Showing posts with label Alarm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alarm. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 January 2024
Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Thursday, 1 April 2021
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Alarm Watch
WAU111D.FT6024
I know I've written about this watch before (about a year ago in fact) but it's one that periodically comes to my attention and plays on my mind. Last time I posted about it I said it seemed quite hard to find one (citing one from America and one from Japan), so imagine my surprise when I found one for sale in the UK on the 'EST1897' website!
EST1897 is a company I have bought from twice; first was my two tone 2000 Exclusive which I bought from their local store (EST1897 is actually a conglomerate of pawn shops so you might well have an EST1897 store in your town without knowing it), that was in the window and had been reduced by quite a good margin and I got it for under well £500 IIRC and secondly I bought my Link Searacer from them for a genuinely ridiculous price (£500, reduced from £995).
Currently the EST1897 website has over 800 TAG Heuer watches to choose from, which amazingly is about 200 more than Watchfinder... and it certainly makes for an interesting browse. The first watch I noticed was my wife's red dial S/EL which they have for a very reasonable £395, but then on the other side they also have a second generation orange dial Formula 1 chronograph for £995, which seems a little dear to me. Other pieces that caught my eye were a 500M Aquaracer like mine for £925, a yellow dial Chronotimer and a Calibre S Formula 1 '24' both also £925 and best of all a Super Professional for £950.
Prices on EST1897 are always a bit all over the place and no doubt they would probably say that's partly because they are an amalgamation of different shops coming together so they don't have the pricing consistency that one organization would, and also because they are pawn shops it probably depends on the deal that was done when they took the watch in - this is something that Watchfinder have also told me by the way, and I guess that would apply with any business selling pre-owned goods.
In any case, EST1897 do have one great feature and that is that they seem to love a good sale, and their sale prices are often significantly cheaper than their screen prices. I think they get to a point where they suddenly decide they have too much stock and they really smack it down which is great if they have something you want. In fact I'm secretly hoping this WAU111D sticks around long enough to make it into their sale because while I probably can't justify spending £995 on it, if it drops to £750 or so (or even less) then I might just change my mind.
No doubt I'd end up changing the strap to a pin and buckle (BT0714) but that's not a big issue. I just love the look of this one with the high contrast black/white colour scheme and the tiny pops of red on the hands. I presume the 12 is lumed as well and the grand date at the '6' position is nice. Looks in great condition too. Damn sure I'm never going to use an alarm on a watch, but then I rarely use a chronograph and I have plenty of those...
I've just noticed how they've placed all the Arabic hour markers (bar the 12) on the bezel. I like the way they've flipped them over too so that the 4,5,6,7 and 8 aren't upside down, very cool! Damn you TAG Heuer why do you have to make these watches so damned attractive, I'm already working three jobs to feed my habit*, just stop it already!
*This is not true
EST1897 assure us that they check every watch for authenticity and they even give you a little card certificate to 'prove' it, but would I trust a collection of pawn shops to spot the latest fake Aquaracers? I'm not so sure, but with these obscure models at least that's not really an issue, I really don't think anyone is faking these WAU111Ds.
Well, here's the link; if you want to buy it I totally understand, but I really kinda hope you don't!
:)
WAU111D.FT6024 on EST1897
Tuesday, 28 July 2020
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Alarm Watch
WAU111D.FT6024
Obviously while I'm working on my 'BIG LIST' I'm viewing hundreds of watches a day, but one that caught my eye was this quartz Alarm Formula 1. There have been lots of alarm F1s over the years, but I don't think I'd noticed that they had made a black PVD model before - and one with a grand date no less!
I really like the boldness of the design here, the white contrasts superbly against the black dial and bezel and makes me pine for my old WAH1110 somewhat. This piece looks the same size as that dear departed watch, but apparently it's 1.5mm bigger, which just makes me like it all the more, because at 40.5mm I always felt the WAH1110 was just a little on the small side.
I like how they've created the impression of a chronograph by putting the alarm and the running seconds in symmetrically positioned subdials, that's pretty smart thinking. This in turn has left plenty of room at the base of the dial for the grand date (with colour matched date wheels) and the 'TAG Heuer Formula 1' text in bright white.
Again they've played it smart keeping almost everything on the dial white, including the TAG Heuer logo itself: this makes the watch very legible and also makes the small flashes of red on the alarm hands really pop too.
I really like the design of these FT6024 rubber straps, but if I was to buy this watch I would do it in the knowledge that I'd have to buy a replacement because the clasps on these are evil and they rip your wrist to shreds in minutes. It's a real shame, but at least there is a quick simple and relatively affordable fix in the shape of the BT0714 rubber strap which also features a ribbed design with the TAG Heuer logo and critically a pin and buckle fastening.
