ON THE WRIST: Heuer Autavia 'Viceroy' Heuer 02 Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Outlet / Bicester Village, 11th May 2024

The Heuer 02 Autavia was a funny old thing. Launched in 2017, the watch was warmly received but at 42mm it was probably a little large for the Heuer types it was aimed at, and it was also a bit on the thick side. Despite that the watch seemed to have a lot of fans and TAG Heuer released several variations in quick succession including the UAE L/E, the Watches of Switzerland L/E, the Orange Boy L/E and this particular one, the 'Viceroy' Edition.

As far as I remember (and this seems to be confirmed by Watch Base) the 'Viceroy' was released in 2018 and was only available in US boutiques. I seem to recall several people moaning about that on the THF Forum at the time, but now for those in the UK (at least) the opportunity to purchase is finally here! Oddly the 'Viceroy' was not actually a 'limited edition' as such, but I can't really imagine it would have been made in huge numbers.

The model is based on a watch from 1972, which rather amusingly, was part of a promotion to sell 'Viceroy' cigarettes and should surely appeal to many who find the standard model's three dial layout rather cluttered and busy. With the running seconds subdial at the 6 position removed the date has space to sit nicely as an hour marker and I must admit the layout does look much better overall (as long as you are happy to forego a running seconds of course...).

I never liked the bezel on these (and I'm definitely not alone there, the later bezel found on the JH85 was much nicer) and it does feel rather thick, but that aside this wears well on my 7.5" wrist. The red really pops but I could happily live without the fauxtina. I assume here the watch is set to 10pm and the date has started it's changeover... but bear in mind the Heuer 02 date seems to have a bit of a reputation for never being well centred - so worth checking before you buy. 

The strap is a little bit on the short side though, if you have an 8" wrist you will definitely struggle with this one. Saying that I've tried on watches with shorter straps, I believe the recently discontinued Gulf F1 (the one with the black pushers and crown - see below) was the worst of all, IIRC I was only just able to get it round my wrist and pin the very last hole.

The Viceroy is currently on offer for £3400, which is just a shade over 40% off TAG Heuer's 'current' list price. 

While I was at the store I took a few more pictures and also don't forget if you are in the UK you can request access to the WhatsApp stock list so you can keep your eye out for any bargains. We were quite lucky on this visit as they had just received quite a large delivery so there was plenty to look at. Unfortunately such is the nature of the outlet that new stock tends to disappear quickly and old unwanted stock tends to stick around. Still there were good discounts here on lots of watches that are recently discontinued or in some cases still in stores...

Sadly the 2017 Link collection never really caught on did it? These two Calibre 17 chronographs were finally discontinued a year or so ago. I'm not sure I ever really liked them very much... 

I do like this one though, I remember trying one on a few years ago at Bicester Village. Still not sure it's really me though...

Bronze Calibre 5 Autavias, the green looks fantastic when the bronze is fresh out of the box - but unfortunately these have already started to go a little bit brown.

A fairly recently discontinued Carrera 44mm Sports with the olive green dial... pretty cool this one.

The 2020 Year of the Rat Autavia, with bronze case, red strap and 'rat' backplate... funny how you don't hear much about bronze watches anymore isn't it? I guess everyone finally realised that a watch that starts out looking like gold and ends up looking like it belongs in a dumpster isn't really 'luxurious'!

Bicester Village stalwarts, God knows where they keep finding these. Tried both on many times but never taken the plunge. Still would if money was no object, probably the Calibre 16 for me as the Calibre 5 wears a little small on my wrist.

The Formula 1 Gulf is available both on the super short blue strap and the bracelet, a great opportunity to get one of these as there are a LOT of fakes of these about...

As you can see I tried on the 2017 Camo Aquaracer (WAY208D) for the seventieth time, but still couldn't quite convince myself to pull the trigger (I should have bought it when it was down to £1500, now it's £1750 - which to be fair is still a lot less than it was in 2017). I love the dial and the strap is actually very comfortable, but that flappy strap-end would drive me nuts so I know I would end up putting it on the same black rubber strap I have on my WAY208C and then it would be just too similar. 

Long time readers will know this has been torturing me for years, I love both but I made my choice way back in 2019 and honestly I made the right choice. I've had countless opportunities to buy the WAY208D again, the WAY208C not so much.

Well there we are, it was a fun time visiting the store after a good while and it's always nice to see Evan. As it turns out the visit wasn't solely window shopping as my wife actually bought a very heavily discounted Aquaracer, I will cover that one in a separate post soon...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Twin Time by The Watch Village

 

FEATURE: I Guess We Have 'Kithsteria' to Blame For This?

 

One of the COCO members drew my attention to this absolute garbage on eBay a couple of days ago. I can't quite believe it, but someone actually bought this for £955. It was listed as NOS, which is an absolute joke. There's damage to the bezel, there appears to be a chip in the glass above the date and another scuff on the left hand side over the minute hand. 

There's also a nice juicy scratch on the backplate and that strap... what the hell is that strap??? Some cheap garbage aftermarket strap with a scratched up buckle.

Jesus. They could have had my mint all black Formula 1 for half that money. 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by Abrod520

Today we are continuing our series dedicated to celebrating the wonderful TAG Heuer Aquaracer, and this time we have another COCO Council member (Abrod520/Adam) who has stepped up to the plate to declare his Top 10 Aquaracers. I was surprised to see that Adam didn't include the 'Tribute to 844' which I remembered him buying, but when I checked with him to see if he'd forgotten about it he said that he had sold it as the initial attraction wore off. Well, you know, it happens...

