TAG Heuer Boutique, Milton Keynes 1st February 2025
As I've said before, one of the things I truly love about TAG Heuer is that periodically they re-invent their products, which keeps things fresh and exciting... but doesn't always work for you. So it was with a little apprehension that I headed into the TAG Heuer boutique to try on the brand new Calibre 16 Formula 1 chronographs. After all, this was a big change in design and while I liked the photos I saw, we're all aware by now that the only way to 'know for sure' is to get them on the wrist.
I didn't honestly expect the Milton Keynes boutique to have all five models, and indeed neither the blue or the lime green/yellow (we really can't be sure yet) were available. In fact it seems like both of those watches are 'coming soon' and I was told that the blue one will only be sold in the UK via Beaverbrooks and Beaverbrooks owned TAG Heuer boutiques, while the yellow/lime green one will only be sold by Goldsmith/WOS/WOS owned TAG Heuer boutiques.
I don't know if that's 100% true, but I did go into the Milton Keynes Goldsmiths to ask and they didn't know anything about it other than it wasn't on their system, so I'm guessing those two models aren't actually 'released' as yet, but when they are they will be harder to find. Although I would expect the Oxford Street boutique to have them and of course the TAG Heuer website will have them too.
So in the end I only got to try on three of the five new watches, and honestly the blue and the yellow/green were the ones I was most excited to see. But still, it's not every day you get to try on a new generation of a TAG Heuer watch so it was still pretty exciting all the same.
The first watch I tried on was the 'Red Bull Special Edition' and this is definitely my least favourite. As I saw in the pictures it has so much going on and unfortunately it just ends up looking a little messy. That said I found the new case quite interesting and I especially like the way they've integrated the pushers into the design. Some people have said that it makes the watch look bigger (and wider) which I guess it does, but I think it's a super neat looking solution personally.
These watches are officially 44mm, but to me they wear more like 42mm due to their almost non-existent lugs. In fact I had to check if the watches were actually 44mm because I was convinced they were smaller than that. Considering I went into the store wearing my 40mm carbon Solargraph (a watch I think wears smaller than 40mm due to it's all black colour scheme) I was surprised that they came off so small, as I find the watch you go in with can often influence your perception of size.
I expected to prefer the black DLC watch on the red rubber strap, but actually I think I preferred the naked titanium model. I still think the ideal combination would be the black DLC coated model wearing the black rubber strap though. I just think that red strap is a bit too... red, somehow. But then the F1 was always meant to be bright and eye catching and at least the option is there to change it.
The dials are very clear and unlike many I've always preferred the 12, 6, 9 layout to the more universally liked 3, 6, 9. The font on the dial looks great too and I applaud the colour matched date wheel, but the word 'SPEED' on the bezel is just lame, I hope they revert back to 'tachymetre' sooner rather than later.
Overall though, I came away with a positive impression, however £4300+ for a Calibre 16 Formula 1 is a lot. Yes these are top end titanium models so I guess we can expect steel models to come in a good bit cheaper (I do hope so because £4300 is NOT entry-level for a brand like TAG Heuer). Considering we recently saw a statement from TAG Heuer to the effect that they were changing tack and becoming wary of chasing the 'high end' customer, they really need to address their pricing structure if they once again want to become the de facto first choice for new customers.
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