FEATURE: Coming Up on Seven Years of the TAG Heuer Enthusiast Blogspot

 

Hello friends, and thank you for continuing to visit my blog. This year has been a bit different for me, with my watch collecting coming to (pretty much) a screeching halt as I came to realise that simply buying more and more and more watches simply wasn't sustainable, or desirable. This caused a bit of a dip in momentum since I wasn't constantly getting new watches to talk about and this coincided with an absolute glut of releases from TAG Heuer which meant it felt like I was constantly having to write one 'First Impressions' post after another.

While I do want to continue to cover every new release (excluding the Connected) recently it seems like the blog has become a little bit too much of a 'billboard' for modern TAG Heuer. I mean of course it is, but I also want it to continue to be a place to celebrate the last 37 years and not just the last 6 months. While I'm not buying any more older models at the moment, I still own plenty and my enthusiasm for the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s models has not dimmed.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm Watch by Wristwatch Dave

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Solargraph' Blue Dial Quartz Watch

 

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If you're thinking that there's nothing particularly different about this blue dial version of TAG Heuer's solar powered 'Solargraph' Aquaracer, you'd be right; it's literally the same as the black dial steel version released a few months ago. Yet the render caused a few ripples of excitment, suggesting as it does a sexy 'metallic' blue dial, always a winner with a three hand Aquaracer.

Alas, seeing this in the flesh was something of a disappointment. The blue is not 'metallic' at all, indeed it's very flat and I wonder if this is a limitation imposed by the solar panel dial? It's a shame really because this render looks great - if only the watch actually looked the same. I thought the solar panel was underneath the dial and the 'gaps' in the dial were for the light to get to the panel, but maybe I have misunderstood?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Red Dial' Calibre 5 Watch by Brent Miller Time

 

FEATURE: Why My 'Favourite' Watch Isn't My 'Best' Watch

 

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Allow me to draw a distinction between two of my watches; one of which I would consider my 'favourite' and one my 'best' watch. My favourite watch is, and probably always will be, my CAR2A1Z Carrera Heuer 01 Skeleton. This was the watch that really kicked off my watch collecting journey, not to mention this blog. I already owned two TAG Heuer watches before that, but it was not a hobby or a collection. The Heuer 01 changed that; as soon as I saw a photograph I wanted it - even though I didn't have a clue how much it was going to cost. After that it was all downhill as far as the bank balance was concerned, but on the upside think of all the joy my new found hobby brought me!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Watch Repair Tutorial by Watch Repair Channel

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer/Bamford Carrera 'Wes Lang' Heuer 02 Limited Edition Chronograph

 

While Bamford Watch Department's watches aren't considered 'canon' (and thus are not appraised by the Council of Considered Opinion or eligible for C.O.C.O. Watch of the Year inclusion) their major collaborations are worthy of reporting nonetheless. Last year they produced a fairly Godawful green Carrera (RUF/High Snobiety) that had me reaching for the sickbag, but I have to say this is much, much better!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Blue Dials Review by Swiss Watch Expo

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco 'Blue Racing' Limited Edition Calibre 11 Chronograph

 

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Way back in May 2021 TAG Heuer launched their first titanium cased Calibre 11 Monaco (nicknamed the 'Titan') with what seemed like, at the time, quite an eye-watering price tag (if only we knew!). This was debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix (naturally) and World Champion in waiting Max Verstappen was presented with a special one-off 'Titan' that had the Monaco circuit printed on the display-back along with his race number of 33, and of course throughout that year Max could be seen regularly wearing the Titan on the podium.

I liked the Titan, although I couldn't really understand why a titanium cased Monaco would carry the 'Heuer' badge and the Calibre 11 movement; it seemed more logical to me that it would be powered by TAG Heuer's in-house Heuer 02 motor. But I guess the brand was of the opinion that the 'collectors' favour the crown on the left and so that's what we got. Fast forward to 2023 and there's a new 'Titan' in town, only this time it's a lot more colourful.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Skipper' Calibre TH20-00 Chronograph by Time & Tide

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Japanese MOP' Calibre 5 Limited Edition

 

