Monday, 28 February 2022
Sunday, 27 February 2022
Saturday, 26 February 2022
FEATURE: All in the Movement - TAG Heuer Calibre 1887
Sorting through some old QP magazines the other day I came across an article from 2010 about the Calibre 1887 which I thought my readers might like be interested in. I'm sure most of you are aware of the difficult history of the 1887 and this article goes at least some way to mitigating what was something of a PR disaster at the time.
In this article, which also looked at the Breitling Calibre B01, Master Watchmaker Peter Roberts FBHI cast his eye over and give his opinion on the veracity of TAG Heuer's claims regarding the the Calibre 1887 and came down pretty substantially on their side.
The magazine is no longer in existence so hopefully no one will object to me reproducing it here. If you are the copyright holder and you do object then please contact me through the comments below and I will remove the post.
Friday, 25 February 2022
Thursday, 24 February 2022
Wednesday, 23 February 2022
NEW ARRIVALS: Strap Selection Boxes Available at TAG Heuer Bicester Village
Despite my recent assertion that these days Bicester Village has a much more stable and predictable stock of watches, thankfully it still has the capacity to spring a surprise or two. In recent years we had an influx of dash timers (all gone now), wallets, cufflinks, belts and jackets, even a TAG Heuer branded watch winder (which I was lucky enough to snaffle away) and now once again they guys at BV have pulled another rabbit out of their proverbial hat.
What we have here is a selection of twelve straps to fit a 41mm Carrera, sold as a set in a wooden display box. Which would be pretty cool thing to own if say you owned a white or silver dial Carrera 41mm, but potentially less so if you have a blue or black model since you might not feel that every strap was suitable.
The set also includes 3x FC5037/0 folding buckles.
If this tickles your fancy please call the store on (01869) 249008, and remember you don't need to visit the store in person any more as they now have the facility to mail out items.
12pce set of straps for 41mm Carrera: List price £4150 / Bicester price £2075
12pce set of straps for 43mm Carrera: List price £4500 / Bicester price £2285
Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Monday, 21 February 2022
Sunday, 20 February 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer SLR Automatic Regulator
CAD5110.FC6177
You may remember that a few weeks ago I posted my 'History of the SLR' and the very first watch mentioned in that article was this one. Available only to those purchasing a Mercedes Benz SLR supercar for several hundred thousand pounds, the watch itself was not cheap either ($14,000 I believe), so you can imagine my surprise when I came across one listed on eBay with a starting price of just £535.
Now usually I would have run a mile because that just doesn't add up somehow, but looking at the (not terribly brilliant and not terribly many) pictures I concluded that the watch was almost certainly genuine since I have never seen a fake CAD5110 and being a regulator (a watch where the hour and minute hands are separated) it would not be easy for a faker to make this particular watch anyway. On the downside the seller had (0) feedback, which was not a good start to say the least!
Saturday, 19 February 2022
Friday, 18 February 2022
Thursday, 17 February 2022
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Senna' Special Edition Quartz Chronograph
CAZ101AJ.FC6487
Goldsmiths / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 15th November 2021
When this latest version of the 'Senna' branded quartz F1 chronograph was released last November, it didn't so much burst onto the scene as slip quietly onto the website. No great fuss was made and most of the members of the Calibre 11 forum barely batted an eyelid, such was the ahem 'impact' of this new watch. Which is actually a great pity, because having now had the chance to actually try it on, I am happy to report that this is actually a really smart, really good looking timepiece.
One thing I have to say about this watch that surprised me slightly was just how 'black' it is. From the renders I expected everything to be a dark, smoky grey, but in actual fact the case, bezel and pushers are all definitely black, and it looks all the better for it.
Wednesday, 16 February 2022
Tuesday, 15 February 2022
Monday, 14 February 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 Professional Ladies Watches
WBP2410.BA0622 WBP2411.BA0622
While the new 40mm Aquaracers were stealing all the headlines in the watch press, TAG Heuer quietly slipped out a bevy of 30mm Aquaracers on the side... admittedly there was nothing particularly newsworthy about these, since they pretty much followed the standard template: diamonds, mother of pearl dials, mother of pearl dials with diamonds, mother or pearl dials with diamond hours and a diamond bezel, etc. But one model caught my eye, that being the opaline blue dial, which stood out for it's elegant simplicity.
Sunday, 13 February 2022
Saturday, 12 February 2022
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T Japanese Limited Edition Tourbillon
CAR5A8N.FC6448
You may remember a little while back I did a post about two new(ish) Heuer 02T Carrera Tourbillons, one a limited edition of seven pieces for Las Vegas and one a limited edition of five pieces for Jimmy Butler. At the same time I was researching those models I also came across this one, which is not quite as limited and not quite as new... though I'm not quite sure when it did come out, but this one was being sold with the remainder of it's factory warranty and that was due to expire in March 2023, so we can assume this was originally purchased in March 2021.
Friday, 11 February 2022
Thursday, 10 February 2022
Wednesday, 9 February 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Red Bull' Special Edition Quartz Chronograph
CAZ101AL.FT8052
You may remember that last year I finally got around to trying on the previous version of the Red Bull Formula 1 and came away very disappointed with it; the colours were very muted and it just didn't hang together well in my opinion. And interestingly that model doesn't seem to have had nearly the lifespan of the original (and still the best IMHO), and yet if there's one criticism that can be levelled at the original CAZ1018 it's that there's absolutely nothing 'Red Bull' about it. It's just a very good looking blue and white watch.
No such criticism can be thrown at the CAZ101AL, since this one clearly utilises all the key colours of the Red Bull F1 car, though whether it does so entirely successfully is a matter of some debate. Rarely have I seen such extremes of scoring from the COCO Council, with the watch scoring 9s and 10s, but also 2s and 3s!
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
Monday, 7 February 2022
Sunday, 6 February 2022
FEATURE: Ten Watches Available at Bicester Village
For the past few years I have brought you regular updates from our friends at Bicester Village, but since the Covid crisis started things have changed quite a bit with BV now offering customers access to stock via WhatsApp and the possibility to distance purchase. Also the stock situation has changed considerably with less 'random' products arriving at the store and a more stable line up of stock being established.
This has positives and negatives of course, since you are less likely to find a N.O.S. Grand Carrera available, but you are much more likely to pick up a good range of models from the last five years or so. So with that in mind I thought I would trawl the latest WhatsApp update and present to you a selection of ten of the most interesting watches they have in stock right now...
Saturday, 5 February 2022
Friday, 4 February 2022
Thursday, 3 February 2022
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 Professional Quartz and Calibre 5 Watches
WBP2111.BA0627 WBP2110.BA0627 WBP1111.BA0627 WBP1110.BA0627
As you are no doubt aware, last year saw the release of the new, upgraded Aquaracer and rather unusually TAG Heuer took the decision to release it first in 43mm and 36mm variants (with the smaller of the two marketed as a women's watch and indeed featuring the 'wave' dial pattern previously only found on women's watches). Predictably this caused some grumbling on the Calibre 11 forum (surely not!) about the fact that the men's option was simply too big for many people to feel comfortable wearing it.
But with the previous generation of 41mm Aquaracers an absolute stalwart of the jewellers' window it would have been crazy for TAG Heuer to leave this gap in their range indefinitely and so it was inevitable that sooner or later a 'midsize' (if we can call 40mm 'midsize') model would be made available for the more conservative, or smaller wristed buyer.
