VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sport Calibre TH20-02 'Twin Time' Chronograph by The 1916 Company

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraphs and Calibre 16 Chronograph

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 31st October 2025

Due to the ridiculous number of watches released at the end of last year this has been delayed quite considerably, hence it might seem a bit out of date! 

So finally the last two of the original nine Formula 1 Solargraphs are here and it could perhaps be said that they saved the best for last. Right from the start I thought if I was going to buy any of these new models it was either going to be the white/red one or the black/yellow one (both of which I owned previously in their 35mm incarnation). Well the white/red one came out in September and it didn't prompt me to reach for my credit card and so far this one hasn't yet either. I definitely think it's one of the best of the nine, possibly even top two, and I appreciate that it has a black DLC steel case (which seems to imbue it with a touch more 'substance') but does it really cut it?

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports GMT Chrono & Lilac 36mm and 41mm Day/Date Carreras

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 31st October 2025

A few weeks ago I stopped in at the Meadowhall boutique on the way to a concert in Sheffield, it's always nice to visit as the staff are great and there's a surprising amount of pieces in there that you don't find in AD's or most other TAG Heuer boutiques that I've been in! Sometimes things show up ages after you've forgotten they've come out and sometimes they surprise you with something that you only found out about a few days beforehand. One such example being the new Carrera Extreme Sports GMT in green and black pictured below.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports Chronograph by Hourstriker

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph & Calibre 16 Chronograph 'Qatar GP' Limited Edition

The 2025 Qatar Grand Prix turned out to be rather 'dramatic' didn't it? And almost farcical in the way it set up Formula 1 for a three way finale in Abu Dhabi. Honestly, if this season was a film we'd all be tutting and saying it was 'far-fetched' wouldn't we? So perhaps it's only fitting that TAG Heuer released a pair of (slightly) 'dramatic' looking new Formula 1's in the days leading up to the race, following the pattern that's prevailed throughout the year of 'associating' new F1 Solargraphs with Grand Prix without going as far as explicitly naming them for the races. Maybe Liberty Media wanted even more money for that? 🤣

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco & Carrera Extreme Sports 'Las Vegas' Limited Edition Chronographs

 

Believe it or not we're pretty much set for 'First Impressions' posts all the way up to Christmas now. As you can see from the TAG Heuer Enthusiast Gallery we still have a ton of new watches to look at and I keep hearing there's still more to come. Quite why they've decided to release like TWENTY watches in November and December is beyond me! Anyway, we'll do what we can, and if I have to post more frequently to get through them all then that's what I'll do. So long as the Council get their fingers out and send me their scores fast enough of course! 🤣

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Senna' Quartz & Calibre 16 Chronographs

TAG Heuer Boutique / Milton Keynes, 10th November 2025

A few years ago I did a post about all the Ayrton Senna watches that TAG Heuer had produced, which included a poll of the C.O.C.O. and pronounced the Ayrton Senna designed (WH1114) 6000 Series the pick of the bunch. Since then we've seen last year's (oddly) predominantly blue tourbillon version... and now these slightly more accessible 'Formula 1' models (for those of us operating on slightly more real-world budgets). As luck would have it I visited the TAG Heuer boutique in Milton Keynes a few days ago and these two both happened to be in the store; as such this post is really not so much of a 'First Impression's' post for me, but since we all love to read what the Council's first impressions are I didn't want to skip to a full 'On the Wrist' post either.   

I must admit, despite the fact that I personally own a 'Senna' branded Formula 1 (the 2nd placed WAZ1014), every time I hear about a new watch coming out I roll my eyes. There's been so many of them (these are the twenty fourth and twenty fifth models in fact), which I suppose is quite incredible really and if nothing else illustrates the enduing power of the Senna brand. 

