VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco 'Gulf' Special Edition Heuer 02 Chrongograph by Brent L Miller Time

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T 'Singapore Boutique' Limited Edition

 

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Released back in 2019 I only came across this one about a month ago while researching the history of the Carrera. You may remember there was a Ginza (Japan) boutique edition which was similar but had red highlights instead of purple. Purple has been chosen here as it matches the colour which decorates the front of the ION Orchard Mall (where the TAG Heuer boutique is situated) and which was celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2019 - hence this special edition.

VIDEO: Two Ladies Aquaracers by Brent L Miller Time

 

FEATURE: My TAG Heuer Grand Carrera LE Gets a Service and Polish Courtesy of Watchfinder

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N.B. THIS POST IS NOT A PAID PROMOTION OR IN ANY WAY 'IN AGREEMENT' WITH WATCHFINDER!

A few weeks ago, completely out of the blue, I received an email from Watchfinder offering me a free service and polish. It wasn't, as you might imagine, a 'personal' email for services to the watch community (...) it was a 'commercial' email that I assumed had been sent to all their customers at once, but after speaking to people at the THF Forum it seems not. To be honest I didn't really pay that much attention to it, because like most people I imagine, when you get an unsolicited email promising something for nothing... well, consider me somewhat skeptical.

So I kind of scrolled past it, but then a few days later I got another email reminding me that time was running out to book my free service and this time for whatever reason I decided to look into it a bit deeper. Naturally I assumed that if they were offering a free service it would have to be on a watch that I had bought from them, which, since all the watches I had bought from them (and still owned) were quartz, seemed a bit unnecessary. Plus I assumed I would have to pay the carriage and then there was the worry about it getting lost, and so on and so on.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph by Swiss Watch Expo

 

FEATURE: My Love Affair with the Heuer Carrera 'Ice King' 160th Anniversary Heuer 02 Limited Edition Chronograph by Jim Dollares

Today we have another splendid contribution from our Swedish correspondent / TAG Heuer enthusiast Jim Dollares, and today he wants to tell you all about his most favouritest watch ever.

Mom, dad, I want you to meet the love of my life, this is the Ice King. We met in December 2020 and my life will never be the same!

Those who know me will roll their eyes, the nickname ‘Ice King’ has been used by me hundreds of times for this superb Carrera that TAG Heuer released in 2020 to celebrate their 160th anniversary. I am sick of watch companies looking for any “anniversary” as an excuse to release new limited editions but this time I didn’t mind, since the result is the most perfect and beautiful watch I have ever laid my eyes on. When I first received it, I remember saying that this might not only be the watch of the year, but the watch of the decade.

[click here to read about the 'COCO Watch of the Year 2020' post]

VIDEO: Heuer Carrera 'Montreal' 160th Anniversary Heuer 02 Chronograph by Watchfinder

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Stoplight' Quartz Chronographs

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Colourful watches have definitely been a 'thing' of late, and any maunfacturer offering up a steady diet of black, blue, white and silver/grey dials is at risk of looking like a complete dinosaur. Not that this is a major problem for TAG Heuer who have always experimented with colours, just look at their recent releases: Aquaracer and F1s in orange dials, Monaco in green and purple dials, Heritage Carrera in red and teal dials... and if we look back a little further you've had two different red/silver Monacos and a green Calibre 16 Formula 1. On the other hand we've also had the utterly hideous 'Tiffany Blueish' Monaco Riviera, which is the perfect example of how TAG Heuer's colour choices don't always hit the mark... thank God there's only 30 of those monstrosities out there!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Ladies Watches by Brent Miller Time

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer GMT Calibre 7 Watch

 

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Steffans / Northampton, 31st August 2022

Right from the moment I saw the render for this (way back whenever that was....), I thought this could potentially be the one for me. I'd already tried several 2021 spec Aquaracers (including the green bezel titanium version and the Night Diver) and although I liked them, none of them spoke to me to the tune of £2500+ (or £3500 in the case of the titanium model). But I had high hopes for the GMT with its funky looking blue and white bezel and yellow accented GMT and second hands.... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 by Random Rob

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer 2000 Exclusive Quartz Chronograph

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For some peculiar reason, the TAG Heuer 2000 Exclusive range is one that is very overlooked and as a consequence rather undervalued in my opinion. I bought this immaculate CN1110 from Watchfinder back in January 2019 for the princely sum of £675 (or thereabouts: it was a three watch trade in deal, but that was the starting price) and even now you can still find these on Watchfinder (with a two year warranty no less) for about £750. 

If you are prepared to forego the chorongraph you can pick them up even cheaper: I saw a gorgeous blue dial WN1112 (another watch I own) recently in a sale on EST1897 for under £300 - which is insane value! I absolutely love that watch and would never sell it. Okay, the bezel was a bit scratched up (bit of a design flaw having a polished raised section) but at that price you could afford to replace the bezel and you would have a cracking Swiss made watch for very little money.

FIRT IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 Japanese Limited Edition Chronograph

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I was trawling YouTube for TAG Heuer videos the other day, when I came across a Japanese video... I don't really know why I clicked on it since I can't speak or read Japanese, but for some reason I flicked through it and right near the end I spied something which caught my eye. 'What is that?' I thought to myself, 'I don't remember an Elegant Carrera with rose gold on it'. However, I wasn't 100% sure so I spent the next 15 mins trawling my Gallery Blog and anywhere else I could think of to make sure this was something new and then hit on the idea of visiting TAG Heuer's Japanese website where my suspicions were confirmed.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02 Chronograph by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 2021 'Qatar' Limited Edition Heuer 02 Chronograph

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Unfortunately this one passed me by when it was released last year, so it didn't get its shot at the 2021 COCO Watch of the Year. Somehow I don't think it would have mattered much, but still, it's always interesting to get the feedback of the council whenever a previously unseen watch turns up and this one is pretty unique. It's also very exclusive, with just fifty examples made (although from what I heard very few were actually made available to the public for purchase).

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Omotesando Boutique' Heuer 02 T Limited Edition

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To celebrate the re-opening of the Omotesando boutique in Japan, TAG Heuer have produced this limited edition Heuer 02 tourbillon with a coated titanium case and forged carbon lugs and bezel. It's somewhat reminiscent of the 'Mexico' model launched last year (one of which was personalized and presented to Red Bull Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez) but this time highlighted with red on the tourbillon and rear crystal.

VIDEO: Heuer Skipper by David Harper Art and Antiques

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Tudor Pelagos 39 200M Automatic Watch

 

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Of all the non-TAG Heuer watches I have the closest affinity with, number one is probably the Tudor Pelagos LHD. This is almost entirely because my good friend Rich owns one and as such I have seen and handled this watch quite a bit over the last few years. It is not without it's faults; I'm not 'crazy' about the red/black date wheel and the (admittedly clever) clasp is a bit weird, but overall I like it a lot and it is pretty much the only watch in the world with fauxtina that doesn't make me want to puke in a bucket. 

But of course an awful lot of people wanted the Tudor Pelagos in a smaller size and so there is understandable excitement for the release of this 39mm variant. I don't doubt for a second that this will sell like hot cakes, indeed I'm sure the waiting lists are already growing since as ever these days Tudor will have done a thoroughly terrible job of providing adequate inventory on release. But then of course we all know a lack of stock only feeds the hype; nothing makes a watch enthusiast crave a watch like being told they can't have one after all...