ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph Watches

WBP1112.FT6199                                        WBP1180.BF0000

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 28th January 2023

Since I started this blog nearly seven years ago, I've tried on hundreds of watches... but it's relatively unusual for me to be sitting in a boutique with a watch on my wrist trying to decide whether to buy it or not. More often than not I'm trying the watch on so that I can write about it, irrespective of whether it is something I genuinely think I might buy, and while I do feel a little bad for 'wasting' the salesperson's time, who knows if my post might influence someone to visit a boutique (maybe even that boutique) and lead to a sale down the line. Besides, the whole point of having stores is so that you can visit and assess the watches and see if they are right for you, by putting them on your own wrist - which is really the only way to know for sure.

The store I probably visit the most is the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall shopping centre, which is ironic since it's nowhere near where I live (there's actually a TAG Heuer boutique in the town closest to where I live, but I have never visited it and I haven't actually been into that town for over three years!) I really like going to the Meadowhall store because the staff are great, especially Maxine who was showing me the Solargraphs - and some other things - today), and they never make you feel pressured or rushed, which is why when I find the right new TAG Heuer for me that's where I will be buying it from.

And so there I sat, back at the end of January (which doesn't seem five minutes ago quite honestly) holding not just one Solargraph in my hand, but two! After a lengthy wait I had finally managed to get my hands on the original carbon and rubber Solargraph and also the newly released titanium version. Now truth be told, it was the original version that was holding my attention and making my trigger finger twitch. Don't get me wrong, the titanium version is very nice and it certainly works well, but for me the lumed carbon bezel insert was the big draw.

Sadly we couldn't really get it to 'shine' like it did in the publicity shots in the boutique, but it's always quite difficult to recreate darkness simply by wrapping your hand around a watch. For one thing your eyes are still being exposed to the surrounding light so you don't get the additional sensitivity that you get from actually being in darkness. 

Despite this I still really liked the watch in the flesh, although I have to say I'm still not 100% sold on the shade of pale blue they've chosen for the second hand. It just looks a bit plasticky somehow, not something you associate with a luxury watch. But my main gripe with the watch was that even though it was 40mm it looked a bit small. Black watches have a tendency to look smaller than they really are and this one was no exception, but despite this I sat there for quite some time mulling over the decision.

I was definitely wobbling, after all, I have watches of all sizes and I knew I would get used to the size - it's not as if it was 36mm or something like that. And while people argue that you can get a Casio with the 'same' movement in for far less money, I kinda think that's a redundant argument since at the end of the day this isn't a Casio, it's a TAG Heuer and as an Aquaracer it sits at a certain price point. Plus to be honest I'd rather have this movement on my wrist knowing that it will keep going for at least 15 years without needing attention than a base level Calibre 5 which quite possibly won't...  

Ultimately I decided that the watch was indeed 'too small' and too similar in overall looks to the WAY208C Aquaracer which I already own (and which I have fitted with a black rubber strap). But it was not an easy decision and I was seriously teetering and several times I very nearly committed to the purchase... especially since my wife was sitting next to me egging me on throughout! Good to know that she liked it even if I was on the fence.

While it was never at the races, I also enjoyed having the titanium model on my wrist. As you would expect it felt extremely light and comfortable and the textured finish reminded me of the Bamford Aquaracer from a couple of years ago, which was a bonus. Again that particular shade of blue is just not quite right to these eyes... it's cool that they've chosen a distinctive 'feature colour' for the Solargraph, albeit I can't really see them carrying on with that indefinitely. Maybe if it was just a shade darker, or a little more 'electric blue' rather than baby blue?

It's interesting though that the titanium version didn't feel too small in the way that the original did, which certainly gives me some reassurance about the possibility of buying a steel 40mm Aquaracer in the future. But still it seems a little annoying that the superior clasp only comes on the 43 and 36mm versions. On the other hand it's not a deal breaker, since the old 3 hole clasp is perfectly adequate - especially if like me you have exeprienced watches with no micro adjustment at all (my Link Searacer and Aquagraph immediately spring to mind...) which really are a pain in the backside!

Well, I'm still pinning my hopes on the incoming releases, hopefully we won't have too much longer to wait... and looking at these photos I'm kind of wondering how easy it would be to have another look, cos they do look pretty sweet. Hmm...