As I've mentioned recently, I'm still in the process of trying to reduce my TAG Heuer collection to something approaching a 'sensible' size (20 would be perfect, really) and that obviously means selling more watches. That's fine, but obviously the further I go with that the harder it's going to get to convince myself to let go of watches that I've collected, especially watches that have been with me for some time and which (to me at least) represent the 'best' of a particular model line.
And that's exactly how I feel about this GMT variant of the 1500 Series, at 40mm it is the perfect size for me and much better than the vast majority of 1500 Series models which are 37mm in diameter. As such, me selling this is basically ruling the 1500 Series out of my future collection because I'm not going to buy an inferior piece or buy another one of these again, so unless I win the lottery and money no longer matters, this is it.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with this 1500 GMT Quartz, the sad truth is that I only really wear it when I realize I haven't worn it in a while and even then I only ever wear it for a day and then put it back; it's never really tugging at me to keep it on for a second day. Which is perhaps not that surprising when you look at my collection as a whole and what it's up against. When I had five or six other watches it was probably quite exciting, but now... sitting next to Grand Carreras and multiple Aquaracers it's just a bit underwhelming.
I guess this is what happens when you collect watches as a hobby, you aspire to greater things and eventually things you once cherished become a bit tired and uninspiring and since you can only really wear 1 or 2 watches a day, it gets ignored and eventually you wonder why you are keeping it around when you could be using the money to buy something more stimulating.
As such, it has been on the chopping block for a while and a week or so ago I finally bit the bullet and put it on eBay; as a result it is now sold and awaiting despatch to it's new home. I must admit I have slightly mixed feelings about that, since this one has been with me for quite a long time and ideally I would love to keep every watch I've ever owned... but I'm trying to get away from that 'collector' mindset and this is another necessary step on the path, so off it goes.
It's funny, I did a chart recently showing the comings and goings of all my watches and it's almost like I started my journey well, buying watches that were 'keepers' and gradually I started amassing 'stuff' to fill out my collection, and for the most part that later 'stuff' is the 'stuff' that has fallen by the wayside. There have been some exceptions, like my blue 6000 Series which was a very early purchase (I ended up keeping my silver dial chrono instead), but on the whole if you look at say the first 15 watches I bought I think I still have more than half of them today.
So yeah, I must admit when I packaged it up to go I was a little bit wistful, wondering if I was doing the right thing... but I still need to get rid of probably another ten watches and when you look at it like that this one was definitely in the bottom three, so it had to go.
It always amazes me when I sell watches and then go back and look to see what I've posted about them on the blog, and as usual this one has barely warranted a mention since it was bought in February 2019. I guess that says a lot about where it ranks in my affections and probably justifies it's departure, but it's still slightly sad to see it go.
I know the 1500 Series has its fans, and I don't want to offend anyone, but the watch was designed as an 'entry level' piece with all models being quartz and no chronographs included. This is kind of reflected in the dial, which is quite plain and looks a little like it's made of white card. I know it isn't but it kinda has a 'paper-like' appearance which I actually found quite endearing... but luxurious it definitely is not.
That said, the unique (to the 1500 Series) bracelet is surprisingly nice, featuring as it does a five link design where the central link is the smallest and then the intermediate links are in-between that and the outer links. The bracelet and case are finished in that 'budget conscious' (but actually quite cool) sand-blasted finish that these days TAG Heuer use on £8000+ titanium Monacos... 🤣
Being a GMT, the bezel on this one is bidirectional and it moves very smoothly. As someone who rarely leaves the country of his birth I have very little use for a GMT, and the only reason I bought this one was because it gave me that 40mm case size, but actually the extra red hand is kind of cool too. For a moment there I wondered if there were any 40mm three handers, but I don't think there were. TAG's numbering suggests that all the WD models were 37mm and I assume if they had added a 40mm three hander it would have been given the code WD0*** (rather than WD1***). The post 1992 number for my watch was WS1111, but that just means that in the WS range the 1 signifies 40mm, whereas in the WD range the '1' signifies 37mm. Clear as mud, eh?
Well there we are. I must admit the watch looks great in these pictures and I'm kind of wondering why I sold it! And so it goes... but as it's taken me a couple of days to write this the watch is now in its new home, so that's it for me and the 1500 Series... (probably).