All in all this one looks really smart, but tracking one down looks slightly challenging. There's a couple of them available on eBay; one from America that is £850 and one from Japan which is slightly more expensive at £1015. Amazon will sell you a new one for about £1400 - but it's from a third party seller (as everything seems to be on Amazon these days) so I would be ultra-cautious about that, particularly as the seller has an 84% rating, which doesn't sound terribly promising to me!
Sunday, 22 September 2019
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm Watch
WAP111Z.BA0831
TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 19th September 2019
Here's something I haven't seen in the outlets before, and honestly I don't think it will stick around for long at the price (£880 reduced from £1350). This is a lovely little watch, and that might be a deal breaker for some people because it's 39mm and it does look a bit wee if you are used to the 41mm or 43mm Aquaracers. That said, I was wearing a 38mm S/EL so it didn't really bother me and it's certainly not small enough to draw comment unless you are an 8" wristed giant, and even then...
I guess the main thing which might be a factor in deciding whether you like this one or not is the 'lop-sided' nature of the dial. I don't mind it, but I notice on the newer replacement model they've made the running seconds sub dial more obvious and in fact it gives the impression of a chronograph (which is, I'm sure, exactly why they've done it). I like that this has a 'grand date', it's very legible (unlike on some of the Grand Carreras actually) and TAG Heuer made a good choice here making the date wheels black with white text I think.
I'm not sure, but I assume this is only a 12 hour alarm, so if you rely on this to wake you up in the morning then it probably goes off at 6:30PM as well, but I guess you can work with it. The red tips on the alarm hands certainly make it easy to see them and gives a welcome splash of colour to an otherwise monochrome dial.
Despite it's slightly diminutive size, I thought this looked good on the wrist and I would be more than happy to wear it. The piece is waterproof to 300M, so more than capable of taking a dip in the local swimming pool without fear of water ingress (no chance of that with your fancy minute repeaters!). If this is still in store three days after I tried it on I would be very surprised, so definitely give them a ring before making a journey if you're interested as I think they only had one on this delivery. I can't honestly say that I was 'tempted', but that's more because I'm trying to save rather than a reflection on the watch itself. I'm sure someone will snap this up and enjoy it every day, at this price it would be silly not to.
Sunday, 28 July 2019
Saturday, 25 May 2019
Saturday, 26 January 2019
Sunday, 6 May 2018
ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm
WAY111Y.BA0928
Steffans, Northampton / 4th May 2018
I had to pop into Steffans because my new watch arrived today and for some reason it turned up with an extra link fitted into the bracelet, so it was too big. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world and anyway, I'll cover that in my new watch 'Buying Experience' post very soon.
While I was in Steffans I tried on a couple of watches, the first of which was this white dial Aquaracer. I say white dial, because in the cabinet it certainly looked white, but when you look a little closer you realise it's not really white. At least not in the way the 'Explorer II' Aquaracer is, it's much more of a white/grey... or even white/silver, and it has a slightly off white/cream tinge to it as well. It's not unattractive, it's just a little bit hard to say exactly what colour it really is.
The watch is 40.5mm in diameter but it wears bigger I'd say. When I had it on I was unsure if it was 43mm or 41mm, and I must admit I was quite surprised when Wes told me it was actually 40.5mm. Perhaps it's a peculiarity of white dial watches that they look slightly bigger? I've not had a white dial watch for a very long time so I'm not sure. Either way it sat nicely on the wrist and it certainly wasn't 'small' at all, indeed I would have been perfectly happy to wear it on my 7.3/4" wrist. Even when I put it alongside a 43mm with a black dial it still looked absolutely fine.
This particular model has an alarm feature which is set using the sub-dial on the left hand side of the watch-face. I'm not crazy about small seconds, but in this instance it's clear they've done it to give the face a more balanced look and perhaps to create that 'chronograph' look at a cheaper price. I think the big date is a nice feature too (hint, hint), one that I've definitely changed my opinion on in recent weeks.
The sale price for this particular model is £1350, which seems great value considering you're getting an alarm and a bracelet for about the same money as some other models in the current range which are basic three handers (eg; the new Khaki Aquaracer), and because you have a big date you also have the added bonus of no cyclops.
Ultimately though, I think if I was serious about getting hold of one of these I would be waiting for one turn up pre-owned since I have my doubts that the resale will hold up particularly well. The dial is neither one thing or the other and as such I think it might be a bit of a soft seller. That said, it's certainly an attractive watch that will fit a lot of wrists and won't offend anyone, but whether it will really excite anyone is perhaps another matter?
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
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