FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Watches of Switzerland' Calibre 9 Limited Edition Watches

WBP2147.BA0622                                    WBP2416.BA0622

Earlier in the year TAG Heuer & Watches of Switzerland released what is almost certainly the coolest Aquaracer of 2023, the titanium Calibre 5 WBP208D.BF0631. But not content with just one exclusive model this year, they've only gone and done it again... with not one but two new ladies automatics!

Now, let's not get too excited, after all these are basically the same old 30mm Aquaracers with different dials; but still it's nice to see the ladies getting a limited edition for a change. However, it seems that (as usual) the renders promise one thing but the reality is quite different...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Ladies 'Red Dial' Calibre 9 Watch

 

WBP2414.BA0618

TAG Heuer's recent green dial 30mm Aquaracer missed the mark with me, but more importantly my watch-enthusiast wife rather liked it. This time around she's a lot less convinced, and I have to say I agree. By comparison the green looks much the better of the two and like its 40mm counterpart the dial looks a rather peculiar shade of red and very wishy washy looking.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Ladies 'Green Dial' Calibre 9 Watch

 

WBP2415.BA0622

Okay, here's the plan; starting today and for the next two weeks I will be posting a new 'First Impressions' post every other day, and then hopefully we will be in a reasonable state of up-to-date-ness. Unless TAG Heuer decide to release another six watches this month of course, which is entirely possible! 

So, let's start with this new take on the fumé dial 30mm Aquaracer, which is obviously meant to complement the incomparable WBP2115 that I bought a few months ago. Once again I have already seen this on my visit to the TAG Heuer boutique back in June and I have to say it didn't look quite as expected.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Two-Tone' Calibre 5 & 9 Watches

 

WBP2150.FT6210                                 WBP2450.FT6215

TAG Heuer Boutique / Spitalfields, London 15th April 2023

Spitalfields isn't an area of London I know all that well; I remember going there a few years ago to visit a gallery for Nathan Sawaya's 'Art of the Brick' show, but I hadn't been back since and the only reason I was back there now was because I had tickets to the Dali Immersive Experience in Brick Lane. However, somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that there was a TAG Heuer boutique in the area, and as we turned up way too early for our 12:30pm ticket time my wife and I decided to go check it out.

The store is a bit anonymous from the pavement to be honest, and it's not exactly on the busiest street either... which all seems a bit strange. But once inside it's very nice and cosy and we were greeted warmly by Rafiq and his crew who had several new pieces for us to try on.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solid Gold & Two Tone Automatic Watches

 

WBP2150        WBP2151        WBP2450        WBP2451        WBP5150       WBP5152

I think it's fair to say that gold, and two-tone in particular, is not everyone's cup of tea. So I just knew that certain members of the C.O.C.O. Council would fire back some pretty low scores when I sent these out for scoring. However, I personally own two or three two-tone watches (I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember and I'm too lazy to go and check) so I can appreciate them for what they are, though I have to admit I don't think I would ever buy one brand new.

The problem is though, trying to find a pre-owned two-tone watch in good condition is tough, because gold is very soft and so no matter how careful you are it will always pick up scratches. And for some reason people who sell their two-tone watches always seem to be clumsy types, or maybe they sell them because they didn't realise how easily they were gonna scratch up? Who knows, but it feels like these have been a long time coming. Maybe they had big stocks of the previous two-tone blue dial Aquaracer they needed to shift before letting these out of the box? 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Ladies Diamond/Rose Gold Automatic Watch

 

WBN2451.BD0567

If you are a regular reader you will know that every six months I scour the TAG Heuer website and produce a price list of the available models (you can access these via the 'Price Lists' tab at the top of the page or by clicking HERE). While the prices themselves are of marginal interest, the main purpose of this is to provide a snapshot of what models were available at any given time for any future historians frustrated by the transient nature of a website which only displays what is for sale today. 

In the process of this analysis I came across a new watch that I hadn't seen before. Given that (at the time of writing) it is the 5th of January it's possible that this was actually added sometime towards the end of last year, but as it is for the purposes of the COCO Council and the 'Watch Of The Year' we are going to have to consider it a 2023 release. Not that I imagine for one second that this (almost) completely iced out 29mm Calibre 9 Carrera is in with a shout at the 2023 WOTY, ho no.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Ladies Automatic Watches

 
WBN2414.BA0621                                      WBN2450.BD0569

Okay, I get it.... these aren't the most exciting watches you've ever seen. And you would be forgiven for thinking that surely TAG Heuer already had a diamond bezel, mother of pearl, diamond hour marker ladies Carrera in the range, and they surely have in the past. But just like the Calibre 16 Carreras issued earlier this year, the brand does update old models as and when it sees fit. Obviously it doesn't shout about watches like this because there isn't much to shout about, they are pretty much like for like save for small design details and to be honest most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

VIDEO: Two Ladies Aquaracers by Brent L Miller Time