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It's not that often these days that I come across an older TAG Heuer watch that I wasn't previously aware of, so to find this model on the Watchfinder website the other day was quite a pleasant surprise. I've seen black mother of pearl dial Carreras in men's sizes before (I tried on a Calibre 16 at Bicester Village years ago) and just recently we've seen a new limited edition 42mm Carrera with a MOP dial, again for the Japanese market - but I think this one is the nicest of the lot. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco V4 by Tick Tocking

 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Ladies Quartz Watch

 

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I never thought I'd see the day when my wife would own a two-tone watch. Every time I bought one she said nice things but I could tell she didn't feel the same way about them that I did. Then maybe a year or two ago she started to soften a little bit, started dropping things into conversation like '...well, I don't have any gold watches...', things like that. And so the long, slow slide towards 'ownership' began. I'm sure you know how it goes.

Then a couple of weeks ago I caught her looking at two-tone watches again, this time on Est 1897 (now H&T). Now one of the great things about ladies watches is that they are much less likely to be fakes, and even less so in two tone, but still of course you should be careful. The watches she was looking at on Est 1897 however I had no concerns about as they were 8-10 years old and mostly rather dreary looking.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer by Ave Joe Watch Reviews

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Ladies 'Red Dial' Calibre 9 Watch

 

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TAG Heuer's recent green dial 30mm Aquaracer missed the mark with me, but more importantly my watch-enthusiast wife rather liked it. This time around she's a lot less convinced, and I have to say I agree. By comparison the green looks much the better of the two and like its 40mm counterpart the dial looks a rather peculiar shade of red and very wishy washy looking.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Classic by Birth Year Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Heuer 02 Skeleton Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Oxford Street, London 20th June 2023

When I wrote my 'First Impressions' post for the new skeleton-dial Monacos back in June it was hard not to lead with the prices TAG Heuer was asking for the first 'widely available' examples they had ever produced. Two months down the line and it feels like the buzz for these models has died pretty quickly, probably because we've got a new 'limited edition' Monaco in our faces already. 

I must admit I was hoping to see the black DLC/turquoise model, but of course the boutique only had the other two in stock, so that was perhaps getting me off on the wrong foot, but again I found myself rather alarmingly disinterested in the watch on my wrist - which is probably partly why it's taken so long for me to write this post.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre TH20-00 Chronograph by OnTheWrist

 

MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Right Heuer, Right Now by David Chalmers

 

Vintage Carreras and Monacos may hog the limelight, but to true afficionados of Heuer's motoring chronographs, the Autavia is hot property.

There's one question that divides music lovers into two related, but utterly separate camps: "Lennon or McCartney?" The infectious melodies of Paul versus the political lyrics and blues edge of John. When 550 musicians were recently asked this question in a survey, the results were surprising. Not because Paul thumped John, or vice versa, but because the answer, frequently, was Harrison. Long live the contrarians.

In the world of vintage Heuers, the equivalent question is "Carrera or Monaco?" The legend of these two chronographs is writ large, in no small part because of their revival in the late 1990s as faithful re-editions. The spirits of both iconic designs cast long shadows, which stretch from the past, arch over today and extend into the future. Both models form a core part of the TAG Heuer range today just as they did 45 years ago. The Carrera, launched in 1963, is the smaller and more classic of the two, with its clear circular dial in contrast to the '70s bright blue of the outrageous square Monaco.

When posed the Carrera or Monaco question, the answer for many Heuer collectors, and not just the contrarians, is "Autavia". Because while the Carrera and Monaco are today synonymous with motor racing, it's the Autavia that was, according to historical fact at least, the real deal, with the first Autavia used to time car races. It's the Autavia that came first and it's the Autavia that outlived its famous siblings, remaining in the catalogue right up to the bitter end of Heuer in 1985. The Autavia was the heart and soul of the Heuer range for more than 30 years, and yet today is almost forgotten by all but the loyal Heuer devotees.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Kirium T5 Quartz Watch by Birth Year Watches

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Ibiza' Limited Edition Calibre 5 Watch

 

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As you may or may not recall, at the tail end of 2021 (I think I actually covered it at the start of 2022 because I didn't find out about it straight away) TAG Heuer released a twenty piece limited edition 43mm Aquaracer 'Ibiza' edition, which was basically a blue dial Aquaracer with a black ceramic bezel instead of a blue one. It was a pretty small change, but it looked great... better than the normal one in my opinion, and it also came in a very funky box.