FEATURE: EBAY: No Fakes. No Fraud. No Doubt? (Part Two)

Way back in March I wrote a post about eBay and their drive to convince us all that it was safe to buy through their platform without worrying about fake watches, at least for watches that cost more than £1500 (the price point where eBay actually offer hands-on checks), though even then there is some debate on the effectiveness of that. 

Since then I've reported two or three watches that have caught my eye and all three were branded totally fine by eBay. Now these weren't super-fakes where you need to closely inspect the lume pip in the bezel and see the bracelet pins... these were watches that anyone with a reasonable knowledge of the brand would spot as wrong-uns or at least raise suspicions. But no, eBay got a 'service agent' to look at them and decided that each one was not fraudulent.

Well clearly eBay's 'service agents' are ill equipped to do this job, because they are still clueless about even pretty obvious fakes. Like this one for example.

VIDEO: Which TAG Heuer 36mm Carrera by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche Panamericana' Glassbox Tourbillon L/E Chronograph

 

I've now lost count of all the Porsche branded TAG Heuer watches we've seen over the last few years, I want to say it was 10 or 11 prior to this, but I'm not 100% sure. Seems like the time is ripe for a 'Feature' post detailing them all, don't you think? Well, I'll get on it, but for now we have a new (and perhaps slightly controversial) new steel cased tourbillon co-branded with both Porsche and Panamericana; after the famous rally held in the early 1950s.

The watch itself is hardly 'retro' in its styling, but it does take 'inspiration' from the Porsche 550 which competed in said rally; mainly the yellow of the racing numerals used on the car for the hands, the wheels which are the basis of the unique-to-this-watch open dial design and the paint finish which has inspired the speckled look found on both the subdials and the main dial - a unique touch for sure. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Sports Extreme Chronographs by Monochrome Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 7s - Baby Pink and Ice Blue

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's always a pleasure for me to visit the TAG Heuer boutique in the Meadowhall shopping centre, the staff are lovely people and they always have time for you. If you are in that part of the world I heartily recommend stopping by. I tried on quite a few watches on my most recent visit there and there are still more 'On the Wrist' posts to come, including the carbon Monza (finally) and the latest 'Racing Green' Monaco (meh).

But today we shall focus on two.... I was going to say ladies watches, but really only one of these is truly a ladies watch, and that, quite obviously is the baby pink strapped WBN2315. As you can see I didn't actually try it on, in fact I'm not at all sure the strap was big enough to go around my 7.1/2" wrist, but my wife did and she quite liked it.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer GMT Calibre TH31-03 COSC Watches by Brent Miller Time

 

FEATURE: My Top Ten Aquaracers by DTF

And so we come to our eleventh 'Top 10 Aquaracers', this time featuring the choices of THF Forum and C.O.C.O. member 'DTF'. This time our guest has provided his own commentary which means this is a nice easy post for me, thanks for that 'DTF'. 😊

I hope you enjoy his selections as much as I have and finally next month it will be my turn! I guess I need to make some tough decisions of my own between now and then, hey?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch by Soundsoserious

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - 2024' Limited Editions

 

We've already seen limited edition Carreras for both Kuwait and Qatar this year and now it's time for an update to last years 'Kingdom of Saudi Arabia' Carrera. Last year's model featured a silver dial with a green outline and the KSA emblem in green on the dial. Only 100 were produced and the watch came in a special green presentation box with both a bracelet and a green alligator strap.

This year TAG Heuer have produced two models, a 41mm day/date Carrera in steel and a 29mm version with a rose gold bezel and crown and a two tone bracelet.  The dials are inscribed with the words 'Saudi' (male) and 'Saudia' (female) on their respective dials.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph by Birth Year Watches

 

DUEL: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 01 Skeleton Chronograph v Carrera Calibre 16 Titanium Chronograph

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Hello readers, hard to believe I know for one so soft of skin and lithe of body🤣, but today is in fact my 55th birthday! Yay. Cake!!! And so I thought perhaps I would take a break from all these incessant new release posts and instead do what I really like doing. So today I will be writing about two of my most luxurious watches; my original 2016 Heuer 01 Skeleton and the titanium cased Calibre 16 day date Carrera I got from the Bicester Village outlet for my 50th birthday.

Now this post has in fact been in the works since late 2021, I even had some text written and pictures taken... but as three years have passed (!) I decided it would be much better to just start from scratch. I even briefly pondered the idea of switching out the Calibre 16 Carrera for my recently purchased Grand Carrera Calibre 36 for a true 'Clash of the Titans' post... but on reflection I decided that perhaps comparing my long time 'favourite' watch with the watch I am currently 'infatuated' with was a bit unfair. I mean maybe in time the GC Caliper will emerge as my 'favourite' watch, but it's far too soon to be throwing claims like that around.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph Calibre TH50-00 Watch by A Blog to Watch

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph 'Green Dial' Quartz Watch

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

When the green Solargraph was announced I must admit I was a teeny bit concerned that maybe I had rushed into buying the Calibre 5 version. I've always said that given the choice of two identical watches one quartz, one automatic, I would probably choose the quartz... and a solar powered quartz appeals even more. 

But generally speaking there never really is a choice of identical looking watches is there? So the question that required answering here was primarily how do the two dials compare, and secondly was the light blue second hand a deal breaker?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronograph by Random Rob

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquracer 'Sprite' Calibre TH31-03 GMT Watch

 

28th September 2024 / TAG Heuer Boutique, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's funny, I've been waiting a while to see this one, because as seems to be the norm now when TAG Heuer release a bunch of watches together, there's always one that lags behind. Last time I got to visit the excellent Meadowhall boutique I saw all of the new three hand Aquaracers and also the 'Batman' GMT, but I was really pinning my hopes on this all new colour scheme being the one that really got me interested. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports Chrongraph by Hourstriker

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Ice Blue' Calibre TH20-09 Limited Edition Tourbillon

By my reckoning this is TAG Heuer's eighth different tourbillon this year, and while technically this one is another 'limited edition'... at 250pcs it rather begs the question 'just how many £20,000 tourbillons can TAG Heuer actually hope to shift?' I mean, TAG Heuer's bread and butter business is commonly accepted to be in the £1500-6000 region, so it's surprising that the brand feel comfortable making so many pieces in this price bracket.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Sprite' GMT by Brent Miller Time

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Heuer Monaco 'Racing Green' Calibre 11 Limited Edition

When I first clapped eyes on this new 1000 piece limited edition 'Racing Green' Monaco Calibre 11 I was quite impressed, thinking it an improvement over last year's blue version. However, the more I've looked at it the more I feel like I need to see it in person to make a proper judgement.

Because to me it looks like the strap and the subdials aren't quite the same hue of green, and if that's true I would find that rather annoying... 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monaco Special Editions by Swiss Watch Expo

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Green Dial' Solargraph

 

I guess we should have seen this coming, shouldn't we? Given the ever expanding Solargraph range and TAG Heuer's current obsession with the colour green, it was surely only a matter of time until the two were put together and voila... I give you the green dial Solargraph! Must have been a long day at work thinking that one up, eh?

Still, that doesn't really matter if the finished product works and on the face of it this one looks quite successful. I'm not entirely sure about the combination of green and pale blue, I honestly think the black and blue dials provide a better colour base for the usual 'Solargraph' highlight colour. Perhaps, as we've seen with some of the ladies 34mm Aquaracers, a polished steel hand would have been a better fit?