I know, I know... 'celebrity' endorsements are best treated with a degree of scepticism, but Ayrton did have a genuine connection to TAG Heuer, having driven for the McLaren F1 team (owned by then TAG Heuer shareholder Ron Dennis) and he continued to wear the brand even when he left to drive for Williams in the ill-fated 1994 season. Sure, if he'd lived and continued to drive for Williams it's possible that he could have switched to another watch brand (if say Williams had attracted a watch sponsor), but given that he did work with TAG Heuer to design the first 'Senna' 6000 Series, we can at least attribute a little more authenticity to the collaboration than say the ones with Chris Hemsworth, Bella Hadid or indeed Steve McQueen.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport I F1® 75th Anniversary Limited Edition

TAG Heuer are really doubling down on the Extreme Carreras aren't they? Clearly, someone, somewhere must be buying them... and so after the splendidly exotic 'Lucha Libre' limited edition launched a couple of weeks ago, we now have this 'F1 75 Anniversary' tourbillon. Oddly, my first thought was, doesn't it look like a Connected? And my second thought...? It looks way better than that terrible white ceramic Monaco Ratrapante with 'Lights Out and Away We Go' on the dial.

Surely there's no arguing with that, is there?

And yet, true to form the Council of Considered Opinion are laying into this one as well. It's funny, it seems that they are prepared to accept a certain amount of tomfoolery when it comes to Monacos; they might not really like it, but they'll let it slide a bit, but when it comes to Carreras... that's a different story. Because after all, Jack Heuer's original idea was to make a chronograph that was supremely legible on the wrist even when fishtailing through the Parabolica, and that's as relevant today as it was in 1963. Suuuuuuuuuuuure it is. 🤣

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Extreme Sport Tourbillon 'Lucha Libre' Edition

 

Wow, well... this was unexpected (if four new Extreme Carrera skeletons in a row can be called 'unexpected') and rather refreshing if I'm truly honest. But look, I can tell you right now, before I even get the scores back from the 'Council of Conservative Opinions', that this is not going to score well. Why? Because look at it... it's wonderfully bonkers and colourful and fun and everything that watch collecting is supposed to be about, but actually isn't because what everyone actually wants is a boring, black dial, no date Submariner. There I said it! 🤣

NEW RELEASES: TAG Heuer Aquaracer LE, Carrera Extreme and the New Balance Collaboration

 

There's been a flurry of new releases of late, some of which the Council of Considered Opinion are currently mulling over... however there are also some which aren't really 'C.O.C.O.' worthy, but which are still worth bringing to your attention... and so I hit on the idea of combining them into a 'New Releases' post.

So the first thing I want to talk about today is the collaboration with New Balance that launched a few days ago. These are pretty cool looking trainers, but my personal experience of ordering New Balance online was that they were way smaller and way narrower than expected, which was a shame because I did find some really cool designs but unfortunately I was a bit late to the party and they didn't have them in bigger sizes for me to reorder. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports Calibre TH20-02 Twin Time Chronograph

Hey did you hear there's a new TAG Heuer skeleton dial Twin Time available? Guess what colour it is? Go on guess. Bet you can't guess. You'll never guess in a million years. Is it teal green? Of course it is! Sigh... 

I really liked that new Shanghai limited edition Extreme Sports Carrera we looked at last time and this one is 'okay' too (certainly better than some of the Extreme Sports models we've seen), but we already have a teal themed 'Twin Time' Carrera, why do we need another one? Yeah okay the 41mm Carrera Twin Time is green and white and this one is green and black, which IS better, but it still isn't really that cool a combination of colours in my opinion. Okay, they wanted to change because the last one had been around forever and just making a new blue/black (or 'Batman') GMT/Twin Time wasn't really going to inspire owners to upgrade, but this is pretty meh from where I'm sitting and I'm so done with green now, and especially this bloody teal colour.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera and Monaco TH-Carbonspring Limited Editions

Hello dear reader! As you can see from the blog header above we are about to celebrate nine years of the TAG Heuer Enthusiast. Quite an achievement you might think, but as the late, great Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister once said when asked how he managed to keep Motorhead going for forty years, the key to keeping going is simple - don't stop. Wise words indeed. And as it happens, I may well be paying homage to the great man as you read this as I intend to visit Stoke on Trent this week to see the statue they've erected there for him. Not that most of you are Motorhead fans I'm sure, but my very first gig ever was Motorhead in 1983, so Lemmy will always have a special place in my heart. 

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my teenage exploits did you? So let's turn our attention to the matter in hand, namely carbon hairsprings. Now, I'm sure some of you will remember about seven years ago TAG Heuer launched the Carrera Nanograph, a funky looking thing that was covered in hexagons and topped with lime green accents... I loved it, but unfortunately at £26000 it was definitely out of my reach (currently there's one on Watchfinder though for about half that, if you're interested).

