SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer x Bamford Carrera x Rowing Blazers 'Yacht Timer' Limited Edition Heuer 02 Chrono

 

CBN2011-0

I'll admit my knowledge of the 'Rowing Blazers' brand is pretty limited but even a cursory glance at their website tells you pretty much everything you need to know. £50 for a baseball cap, £135 for nylon shorts, £310 for a jumper.. and £9250 for a TAG Heuer x Bamford x Rowing Blazers Carrera. Wait, what? Oh yes, you think watch enthusiasts are easy to extract money from? Well that's nothing compared to fashion junkies...

This is one is (thankfully) limited to just ninety nine pieces, although strangely I only have GQ's word for that as it's not mentioned on the 'Rowing Blazers' website* and if the photos on the website are to be believed it's not marked on the watch either - which I find slightly curious. What is marked on the watch though is the part number CBN2011-0, which means these watches started life as a blue dial 42mm Carrera. Which, let's not forget, costs 'just' £5200.

*Then again, the Bamford website also claims the case of this watch is made of recycled ocean plastic, so clearly attention to detail is not their forte.

So what do you get for the extra £4050? Has the watch been cleverly re-engineered (like the recent Porsche Chronosprint) to incorporate some 'yachting' related feature, like perhaps a 'Regatta Timer'. No it has not. Basically... what you get for your money is a dial that looks like it's been designed by a toddlers group, a spare NATO style strap and a rather tacky looking box to keep it in. Excellent!

Okay, so the dial itself is 'inspired' by this classic Heuer 'Yacht Timer' and when you view it in that context you can see what George was trying to do... but for me that doesn't change the fact that the end result looks like an absolute dog's breakfast, and the price is an absolute joke. But there you are, the intended market will probably be falling over themselves to buy this so who's the fool?

Crucially, this doesn't have its own part number, which means it's a Bamford mod-job and not a 'proper' TAG Heuer release. As such, I can now forget about it and never have to look at it again. 

Thank goodness for that!