ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraphs and 42mm Carrera Sports

It's been a little while since I've visited a TAG Heuer boutique, so I was expecting to see lots of new and exciting things... well, maybe that was a little optimistic (what with so many new things being limited editions), but I did see the new Formula 1 Solargraph for the Dutch GP, which looked quite cool. I also saw the new 'Watches of Switzerland exclusive' 41mm Carrera with the metallic Tiffanyish dial. 

That's a bit of a mystery that one, the UK website claims it is a limited edition of 250, but the US site makes no such claim. Talking to other people about this I've heard it's not limited by number but by production so who knows. It looked okay, but a bit too shiny for my liking. Still I'm pleased that they are starting to make this kind of dial in more wearable sizes (not just 36mm).

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Monza 50th Anniversary Chronograph by Monochrome Watches

 

FEATURE: The Watch I Will Never Sell (Part 2)

Welcome to the second part of this interesting two part series, it's always nice to read about other people's watch experiences, especially when they are so personal and meaningful. Thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute, it is, as always, much appreciated. 

Aqua-G / Rob

I’m going to have to pick two watches sorry, the first is my McQueen Monaco, I wanted a Monaco from the time I first saw the square watch in a jewellers window, I tried on a few times, if memory serves it was black faced version, and then later whilst trying on a McQueen in a local dealer they offered me a deal that was very good, I slipped out and called my friendly AD who had a cancelled order sitting and beat the offered price by a lot, deal done over the phone. That was two of my must haves scored, the watch and my Honda S2000, both still in my possession now.

The second is my Disney Tigger watch, my daughter bought it for me on a trip with friends to Euro Disney, first thing she bought me solely by herself without help from mum or granny, it wasn’t for a special occasion just a “love you dad” moment, I’ll treasure that forever.

Pitfitter446

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer - Calibre 5 My A$$ by Chronoglide Watchmaking Academy

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco 'Speed 12' Limited Edition

Way back when I first started getting into 'luxury' watches I used to buy a wonderful English magazine called 'QP'. This was my introduction to countless watch brands and in one particular issue it featured a Louis Vuitton Tambour Regatta which used rotating cubes with different coloured sides to indicate a ten minute countdown. This was before I was a confirmed TAG Heuer fanboi, and thinking it was pretty cool I contemplated purchasing one of these, I mean how much could it cost?

Well quite a bit more than I thought as it turned out... haha! Ah the joy of naivety! So... obviously that went out of the window (along with the white dial Omega Speedmaster Snoopy!), but when I saw this new Monaco Speed 12 I immediately knew where the movement had come from, despite TAG Heuer giving it their own calibre nomenclature (TH84-00).  

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph by Time & Tide

 

COMMENT: New 42mm Carrera Sports Coming Soon... Or Already Here?

I'm writing this post on the 7th of August having just received this email from TAG Heuer. Now whether you are excited by the prospect of a new 'smaller' Carrera Sports or not (and I know some of you are), the most notable thing about this email is that these watches are already on the TAG Heuer website and have been for several days. So far from being a chance to 'witness the unveiling', unfortunately on the 7th September there's actually very little left to 'unveil'.

I really don't understand why it's so difficult to co-ordinate a release, surely everyone puts a date on their calendar and that's it. Isn't it? But now we have the bizarre situation where people are being asked to remove 'leaked' images from their social media despite the fact that you can already visit the website and buy the watches. Well, I don't know for sure that you can, but you can certainly put them in the basket and they aren't listed as 'coming soon' or 'sign up to be notified'.

*EDIT: Not only are these on the website, the watches are available in boutiques all over the world. 

While bringing this up may seem a little petty on my part, there is a point to this beyond simply trying to embarrass TAG Heuer. Understandably TAG do not like it when people post 'leaked' images on the internet before they are officially released (indeed Heritage Director Nicholas Biebuyck has been fairly vocal about what he thinks of people who do) and as a rule, out of respect for the brand, I try not to leak images of unreleased watches (actually, these days I rarely get to see anything pre-release) but if I can't trust the website then how am I supposed to know what is and isn't under embargo? I'm not a mind reader after all. 

So I really don't know what's going on here, but it looks very unprofessional. As for the watches themselves, I imagine they will be quite popular, especially with contrasting subdials and a smaller 42mm case. But me, I'll stick with my 44mm Dato 160 Anniversary. 🙂

FEATURE: My Top 10 Formula 1s by Imagwai

Today we are joined by THF Forum alumni 'Imagwai', who has contributed to the blog occasionally since its inception and was one of the first members of the Council of Considered Opinion. 

IMAGWAI: As a general comment… this was quite tough. There are so many F1s, and so many different styles that it almost doesn’t seem like the same watch. You’ll notice quite a lot of blue in my choices, though!

SECOND QUARTER ROUND UP: New Pieces (Apr/Jul)

As promised, here is the second 'quarterly' round up. As it's a bit late I've included July releases in it too, well honestly I included everything I knew about and only when I finished I realised that I should have stopped at the end of Jun. Oh well, never mind.... there's certainly a lot more to talk about this time than last time anyway!

I'm undecided at the moment but I may switch to monthly release reports as from August to keep it a little more up to date.