VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Dato 45 Glassbox by Time & Tide

 

FEATURE: The Problem with Grey Market Sellers

 

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The other day I was looking on the internet and somehow ended up looking very closely at a 'brand new' WAY208A Aquaracer that was being sold on a grey market website. I'm not going to name them here, but it's one that's being very aggressively marketed and you've probably had pop up ads on your computer recently. I've even seen ads for them in a game app I use on my phone!

Anyway, perusing the TAG Heuer stock they had just gave me chills since it was basically every watch that everyone comes to the THF Forum 'Is My Watch Authentic' thread with... but on the other hand it seemed that the website is an official partner with some brands, but not, essentially TAG Heuer. This doesn't really help since just because a website partners with one brand to sell official product doesn't mean their other products are automatically authentic.

VIDEO: Heuer Carrera 'Montreal' Heuer 02 Chronograph by Khrono Kraze

FEATURE: My Top Five Two Tone TAG Heuer Watches

 

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It's been a little while since my last 'TOP 5' post and... honestly these do tend to come out when I don't have anything else ready and I need something quick and easy. Unfortunately I don't have part three of the Carrera History ready yet, I'm waiting on some people writing their TOP 10 Aquaracer posts and we're all waiting on TAG Heuer showing us what they've got for 2024, so in the meantime I'm afraid this is what you get. But still, that doesn't mean it can't be fun... right? 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm by Random Rob

 

HISTORY: TAG Heuer Carrera Part Two (2013-2016)

 

Welcome to the second part of this huge seven part series. In this post we take a look at the period between 2013 and 2016, which for TAG Heuer included the arrival of Swiss watchmaking legend Jean Claude Biver, the skeleton dial Carrera and the first affordable tourbillon Carreras. This era coincided with my full on entry into the watchmaking universe and as such does kind of hold a special place in my heart. Plus, somehow being into watches back then seemed a lot more 'fun' and a lot less... like a business opportunity. Hey ho, I guess we have Covid to thank for that huh.

Links to the other parts of the series are found at the bottom of each post.

All watches are mechanical unless otherwise noted.

VIDEO: Heuer 1964 Carrera Re-Edition by Time Driven

FEATURE: TAG Heuer is Finally Cool Again. So What?

Something weird has happened of late and I don't understand it. Ever since I properly joined the 'watch community' in early 2016 TAG Heuer was always the black sheep, always the butt of the joke, always the brand 'proper' watch enthusiasts looked down on. But it seems the script has changed and I can't for the life of me understand why.

No doubt some will say it's because of the new glassbox Carreras, but leaving aside my own ambivalence to them (at least in the 39mm format) I really don't see that as being sufficient to cause the overwhelming change of sentiment that's seemingly flowed through the influencing watch world in the last few months.

Now obviously to my mind TAG Heuer should never have been the black sheep, the butt of the joke or the watch company that 'proper' watch enthusiasts looked down on in the first place and the insistence that TAG Heuer made their own bed by making supposedly 'terrible' watches in the 1990s doesn't hold much sway with me either.

VIDEO: The Perfect TAG Heuer Carrera by Shah Lusso

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 Professional 'Solid Gold' Calibre TH31-00 Watch

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Sheffield, November 2023

One of the least reported surprises of last year in TAG Heuer land must surely have been the introduction of not one but two solid gold cased Aquaracers. This is the first time TAG Heuer have ever produced a full gold Aquaracer, with the material recently only used for special pieces in the Carrera range (there have been various solid gold pieces in the past including Monacos, Monzas, 6000 Series and 2000 Series).  

Why has there never been a solid gold Aquaracer before? It's a good question isn't it... with no satisfactory answer. Perhaps because most people would balk at paying £16,000 for a solid gold TAG Heuer that isn't a Carrera or Monaco... and yet here we are, finally, with an almost solid gold 40mm Aquaracer. I say 'almost' because clearly that black coated crown isn't solid gold and that's my first and actually main issue with this watch. I just don't get it. Clearly a solid gold watch should have a matching solid gold crown, it's a no brainer - so why on Earth did TAG Heuer decide to give these solid gold pieces black crowns?

Okay it's not so bad on the black dial version (which comes on a black rubber strap of course), but here it looks silly, mismatched and dare I say cheap. If they didn't want to use gold for the crown for some reason, then why not a blue coating or ceramic? At least then it would match...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Link WT5150 Chronometer by Birth Year Watches

 

HISTORY: TAG Heuer Carrera - Part One (1996-2012)

 

When you think of 'TAG Heuer' it's hard not to follow that thought with 'Carrera'. Though the model has morphed (some might say 'mutated') into products that the Heuer purists decry as 'not a Carrera', the fact is the range is now so vast and varied that the word Carrera brings to mind many different things to many different people. 