Here then is Adam's Top 10, sans the 'Tribute to 844'...

VIDEO: KITH Heuer Formula 1 is a Joke by Just One More Watch

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: KITH Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Re-Edition Watches

 

It's long been rumoured that TAG Heuer were going to release some kind of 'classic' Formula 1 piece this year and fair play to them they did an amazing job of keeping it under wraps until just a few days before release when it emerged that the new watch was going to be a collaboration with Ronnie Fieg's 'Kith' brand. Like most people on this side of the pond (I suspect), I'd never heard of them. But then as a 54 year old man living in the UK, who thinks £50 for a shirt is more than enough, I'm hardly their target customer!

In the wider watch community though the penny dropped and Hodinkee's recent 'Talking Watches' interview with Ronne Fieg was exposed as the thirty minute advertisment it surely was... and when you add in that LVMH has a stake in Hodinkee and Frederic Arnault and Ronnie are reportedly buddies, well... you can see exactly how all this came about; something that wasn't lost on the commentors on Hodinkee's Instagram post about the new watches incidentally.

Because of course this wasn't a 'watch' at all, but a series of ten watches inspired by (to varying degrees) the original Formula 1 watches which were produced between 1986 and 1996.

VIDEO: KITH Heuer Formula 1 Re-Issues by Escapement24

 

FEATURE: TAG Heuer at Watches & Wonder 2024 (with Jim Dollares)

 

Greetings dear readers and welcome to our annual round up of Watches & Wonders. As ever I have our delightful Swedish contributor Jim Dollares with me and well, I think it might be an understatement to say he's fired up and ready to talk...

ROB: Hi Jimbo, how's it going on this beautiful Monday morning?

JIM: Hi Rob, thanks for reaching out. Let me start out by saying that I have now calmed down a bit after my utter rage I felt seeing the very weak line up presented by TAG Heuer this year. Did I say weak? Yes you heard me!

ROB: Well, yes I must admit I wasn't exactly blown away by this year's W&W offerings, or indeed much of anything that's come out this year... in fact at this point in time I'm struggling to think what I can use my WOTY vote on. I mean, there's still a long way to go and I'm sure there's dozens of new watches due for release before we get to that point. But even so, it's been a fairly lacklustre start to Mr Tornare's reign (although you can hardly blame him as he's only been in the job for five minutes).

Okay, so where do you wanna start? How about the new Panda glassbox?

JIM: The panda glassbox in theory could have been something really nice. I mean, we saw with the 60th anniversary of the Carrera how exceptionally wonderful a perfectly executed glassbox panda can be. What TAG Heuer released this year though, is like the mentally challenged cousin of the CBK221H.

ROB: Yes, yet again everyone seems to love this latest glassbox and yet again I feel like there's something wrong with me because I honestly think it's pretty odd looking. I really don't understand where all this positivity comes from; you know, all these You Tube watch gurus making videos with titles like 'TAG is back' and 'TAG is smashing it out of the park with these new glassboxes'. And I mean I say everybody, but compare the COCO score for this new version with the 60th Anniversary - 6/10 V 8.7/10, that shows me that at least the COCO has it's collective head screwed on right!

VIDEO: The Most Iconic TAG Heuer Watch of All Time by Kevin O'Leary

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronographs

 

After the hullabuloo (and disappointment, frankly) of Watches & Wonders 2024, it was refreshing to see TAG Heuer sneak out a couple of nice looking Calibre 16 Formula 1 chronographs just after the show ended. I don't really know why they weren't shown at W&W, but for me these are the best things TAG Heuer have released so far this year!

Luckily, I actually managed to try both the blue and green models on in the Regent Street branch of Watches of Switzerland so this post will serve as both a 'First Impressions' and an 'On the Wrist'. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer x Kith Ruins F1 Re-Issue by Britt Pierce

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre TH81-00 'Rattrapante' Split Seconds Chronograph

 

Okay, hands up who else spat out their coffee when they read that the latest Monaco from TAG Heuer had a price tag of from* £121,000? I mean, we knew something was coming based off last year's 'Only Watch' Monaco Rattrapante so it wasn't exactly a 'surprise' (especially as TAG Heuer had been dropping hints left, right and centre), but I don't think anyone was really prepared for the jaw-dropping price tag the brand attached to this new model... even when you take into account the £3000 premium TAG are already charging for their current skeletonised Monacos over the solid dial variants.

*Depending on the level of customisation required, in case you were wondering....

I mean, had I been asked to guess the price I might have plucked £25,000-30,000 out of the air (especially since before this I wasn't terribly au fait with what the going rate for a rattrapante was), but I would never in my wildest estimates have gone over £100,000! And I wasn't alone, both 'A Blog to Watch' and (ex Watchfinder 'hands' guy) Andrew Morgan absolutely ridiculed the brand in their 'Watches & Wonders' YouTube round ups (though with their combined knowledge and industry savvy they should perhaps have been a little more 'informed'). 

But initially I too did not get it, especially when rattrapante chronographs are readily available from other brands such as Breitling at under £10,000 and from 'better' brands like IWC for not that much more. So there has to be more to it, doesn't there. It can't simply be that TAG Heuer are applying a Monaco premium the likes of which we've never seen before just because? 

Well yes, of course there is...