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Thursday, 23 February 2023

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 'KSA' Limited Edition

 
WBN2015.EB0283

TAG Heuer clearly has a significant following in the Middle East and this is the latest of their 'Limited Editions' made for that part of the world - could be an interesting subject for a post that. Now obviously these watches and this watch in particularly are very region specific and unlike the 'Year of the Rabbit' Carrera I would not expect this to be for sale outside of Saudi Arabia, especially as there are only one hundred pieces available.


At first glance this seems like a fairly subtle re-imagining of the standard silver 41mm day/date Calibre 5 Carrera, with a fairly discreet green stripe around the circumference (which immediately brings to mind the recent Porsche 2.7 limited editions) and the palm tree and swords emblem also rendered in the same dark green colouring. But in addition TAG Heuer have also given the watch a green second hand and green colouring to the hour/minute hands and baton hour markers.


But the real impact comes in the form of a bespoke green alligator strap and it's here that the watch is really transformed into something more than just a lightly modified base model Carrera. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing and in fact I personally own a TAG Heuer 4000 Series with a green sharkskin strap which is really cool (if a little short). It's not something I would wear every single day, but it is a fun thing to own and wear when the mood takes you.


I suspected that the hands and hour markers were merely 'painted' green, but according to the (Saudi Arabian) TAG Heuer website the green is actually lume. I don't know how bright it will be given its base colour (and after all this isn't a dive watch,) but anything is better than nothing I guess?

As you might expect the WBN2015.EB0283 comes in a very nice looking display box with room to store the watch and either the bracelet or strap and also has a plaque to commemorate this very limited edition. Price on this one is SAR 16,700 which is about £3700. Or to put it another way about £1000 more than a standard model on a bracelet. 

I've left a link to the website at the bottom of the page, albeit the watch is not currently available for purchase online.

Okay let's find out what the Council of Considered Opinion has to say about this, the tenth new TAG Heuer of 2023!

Thanks to @ericcccccth for the website link and the full part number for this one!




WBN2015.EB0283: 5.2 / 10

109.65/21 = 5.22 (Rounded down to 5.2)

6.5/10: "I like it. The overall aesthetic is similar to the Porsche RS 2.7 watch of last year. I would've given it a 7, but that palm tree & swords logo just looks weird to me. Plus green isn't my color. So it loses half a point. Perhaps if I was a Saudi Arabian I'd feel differently about the logo & color."

5/10: "It's okay. I suspect we are going to see quite a few new 3 handers coming soon."

5/10: "The green is not an improvement but I like the green strap though. Would look great on the standard grey Carrera as well. I like the date version more than the day and date. Would have been a 6 in that case. Just a weird old fashioned lay-out."

2.4/10: "The only thing I like about the watch is the green strap. That would look killer on so many watches."

4/10: "Cannot stand day date dials (reminds me of Seikos) plus the logo it's a no."

7/10: "It’s a quite nice set, although it comes again with the “One of…” instead of a properly numbered Limited Edition."

8/10: "I like it. Although if I am going for day date with the same format I'll just go with Seiko."

2.5/10: "I find it slightly weird. It's a dressy piece, but the green and that palm/sword logo seems to be a bit out of keeping. The worst aspect, though, is the green lume on the hands."

5/10: "I mostly couldn't care less about special editions for a part of the world with which I have zero connection. Remove the logo above the word 'Automatic' and, on the bracelet, it doesn't look too bad with the green ring around the dial. The green strap makes it look shit but then I'm not really a fan of matching coloured dial to the same coloured strap. Honestly, it's just another run of the mill watch that neither offends nor excites."

7.25/10: "Well I like it, on the strap and the bracelet, I would wear on either fitting dependent on occasion. I understand why it's there but I could do without the green logo, and maybe the ‘automatic'. Price might better but exchange rates change."

5/10: "It would have been nice to see more Saudi green all over this watch..."

4/10: "I’m not really excited about the day date model to begin with. Adding a splash of green doesn’t really help it look any better to me, quite possibly worse."


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