WBP201F.BA0632
TAG Heuer Boutique / Sheffield, 18th June 2022
It has to be said that the current generation of Aquaracer endured a difficult birth; let's not forget that way back in early 2021 the new style diver was met with howls of derision for (among other things) its circular 6 o'clock cyclops. Indeed, I recall one YouTuber staunchly claiming the watch was so bad it would definitely be redesigned before it hit the stores... which, if you think about it is a ludicrous suggestion. Because by the time Frederic took to the stage to announce the new watch you can be sure there were already thousands of them assembled and ready to leave the factory.
Even so, at the time the watch was regularly compared to the Audemars Piguet Code 11:59, not because of its looks, but because that was another watch that spluttered onto the world's stage only to be met with (at best) indifference and (let's not beat about the bush) wholesale mockery. God knows the watch world loves a disaster and loves to stick the boot in even more... and of course in this day and age that negativity spreads like wildfire through social media meaning potential customers are bombarded from the outset with 'opinions' based largely on nothing more than a photograph.
But things have changed and once again it just goes to show that the internet is fine as a sales tool, but photographs and video can never replace hands on experience. I would wager that many of the doubters changed their minds when they actually saw the watch in person. In the hand you come to realise that the cyclops really isn't an issue as it's barely visible and the watch just hangs together far better than you expect it would from the images and renders.
A shame then that this orange dialed variant is so disappointing. When I first clapped eyes on this I thought 'Oh no, I shouldn't have bought the orange F1, I should have waited for this one!' But having seen it in a window a while back and now having had proper first hand experience with it today, I can honestly say that I didn't mess up and I definitely bought the right watch.
It's hard to say why I find this one so unappealing, perhaps I am a little biased because I already own the F1, but everything that made that watch great is missing here. The main issue I have is the tone of orange utilised on the Aquaracer, the F1 is so much deeper and nicer (not to mention textured). On top of that (and though it may sound like a small thing I really think this is the main crux of the problem) I really feel that they messed up by making the hour marker edges and hands polished, they would have looked so much better in black.
But I can see why everybody else seems to like it, and that's because it looks an awful lot like the classic orange dial Heuer 1000. I didn't really click on this until someone sent me an Instagram post showing the orange 1000 and then you can see the same personality traits, the same emptiness in the dial. I just don't think it works. It's a retro inspired dial in a 21st Century case and I just can't get behind it. Not when the F1 shows how awesome the orange Aquaracer could have been.
Annoyingly some people (including one Swedish person who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are Jim Dollares) keep sending me pictures of it, saying how great it looks.... and sometimes it does, in the pictures, yes. But not in real life. Again, pictures only tell half the story, and sometimes that is a blessing and sometimes it's a curse. Even now, finding pictures of it for this post makes me second guess my opinion, but in real life it just has a weird 'wrongness' about it that I can't really explain.
One thing I will say though, this is the first new Aquaracer I've seen where the hour markers genuinely don't look octagonal (even though they are), which is a good thing. But, the reason is that because they are polished they reflect the orange from the dial and mostly disappear. This means that all you really see is the white lume pot, which explains why the markers looks so small and lost on that wide open dial.
A definite miss for me, but I am sure it will score very highly with the COCO Council at the end of the year.
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