this watch actually belongs to my friend and work colleague Rich. Some of you may remember that in the dim and distant past Rich and I went to London for the day, looking at all the watches we could never hope to afford (and maybe a few we could). Rich is building up quite a collection of watches now, he has a TAG Heuer 2000 Series, a Tudor Pelagos LHD, a Pagani 'Aquaracer', a blue dial Seiko Automatic, a Casio digital watch and this Seiko Turtle.

Now I find Seiko massively confusing so apologies in advance if I make any glaring errors in this post, unfortunately my knowledge of Seiko is in no way comparable to my knowledge of TAG Heuer, but Rich assures me that this is a 'turtle, though exactly what that is supposed to mean I'm not 100% sure. I think it's mainly to do with the shape of the case. Which is... an 'acquired' taste, perhaps?

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronographs and GMT

 

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I literally don't know where to start with writing this post, I really don't. So, a quick 'catch up' for those not well versed in the history of the model. The Autavia was originally launched in the 60's and was briefly brought back to life about fifteen years ago with a TAG Heuer dial and disappeared again almost as quickly as it appeared. Nothing more was heard of the Autavia until 2016 when (then TAG Heuer CEO) Mr Jean Claude Biver announced the Autavia was being resuscitated once more, only this time in a regular 42mm case with an in-house chronograph movement and (importantly for the cognoscenti) a 'Heuer' dial.

Autavia fans seemed largely happy with this (apart from the usual moaning about it being too big and too thick) and for a while all was well. Then we started to see some special editions, including the JH85, Calibre 11, UAE, Hodinkee 'Orange Boy' and 'Viceroy' all of which were well received. But then at Baselworld 2018 pictures were leaked of some pretty woeful looking three handed Autavias, including a particularly ropey looking GMT and about a year or so later we started to hear that maybe the 2017 Heuer 02 chronograph was being discontinued.

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VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Night Diver' Calibre 5 Watch by Bruce Williams

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Night Diver' Automatic Watch

 

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Tustains / Leamington Spa, 16th October 2021

The new for 2021 Aquaracer got something of a lukewarm reaction from me to start with, but as time goes by and I get used to the new look I can definitely feel myself warming to it. I still find the regular steel models a little on the bland side, but in all fairness I was never overly excited by the 'run of the mill' Aquaracers in the previous series; it was always the PVD models, the limited editions and the unusual dial colours that got me truly excited.

Back in September I saw the 'Night Diver' in Harrods, but due to time constraints I never got to try it on - instead I plumped for the limited edition 'Tribute to 844', sensibly reasoning that I may never come across that particular watch again and that the 'Night Diver' would be a much easier piece to source for an 'On the Wrist' post. And sure enough, the next time I visited a watch shop, there it was...

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PRICE LIST: TAG Heuer Price List (Jan 2022)

 

Once again it is time to peruse the TAG Heuer website and compile another six-monthly Price List. Surprisingly, as yet there has been no price rise... although I'm pretty sure it will be here soon. For now though all prices remain unchanged from the last Price List in July 2021.

Let's break it down model by model...

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Instagram @ thingziliketoo

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 'Year of the Tiger' Limited Edition Watch

 

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There was me thinking I had to write lots of posts about random stuff to get us through January, because surely nothing new was going to come out before February... how wrong could I have been? Very wrong... we've already had two super limited edition Heuer02Ts and now we continue 2022 with this new 'Year of the Tiger' 41mm Carrera day/date.

Now the first thing you might notice about this particular watch is that it is blue, and Tigers are not blue. This is a fair point, but blue is a very popular colour in Japan (in particular), you may remember we've had several blue faced limited editions for Japan in recent years. Of course the 'Year of the Tiger' is celebrated in other countries besides Japan (China, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc) but I think it's safe to assume that most of these will be sold in China and Japan.

Strangely though, since I originally wrote this post, this watch has appeared on the UK TAG Heuer website.

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FEATURE: Keeping Track of Wrist Time 2021

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I made a conscious decision last year not to do a quarterly 'Keeping Track of Wrist Time' post. For one thing, I'm not sure it's that interesting for you the reader to keep up with what I'm wearing four times a year and also, I feel it's hard to quantify the relevance of it since the collection changes through the year as new pieces are added. So instead I decided that going forward I would just do one 'KTOWT' each year and this is it for 2021.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Two TAG Heuer Limited Edition Carrera Heuer 02 Tourbillons

 
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Way back at the start of 2018, TAG Heuer released two extremely limited edition Carrera Heuer 01's for the Las Vegas boutique. Both of these featured a 'roulette' style chapter ring around the edge of the dial and one of them featured a bezel covered in black diamonds. The plain bezel version was limited to 77 pieces and the diamond bezel model was only for seven lucky customers.

Well, they've done it again, only this time they've gone all out and produced a skeleton dial Heuer 02T tourbillon for Las Vegas. Unfortunately I can't find too much information on this one, although I did find a listing for it on a website called 'Topvegasbuyer.com' which shows the piece as having been sold. The peculiar thing is though that the picture shows the back of the watch, replete with Las Vegas printed display back, but it clearly shows that it is number 00/07. Which is a bit strange...

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FEATURE: Another Crazy Year of Watch Buying

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'Happy New Year' to all my readers, this post was supposed to be posted at the end of 2021, but due to me not being able to post my 'Buying Experience' for my blue F1 until I got it for Christmas I had to move it back a few days...

At the tail end of last year's 'Another Crazy Year of Watch Buying' (posted on the 29th Dec 2020), I said:

"Honestly though, I think this will probably be the last 'crazy' year for me. I've amassed so many watches now in a relatively short time that I've kinda 'got' most of what I want. There are things, obviously, that I would still like if they come up at reasonable prices; I'd love a 3000 Series chrono or perhaps a Super Professional and if a full size Tristar came available for sensible money I'd be up for that too. Sometimes I even look longingly at Executives, but usually the bracelets are too short and I'm willing to bet spare links for those are like hen's teeth!

Perhaps it's time to slow down and put a bit more thought into what I actually want, I can see that I've bought a couple of things this year that maybe I didn't really 'need' (if that's not too ridiculous a word to use in this context!) and I can see where I might decide to thin out the collection a bit in the not too distant future, because it's definitely getting a little out of hand."

No really, I actually said that... 

So, with that in mind, I guess it's time to take a look at the small number of carefully selected pieces that I picked up this year. 

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