ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer Calibre 16 Chronograph

CAY211A.BA0927

Beaverbrooks / Leicester 27th December 2016

I'd pretty much forgotten about trying this one on, it was just after Christmas so the finer details are a little hazy, but still. If I remember correctly I tried three Aquaracers on at the same time, and this was the most expensive. Rightly so of course as I think the other two were quartz movements. This was also the most substantial and according to TAG Heuer's website this has a list price of £2750.

To be honest I didn't remember that it was that much, I thought it was in the low £2000s, and I don't remember it being on sale or anything. Would I spend £2750 on this watch though? I don't know that I would. This is largely because I don't think of the Aquaracer as being a particularly luxurious watch, perhaps because you can get something which looks similar for a lot less with a quartz movement.

Leaving that aside, it's a nice looking watch and sports a ceramic bezel and a 300M water resistance (sure TAG do make some 500M models, but from what I understand hardly anyone goes deeper than 40M so this should be more than adequate for most people's needs and let's be honest, who wears a £3000 watch to dive in?). The movement is the Calibre 16, which is the same movement I have just purchased in my Formula One CAU2012 and one which I find unusually 'mechanical' feeling. Kind of reminds me of winding an old clock, much less refined than either the Heuer 01 or the Calibre 60 (in the Aquagraph), but still presumably a solid and reliable calibre.

I seem to remember the lume on this was pretty good, as most Aquaracers tend to be, and the small amount of yellow text on the dial and seconds hand is a nice accent. I'm not sure if the 'slatted' dial adds a lot here, I think it's more effective on a plain dial three hander, but it's not doing any harm.

Looking at this watch, I can't help but make comparisons with my Aquagraph. Leaving aside the fact that the Aquagraph is a 500M diver, there are distinct similarities in appearance. Both have black chrono dials with yellow accents (albeit the Aquagraph has a steel bezel) and both come on similar steel bracelets. So some might imagine this as a modern alternative, but I can hand on heart say there is no way I would trade my Aquagraph for this.

CN211A.BA0353

Inflation adjusted, this Aquaracer is cheaper, but you can pick up a clean Aquagraph for about £1300 and I think you're getting a more interesting watch. True, it's much more of a tool watch and this Aquaracer is much more capable as an all-rounder and suitable as an 'only' watch, but for me the Aquagraph is just so much cooler. For a start you can use the chronograph underwater, I know I never will, but I could and I think the rubber pushers look great. Also the Aquagraph is smaller in dia, but more chunky and tank-like, it means business and weighs a ton, it's loaded with personality that this new Aquaracer just doesn't possess. 

Still, you could argue of course that were TAG to launch the Aquagraph today, it would probably cost more like £4000, in which case it's probably unfair to make a direct comparison. 

ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer Calibre 5 Ceramic Bezel Watch

WAY211C.BA0928

Beaverbrooks / Leicester 27th December 2016

I didn't actually ask to try this one on, it was presented to me as an alternative choice to the CAY111B (reviewed HERE), and while it's not much of an alternative seeing as it is an automatic three hand watch rather than a quartz chronograph (not to mention it's 2mm smaller), I guess they are at least both Aquaracers.., and I did ask about a ceramic bezel.

The odd thing is that even though it's 1mm bigger than my Formula One, it felt kind of small on the wrist. This seems to be a recurring problem for me with the 41mm Aquaracers, and while I know it does depend on what you are wearing when you enter the store (Heuer 01) and what other watches you try on at the same time, it still felt a little bit... little.

However, this isn't a huge problem as TAG do make a very similar version in the 43mm case size (WAY2012) albeit with a blue face.

WAY2012.BA0927

True, the blue face does give the watch a different aesthetic, but the extra 2mm makes the dial look a little less crowded at the same time. Having said that, I can't quite decide if I like the black dial / blue bezel look or not. I didn't actually notice it to start with, but now that I have I can't work out whether it looks better or if it looks completely wrong. 

Certainly the blue bezel / blue dial looks more... mature, a more classy, grown up look, but the black dial looks more 'fun', not least because the second hand pops better off the black background than the blue. Actually it looks like the second hand on the older model is more orange as well, as opposed to the new logo version which has a yellow highlight.

So I think, in an ideal world if we could have the black dial version with the orange second hand, but in 43mm and without the cyclops, that would be great. 

ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer Quartz 1/10 Second Chronograph

CAY111B.BA0927

Beaverbrooks / Leicester 27th December 2016

Looking in Beaverbrooks window yesterday it was actually quite hard to summon the enthusiasm to try anything on. A sea of steel bracelets with black/grey faces, with nary a coloured dial in sight. Take away the Heuer01 skeleton and things I've tried on before (a sole blue dialed Monaco) and there wasn't a lot to get excited about. 

So I picked this quartz Aquaracer, mainly because it was blue and found it nice enough, but not nice enough to get my money out. The first thing I noticed was how light it felt, it's a good sized watch but it doesn't have the heft you'd imagine. The second thing I noticed was the bracelet pulling the hairs out of my arms (an immediate red flag), but of course there is always a rubber strap version to fall back on if needs be (or if not then one can always purchase a rubber strap).

As it was quartz, the watch was going and I tried the pushers. I'm not sure what was going on with it, to be honest. It only seemed to count the 1/10ths of a second for the first minute and then it stopped. Also the pushers didn't function in the way I expected, with the subdial hands moving to random positions on each push. In the end I managed to reset it, if I'd been more serious about buying the watch I would have asked the salesgirl to explain the function.... it was almost as if it kept going when you stopped it and then jumped to the next time when you pressed the bottom pusher again.

The blue bezel is enamel rather than ceramic (so they told me) and it looks very nice with the steel case and bracelet, it certainly looks a bit more exciting than the black version which sat next to it in the window, that one looks too much like my Aquagraph. The clasp was okay, with a diving extension and not much in the way of micro adjustment. I asked if the holes were for adjustment and she said yes, but I'm not 100% sure they are, they may be the retaining holes for the diving extension like on the Aquagraph. Speaking of the Aquagraph, this is also 43mm but looks bigger than the Aquagraph, I think that watch has a smaller glass and is definitely a good bit thicker (which gives the illusion of being smaller).

I don't know whether I am a partucularly thuggish looking type, but I noticed that when the salesgirl fetched the watch out of the window she was talking to this tall guy who kept casting suspicious glances my way. Eventually he made his way to where I was sitting and when he noticed I was holding the Heuer 01 I had just taken off, his whole demeanour changed and he flipped into sales mode. It doesn't really bother me, I just find it rather hilarious. I suppose they do have to be careful, and on the whole I find Beaverbrooks staff to be agreeable and much better than those in Goldsmiths (or the Leicester Goldsmiths anyway!)