Wednesday 8 June 2022

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer S/EL 'Mickey Mouse' Dial Quartz Watch

 
WG1113.BA0423DIS

Back in March I told you the story of a very cool TAG Heuer 2000 Sports watch with a 'Coke' bezel which featured Mickey Mouse on the dial (if you haven't read it I will leave a link at the bottom of this post). This was very kindly forwarded to me by a member of the THF Forum (HoltzPlatz) who knew that I was looking for a Coke bezel 2000 and wanted to give me first dibs on it. But when I passed on that particular one because a) it was in America and b) because the eBay listing rather worryingly said it needed a new battery, he decided to pull the trigger on it himself. As it turned out when it arrived it really did just need a new battery (phew!), and as it happened I ended up buying a (non-Disney) 2000 Sports 'Coke' from America anyway! More on that another time - the 'Buying Experience' post for that is in the queue and will appear soon! 

At around the same time HoltzPlatz also sent me the details of another 'Disney dial' TAG Heuer he had stumbled upon, which languished in a folder on my desktop for several months, but now I can share with you the minty looking WG1113 S/EL you see here. 


Unfortunately I don't have a link for the listing and there's every chance that it has finished by now, but as you can see the watch is a full size (37mm) quartz S/EL with a grey dial in very good condition, but otherwise fairly unremarkable save for the presence of Mickey's head and the 'Disney' logo on the dial.


Now as you can see from the backplate, this is a WG1113-KO, the strange thing is (just like the 2000 Sports I posted about previously) the listing included a close-up of the label on the side of the box. This shows us the part number (with the suffix DIS to denote the special 'Disney' dial) and also the price, or at least what I assume is the price.


The strange thing here is that the number on the box does not match up with the number on the watch. My best guess as to why that is would be that there were probably (at least) two different versions of the watch on sale and when the original owner bought the watch they were given the wrong box. With this in mind I Googled 'WG1112' and as I suspected it was a white dial version of the same watch. So obviously I then Googled 'WG1112 Mickey Mouse' and what do you think I found...
 
WG1112.BA0423DIS

Yup, sure enough, a white dial 'Mickey Mouse' version of the same watch... and so the list grows: we've had the Coke bezel 2000 Sports, two sizes of  black dial 1500 Series, two sizes of a different white dial 1500 Series model (which I've literally just come across while researching this post) and now we have grey and white S/EL watches too, I wonder how many more variations there are out there?


Curiously, the label appears to show the price as $1250, which seems about right for the late 90s (the standard WG1113 appears in the 1998 UK price list at £975) but again highlights the strangely low price charged for the 'Disney' version of the 2000 Sports model. That one (as was clearly shown on the box label) sold for $650, which is only about £475 or so, and that just doesn't make any sense to me.

While the 2000 Series was priced lower than the S/EL, they weren't half the price, more like 20-25% less (although I can't find any specific prices for the 2000 Sports models, which only appeared in one TAG Heuer catalogue). So I really don't understand how they were being sold so cheaply, unless there was some agreement between TAG Heuer and Disney to encourage sales at the park?

Anyhoo.... to recap, these are the seven 'Mickey Mouse' dial TAG Heuer watches I've come across so far (click on the number for a picture):

WD1210.BA0610DIS - 1500 Series Midsize Black Dial
WD1221.BB0611DIS - 1500 Series Midsize White Dial
WD1410.BA0614DIS - 1500 Series Ladies Black Dial
WD1421.BB0615DIS - 1500 Series Ladies White Dial
WG1112.BA0423DIS - S/EL Full Size White Dial
WG1113.BA0423DIS - S/EL Full Size Grey Dial
WM1112.BA0317DI - 2000 Sports Full Size Black Dial


Link to the post about the 2000 Sports 'Mickey Mouse' dial...

10 comments:

  1. Hi-My husband has a WG1113-KO BN3433DIS purchased around 2001 in Orlando at Disney….looks just like yours in above pic with grey/black dial. Are these rare?

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    1. Hi, well I only found out about this fairly recently and the whole phenomenon of Mickey Mouse TAG Heuers. I can't say how many were made so I can't say 'rare', but I've been writing this blog for 6 years and only just found out so clearly they are not common items. I would say they are probably a bit more valuable than the watch would be otherwise because obviously they will appeal to Mickey Mouse fans as well as TAG Heuer fans.
      Rob

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  2. I almost bought one at Disney Orlando 1998 but couldn’t justify the cost. Was $1250USD. Grey dial, SST. Regret it now!

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    1. Hi
      Never too late, you can find them if you look hard enough
      Rob

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  3. There is at least one more, the female WG1312-R0. I would post a picture, if I knew how. Mine has the inside and outside box, but not the white paper tray outside the outside box, and no papers, so I do not what park or resort that sold it. Since the ladies S/EL do exist with white dial, and the fullsize exist with bouth white and grey dial, probably the ladies S/EL with grey dial also exist. If so, it would be WG1313.

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    1. Hi, don't think you can post pic here, but you could post in the THF Forum...
      Rob

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  4. I have the top one (mens version). Received it as an engagement gift in the late 90's. Love it - wore it for 15 years straight. Solid watch.

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  5. I am looking to purchase one, but never seen for sale, men’s SEL gray or white. Any suggestions, search hi and low.

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    1. All you can really do is watch eBay and Chrono24, and Google the part numbers... sorry I can't offer more help
      Aqua-G

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