ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Elegant 'Watches of Switzerland' Limited Edition Panda Dial Heuer 02 Chrono

CBN2018.BA0642

Goldsmiths / Meadowhall, Sheffield 28th January 2023 

I was looking forward to visiting Meadowhall and the TAG Heuer boutique again, but on the way there I happened to pass the smaller Goldsmiths store downstairs. Never one to pass up an opportunity to gawk in a watch-filled window I perused the display looking for the new Aquaracer chrongraphs, but no joy there. However, towards the back of the display I noticed a small plaque screaming 'LIMITED EDITION' at me and lifted my head to finally spy a Watches of Switzerland panda dial Carrera Elegant!

You may remember this watch was convincingly voted the 'C.O.C.O. Watch of the Year' for 2022, and was limited to just 250 pieces (125 on a strap and 125 on a bracelet): released nearly three months ago, how could this highly regarded and extremely limited Carrera still be available, here on a bracelet - but also later in the TAG Heuer boutique on a strap? 

Well, I can't help but think that a lot of this had to do with timing. I'm guessing a lot of people who might have bought this already knew about the 39mm heritage Carrera panda that was coming in January and decided to wait for that. Which kinda sucks for Watches of Switzerland, perhaps TAG Heuer could have given them a better run at selling these before they dropped the one watch that every Heuerista has been waiting for since as long as I can remember...

But still, let's not write this off as an inferior piece, because to my (non-vintage inclined) mind this is much preferable (sorry Charlie). Firstly I find the 42mm case a better size for my wrist, secondly this watch isn't hampered by the dreaded fauxtina and thirdly wearing a bracelet this one isn't leaden with the weight of nostalgia. On a strap, yes this definitely resonates more with the echoes of past glories, but here in this configuration the CBN2018 looks smart and sporty and at this point it's probably worth pointing out that the bracelet version of this watch only secured one 'WOTY' vote from the Council of Considerable Vintage Opinion.... versus five for the strap version, that tells you a lot I think.

On release there was much debate about the actual colour of the dial, the Watches of Switzerland website declared it to be beige, a horrifying thought quite honestly... who on Earth would desire a beige coloured panda? Thankfully I am happy to report from first hand experience that the dial is decidedly off-white (and not at all beige), probably a good choice since it could look a bit harsh if the dial was full on Persil-white.

At this point I'd like to give a mention to Adam in the Meadowhall Goldsmiths store, who was a pleasure to talk to and generous with his time. He suggested the reason why the panda was still available might be competition from the Tudor Black Bay chrono, which it must be said is about £1000 cheaper and looks a lot more like a Rolex Daytona. 

Adam certainly had a good go at selling me the watch, but at £5350 this was never really on the cards... even if (as Adam pointed out) unlike a lot of watches it was available to take away today. And as it turned out they did have one of the new Aquaracer chronographs in stock, but only the black one (the least interesting one of the three for me), but more on that anon.

Later in the TAG Heuer boutique I also got a chance to try on the 39mm Carrera panda which Charlie M so eloquently wrote about a few weeks back. I decided not to write my own 'On the Wrist' post for that because Charlie already said everything that needed to be said, however I will just add that unfortunately everything I didn't like about it in the pictures (the pink/orange fauxtina and too-thick bright white subdial hands) still rubbed me up the wrong way in the flesh. Still, it's a shoe-in for WOTY 2023 and I don't think anything I can say is going to change that. Ultimately that watch is not aimed at me, which is probably why I don't get it.

Speaking of Charlie and the glassbox Carrera, we are looking to collaborate on a post soon looking at the ten glassbox Carreras which have been issued over the last years. As Mr Arnault has declared the glassbox Carrera a closed book it seems like a good time to to present them and if you frequent the THF Forum you will already know that Charlie recently held a poll of glassbox owners to determine the order of greatness. I bet you can't guess which one came out on top....  🙄