SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Alter Ego 'Orange Dial' Quartz Watch

 

WP131R

As discussed recently in the 'On the Wrist' post for the ladies' Aquaracer with the fumé dial, when it comes to watches for the fairer sex, the choice of dial colours is often rather limited. And generally speaking the Alter Ego was no different, you had black and (a rather lovely) blue, but beyond that it was mostly different shades of mother of pearl, silver or pale pink. There were however a couple of more vibrant pieces, a much deeper pink and this spectacular orange variation.

I don't know how many of these were made, but I'm guessing it was not many... because when I was researching my 'History of the Alter Ego' post I could only two find two (pretty lousy) photographs and one of those had a damaged strap! Which is really the main reason why I'm posting this today, to preserve these excellent and rare photographs of this very hard to come by watch.

My wife would love this, but even she baulked at the price being asked on Chrono 24. I don't actually think it's that outrageous given the scarcity of this particular piece, but given she picked up her pale pink dial Alter Ego (on a bracelet) for about £250 from a pawn shop, at £994 this is significantly more expensive than that.

It does look in fantastic condition though, with only a few tiny marks on the very scratchable polished case. I must admit I was a bit dubious about the strap at first, it seems a bit too thick for an elegant ladies watch such as this and I don't recall seeing another Alter Ego on a strap like this in any colour. The nearest I've seen was in black, but that was patent alligator and I'm sure it wasn't anything like as thick as this. 

Other than that Alter Egos generally came on smooth leather or 'textile' straps such as were found on the late 00's / early 10's ladies F1s with the diamond bezels. Indeed the only other picture I can find now (seen above) shows this watch on a similar orange textile strap, but maybe it was supplied with both? I notice it does have TAG Heuer imprinted on the reverse side of the strap and I cant' think of anything else this strap would fit so presumably it is correct...

If you are interested in this watch, here is a link to the listing on Chrono 24:

https://www.chrono24.co.uk/tagheuer/tag-heuer-alter-ego-orange-wp131r---full-set----id23489791.htm#gref