WM1112
This is a watch that has been on my wants list for an extremely long time, but for one reason and another I didn't pick one up until now... or actually March this year. I'm not entirely sure why it's taken me this long to write about buying this one, but... ever since I discovered TAG Heuer's 2000 Sports range I have been intrigued by the difference an aluminium bezel and some unusual Arabic numerals could make to a watch.
If you're not aware, the 2000 Sports came in four flavours: all blue, red/black, black/gold and white/black. It was also available in three different sizes; men's, midsize and ladies. I'm not too sure what sizes the midsize and ladies are but this one is your bog standard 37mm. I would imagine the midsize would be about 34mm and the ladies probably 28mm or something close to that.
I think for most people the red/black version has always been the most desirable (although to be fair the blue is quite nice too... in fact I very nearly bought a blue one about a year ago but decided to hold out for a 'Coke'), the problem has always been finding one in good condition. Aluminium bezels are not the hardiest of things and of course they fade too, I know some people are into that 'faded' look, but I'm not one of those people and a pink and black bezel does not appeal to me at all.
Many times I found WM1112s on eBay that were beaten up and overpriced, and of course occasionally I would find a pristine one that turned out to be midsize... and still overpriced. The other issue I had was the clasp... my long running issues with the 2000 clasp have been well documented on this blog, but bizarrely the problem no longer seems to exist and I now own three or four 2000s that don't give me any trouble at all and so I finally I felt able to buy a WM1112 without having to worry about the bracelet and whether it was going to shred my wrist or not.
The road to purchasing this one started back when Holtz Platz from the THF Forum tipped me off about a minty looking 'Mickey Mouse' dial WM1112 that was for sale in the USA. I had asked if anyone knew of a WM1112 for sale, but I decided I didn't really like Mickey Mouse enough to buy a watch with his face on and I was also concerned about the fact that the watch 'needed a new battery'. As it turned out, once I had passed on the watch Holtz Platz bought it himself and it turned out it really did just need a new battery, but there was also the question of customs charges when buying from America to think about.
So what did I do a few weeks later? I bought a different WM1112... also from America. Again this was pretty immaculate and the disappointment of not picking up the 'Mickey Mouse' watch spurred me on to take the plunge. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss, especially as these were probably the best two WM1112s I had ever seen for sale, and while not cheap, they weren't excessive for the condition.
Another odd thing about the watch is that the bottom right hand corner of the '0' in the '10' marker does not lume up. Odder still the 'Mickey Mouse' dial version has the same flaw - how strange is that? Other than that the lume is surprisingly good. Indeed, the other day I went into a dark room after having sat in an office for a couple of hours and was more than impressed with the brightness from this 20+ year old watch.
Definitely a keeper this one and a somewhat rare purchase in 2022, the first year where I have sold more watches than I've bought. Still, I guess there's time for that to change!
Link to the post about the 'Mickey Mouse' dial version of this watch:
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