Sure enough, and just as I predicted, the Carrera 'Astronomer' sent to the GPHG for appraisal wasn't a stand alone model and so now we have two more 'Astronomers' to add to the 2025 'Council of Considered Opinion: Watch of the Year' entry list. Unlike the initial piece though these two are limited editions (both made in runs of 500), but with one of them carrying quite a hefty price premium over the other... well, they don't call 'em precious metals for nothing you know!
First up we have the more affordable of the two, which is 'Inspired by TAG Heuer’s role in John Glenn’s historic Friendship 7 mission in 1962...' and which '...celebrates the brand’s pioneering spirit in space exploration'. This one most notably features Superluminova on the 'moons' and a grey leather strap. I must admit initially I wasn't too keen on this one but the more I've seen it (and the more real life photos I've come across) the more it's started to grow on me.
The lumed moons may be gimmicky, I mean come on... but who doesn't love some crazy lume on their watch? Do you know how often I shine a torch on my carbon Solargraph? Honestly, it's embarrassing.... hahaha. Grey leather I'm not so sure about, in fact I can't help wishing they'd given this the full blackout treatment and then those moons would really shine. But okay, this is more of a stylish proposition I guess... and who knows, maybe they have that in mind for the future?
Secondly we have this two tone version, which is quite nice, but again with the pricing.... it's just not viable is it, this tiny bit of gold with a £1700 premium? Okay it's not as obscene as the £3500 bracelet we saw on the Day/Date Carreras recently but it's still pretty hard to justify. A shame really as it looks quite nice, but at the same time it also looks like they 'forgot' to put the gold on the other two mid links and that really isn't a great look.
Actually the gold details on the dial look nice too, and they really seem to bring out the finer points and give the dial a bit more depth somehow, which is always good. I just can't help feeling that they should have either given it a gold crown and left the bracelet as plain steel, or bitten the bullet and done the three mid links and priced it at £8500. I mean there's only 500 to shift after all... 😂
Okay, well once again it's time to turn these over to the Council, lets find out if these are a hit or a miss with them...
Gold 5/10, Grey 7/10: "I find it unacceptable that only the centre of the two-tone bracelet is gold. I prefer the Grey one. Having seen the actual item, I thought this one was elegant and something I'd like to buy."
Gold 8/10, Grey 5.5/10: "I like the silver grey and green combination but the astronomer circle bit is too prominent and the cheap-looking strap brings it down to a 5.5. I much prefer the design on the silver / rose gold model and my score for that is 8."
Gold 3.5/10, Grey 5/10: "Lumed Astronomer; 5/10. The lume adds a nice aesthetic touch to this watch and makes a lot of sense. Two tone Astronomer; 3.5/10 It's ok but for the price difference it's just not worth it for the small amount of gold."
Gold 3/10, Grey 3/10: "TAG returns again to avant garde, innovative use of a cheap Sellita movement for twice the price of the many microbrands using the same thing. Seriously, just google SW288 and see."
Gold 6.5/10, Grey 6.5/10: "The Sellita comment made me regret my pre-order. So I switched and used the funds towards something else."
Gold 7.5/10, Grey 7.5/10: "Two tone doesn’t seem to do more for the watch to me, I do like the lume on the grey one."
Gold 5/10, Grey 3/10: "The two tone has something. Can think of nicer looking watches for the money though."
Gold 3/10, Grey 2/10: "That's generous for these shitters."
Gold 6/10, Grey 6/10: "They're both equally nice to me for different reasons. I'll give them all a 6/10, same score I gave the silver Astronomer. The Astronomer is a nice watch, but I prefer the clean & classic look of the standard Carrera. While the moon phase sub-dial might be a cool novelty, for me it just detracts and distracts from the overall look of the watch."
Gold 7/10, Grey 7/10: "The two-tone I like. Maybe better with a brown leather strap. The grey one looks interesting for me as well. Lume is cool! Need to see this in person."
Gold 7/10, Grey 9/10: "I’ve seen it in person and it’s gorgeous, it's just a disappointment that it's a limited edition. I'm not so keen on the gold version."
Gold 7/10, Grey 7/10: "The colour variants are nice, but still have the same complaint about the crowded lunar subdial. Also a bit disappointed, but not surprised, that a such small amount of gold causes such a large increase in price."
Gold 5/10, Grey 7/10: "I gave 6.5/10 to the first one, so it’s a 7/10 for the grey (which is my favourite Astronomer version), and 5/10 for the two tone."
Gold 6/10, Grey 8/10: "The lume on the moons is nice. Two tone, mmmh..."
Gold 6/10, Grey 6.5/10: "Mmmm, 6/10 for the two tone and 6.5\10 for the white face due to maybe good lume for night use, not joining a queue to buy though. My desk diary tells the moon phase without spending that money."
Gold 6/10, Grey 8.5: "I’m not sure about that tone of rose gold, but I absolutely love the grey with that tone of green lume."
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