FEATURE: I Really Want to Buy This Watch... But I'm Not Going To. Honest.

 

WAJ2182.FT6015

You have no idea how much it pains me to say this, because I've wanted to own this watch ever since I saw it in TAG Heuer's Bicester Village store five or six years ago. Indeed, I drooled over it again and again, trying to justify the £2600ish price tag to myself (which now looks like a bargain of course!) but I never quite managed to go the whole hog and buy it. But I never forgot the WAJ2182 and its stunningly beautiful gold bezel; if you've ever seen one you'll know what I mean - this is quite something and many's the time I've searched the internet for one - in fact the last time was only about a week ago (Chrono 24, German seller - £2454).

And then yesterday this one popped up on Watchfinder, which should have been perfect for me; two years warranty (crucial for that 'bulletproof' Calibre 5) and easily returnable if I decided I didn't like it once it arrived. And yet, despite staring at it every few hours I know deep down that I'm not going to buy it. I also know that as soon as someone else does I will be rueing my decision. But there we are.

There's two main reasons why I'm not going to buy this. No three actually... the first is that the company I work for isn't doing as well as it has been recently so I am feeling a little insecure about spending money unnecessarily - despite having money specifically set aside for watch purposes. This is probably silly since I could afford to buy the watch if I really wanted to and if this had popped up in December I'm pretty sure I would have jumped on it. But I am a naturally cautious person and there is no fun in buying an expensive item like this when you know deep down it might be a bad idea. 

Secondly I am waiting to see what TAG Heuer unveils at LVMH Watch Week next week, and more to the point I want to see if they are going to announce the new 'retro' Formula 1 before I spend my money on something else (well, clearly they didn't!). Thirdly I have deep reservations about the durability of the watch, not least because Watchfinder are using a 'catalogue image' of the product and not pictures of the actual watch. For one thing it is PVD coated, which looks amazing of course, but is not easily repaired if it is damaged (as so many PVD coated watches are) and then there's that gold bezel.

It looks amazing, but those thin grooves are just begging for damage with the lightest of filing cabinet impacts and working in an environment like I do which is full of metal shelves I just know I am never going to be comfortable wearing this watch to work. And then there's the fact that I already own a grey dial WAJ1111 quartz, and I wouldn't need both - so I'd end up selling a watch on a steel bracelet I can wear everyday for one that I can't - and that doesn't seem like a smart move does it? 

I could also mention that I already have two black coated Aquaracers, the WAY208C (Calibre 5) and the WBP1112 (Solargraph) neither of which I'm exactly relaxed about wearing day to day, so a third cannot be a good move. Can it?

It's such a damned shame though because the WAJ2182 is gorgeous, I even listed it at number three in my 'Top 5 Two Tone Watches' post the other day... but then again the watch I listed at number 2 in that post (the current WBP2150 Aquaracer) was recently available new on a one day deal for £2900 from one of the big jewellery stores, which admittedly makes this look a little less of a 'must-buy'. 

Someone's going to get an epic looking Aquaracer though.... just not me.

Well.

Probably not me. 

I mean... never say never.

🤣