But this is nothing new, look back through the history books and you might be surprised to find that not all Heuer Carreras featured long elegant lugs, and with the sizes of watches increasing over the years there came a point where it was no longer practical to maintain what some consider the range's defining feature.

I can agree that the Connected Smartwatch should never really have been called a Carrera though, but I think this was more because of the the modular nature of the early models which could be used with Carrera 'modules' containing Calibre 5, 16 and H02T movements. I'm not that au fait with the Connected range since I'm not really into smart watches but I presume they are no longer using the Carrera branding, I don't suppose there's any reason for them to now since the 'Connected' name has established itself pretty firmly and there are no more mechanical 'modules'. 

And so we come to the long delayed/anticipated/expected (delete as appropriate) 'History of the TAG Heuer Carrera' which I feel like I've been promising forever and honestly has become a bit of a millstone round my neck. This has been the biggest single project I have ever undertaken for the blog and one which I commenced about two years ago if I'm not mistaken. Not that I've been working on it non-stop of course, truthfully there was a six month break in the middle when I just got so bogged down in the endlessness of it all. But, I came back to it, determined to finish it and so the first part at least is ready.

Originally the idea was to post all seven parts together in one week, but I actually thought this would be quite boring for you guys and since the posts will be linked to each other and also accessible from the 'History' menu, it doesn't actually matter if they are posted consecutively or not. 

So, okay, here we go... finally

NB - All watches are mechanical unless otherwise noted.

VIDEO: Heuer Carrera CS3111 Re-Issue by TwoSecondsWatch

 

ON THE WRIST: Heuer Monaco 'Racing Blue' Calibre 11 Limited Edition Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Oxford Street, London, 28th October 2023 

You may remember last year that I said the Monaco 'Night Driver' turned out to be a lot nicer in person than the photographs suggested, well it wasn't the only new Monaco I experienced on my most recent visit to the Oxford Street boutique as they also had this new limited edition Heuer branded, Calibre 11 'Racing Blue' model.

Now as you probably know by now, I'm not one to get my panties in a twist just because a Monaco has a Heuer badge on the dial and left handed crown. Truth be told I think the left handed crown looks damned strange and if I ever do buy a Monaco (which isn't completely off the cards) then it will either be a Calibre 12 or a Heuer 02 with the crown between the pushers as God intended!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Knocked it Out of the Park in 2023 by Time & Tide

 

PRICE LIST: TAG Heuer Price List - Jan 2024

 

Once again it's time for our twice yearly cataloguing of the TAG Heuer website, and... well there's actually not too much to report this time around. As usual new entries since the last update have been added and highlighted in blue and price changes are highlighted in red (not many of those this time, but I hear there is a 6% increase coming on the 1st of Feb so you might want to act before then if you were planning a purchase).

There have been a few deletions here and there but nothing of note, in fact the most noteworthy change would be the deletion of the entire 36mm WBK Carrera range along with the rose gold Porsche 2.7 Carrera.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Reverse Panda' Glassbox by Random Rob

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by BP Smith

As part of our 20th Anniversary celebrations for the Aquaracer, this year I will be inviting various people to choose their top ten models and who knows, maybe at the end of the year we can compile a shortlist and perhaps vote to decide the ultimate Aquaracer? We'll see. First out of the gate (and with tremendous enthusiasm it must be said) comes THF Forum & C.O.C.O. Council member BP Smith.

Incidentally, if you would like to play along you can access a visual library of every Aquaracer ever made by following this link: ALL THE AQUARACERS

BEN: Hello everyone, being an avid reader of THE Blog, plus a major Aquaracer fan, I was more than happy to get involved with picking my Top 10 all time Aquaracer pieces. After whittling it down to a “Shortlist” of 32, there were quite a few desirable options which were sadly dropped, but here’s my final 10…

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Mint Green Dial' Calibre 7 by Brent Miller Time

 

FEATURE: Keeping Track of Wrist Time (2023 Edition)

Happy New Year to all my readers, and before we begin another year of the T.H.E. Blog I just wanted to take a second to thank you all for visiting my blog and keeping me going. Readership has doubled over the last couple of years (as far as I can tell from the page views) and I'm very happy that my enthusiasm for the brand has seemingly rubbed off on so many of you. 

Now the past few years I've done a post called 'My Crazy Year of Watch Buying' or variations on that theme. But this year I actually bought a grand total of two watches; the green-dial Calibre 5 Aquaracer and the original carbon bezel Solargraph (plus my wife's short-lived two-tone Aquaracer or course!) so I don't really think it's worth doing that again this year.

However, as usual I have been keeping tabs on what I've worn over the year and now that my collection is down to a slightly less ridiculous size it gives me the opportunity to wear more watches more often. Or so you'd think.... as we'll see perhaps it hasn't worked out quite as hoped, and maybe there is a case to be made for disposing of a few more pieces?

Without further ado then let's get into it...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon Watches by Swiss Watch Expo