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera and Monaco TH-Carbonspring by Time & Tide Watches

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Limited Edition, Carrera Extreme Sports Chronograph & Aquaracer 'Beaverbrooks Exclusive' Solargraph

 

Beaverbrooks / Meadowhall, Sheffield 6th September 2025

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 6th September 2025

Well my last 'On the Wrist' post was a bit negative wasn't it? So let's redress the balance slightly with this one, which also focuses on watches I tried out on the same day in Sheffield.

First of all, my wife and I visited Beaverbrooks where she was eager to see the new 'Beaverbrooks Exclusive' Aquaracer in... turquoise (or Tiffany blue, if you prefer) and since I've already made my reservations about the new 34mm Aquaracers clear (mainly the ugly-ass bezel!) I decided to keep my mouth well and truly shut and let her make up her own mind. 

Well she certainly liked the colour (although it wasn't quite as striking as she'd hoped), we know she likes diamond hour markers, the bezel didn't seem to be an issue for her and she loves the idea of a 15 year battery (and speaking as the person who ends up changing all her batteries for her, so do I!) but in the end she concluded that £2700 was a lot of money that could buy her something more exciting from Watchfinder. 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Senna' LE Tourbillon & F1 Solargraphs

 

6th September 2025 / TAG Heuer Boutique, Meadowhall, Sheffield

6th Septermber 2025 / Beaverbrooks, Meadowhall, Sheffield

Last November TAG Heuer released the long awaited 'special' Senna watch... the one that Julien Tornare spoke about in that interview with Wei Koh of Revolution Watches... the one that made us think that maybe TAG Heuer were actually about to do something crazy like a new S/EL. Oh how silly did we feel when that proved to be completely wide of the mark?

But our embarrassment turned to shock when we saw the price of this new (not limited) Senna tourbillon, priced as it was with a £12,000 premium over the rest of the range. Of course this was before 'The Great Tourbillon Repositioning' where TAG Heuer decided to increase the prices of all their tourbillon watches by about £10,000 overnight... (oh yes they did).

The logic seemingly being that they weren't selling at £20k so maybe they will sell at £30k. And that's not me being sarcastic, that's literally how the luxury industry operates - make a product more expensive and it appears more exclusive and thus more desirable. I know, crazy, right? But that's literally how it works sometimes... and anyway, any bragging rights TAG Heuer once enjoyed for selling the 'cheapest' Swiss made tourbillon have long since lost their impact, so why not?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronographs by Brent Miller Time

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 16 Chronographs by Time & Tide

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 963' Calibre TH20-00 Limited Edition Chronograph

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 30th November 2024 

Way back in September last year (IIRC) I visited the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall Centre only to find I'd missed the Carrera Extreme Sports Porsche 963 by a mere 48 hours. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it had come back into stock on my last visit... especially as we know it is limited to just 963 pieces worldwide. 

As I've mentioned previously, I find myself rather perturbed by this new Carrera line. On the face of it the daring, avant garde designs should be right up my alley, but somehow I find them a little hard to warm to. At least partly to blame are the strange looking rubber straps, with this faux integrated look that while admittedly practical, also feels very 'faux' indeed.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Senna' Calibre TH20-09 Tourbillon Chronograph Limited Edition

 

Many many months ago, way back at the start of the year, Wei Koh (Revolution Watches) posted a video interview with (then) TAG Heuer CEO Julien Tornare. In this interview Wei touched on many things, but one of the key moments that left a lasting impression was when he asked about the 'Senna' watch. I haven't rewatched the interview, but for some reason the way I (and others, it must be said) perceived the response from Julien suggested something 'extra-special' was brewing.

This led to quite some debate amongst watch enthusiasts on the THF Forum because what could this 'something special' possibly be? The obvious answer was a 're-edition' of the classic 'Senna' S/EL, but a two tone ana-digi quartz watch on a brown leather strap, using a case that's been out of production for about a quarter of a century seemed like a long shot... at best.

You may remember I even wrote a POST about it...

But then the whole Kith thing happened and suddenly resurrecting an icon from the past didn't seem like such a stretch of credibility after all. Realistically though, I don't think anyone REALLY thought TAG Heuer were going to remake the watch we all associate with Ayrton, perhaps a more realistic thought was a reboot of the ailing Link model range with a new Senna watch to lead the way.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Sports Extreme Chronographs by Monochrome Watches