FEATURE: Watches & Wonders 2023 - Part 2: IWC, Oris, Rolex & Chopard (with Jim Dollares)

 

Welcome back to the second part of our irreverent coverage of Watches & Wonders 2023. For part one (which was totally devoted to TAG Heuer, of course) click the link below:

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2023/04/feature-watches-wonders-2023-part-1-tag.html

ROB: Welcome back Jim, so where shall we begin?

JIM: Well, how about we start by bashing that hyped and insanely priced IWC Ingeneur?

ROB: Oh yes, a great place to start. Yeah I mean, people have been saying that we are moving into a new era of nostalgia, the 60s is done to death so lets rehash the 70s and possibly the 80s too... and this watch sure looks like it should have come out in the 70s don't it? Though I have to say, I do quite like the funky dial.

JIM: You like it? And you say you never like what everyone else loves! I think it is a decent watch but I am no big fan of integrated bracelet models like this one. And is there anything unique to this watch? When I first saw it, my first thought was that it might as well say Baume & Mercier, Frederique Constant or Tissot on the dial. But just because it says IWC on the dial, the price for this steel watch is set to something crazy like 11k! Can you believe that? I mean, hats off to IWC if they can fool their moronic fans to pay that much, but still. Crazy!

ON THE WRIST: Oris TT1 Automatic Watch

 

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Peter Stephan / Leamington Spa, 16th October 2021

A slightly random, opportunistic try-on this one. My wife wanted to look at the necklaces in 'Peter Stephan's' window and I happened to notice that along with several 'fashion watch' and lower echelon watch brands (Certina, etc) they also stocked some (slightly out of date) Oris pieces. This TT1 caught my eye, so while she tried on some jewellery I had a look at this quirky looking thing.

First thing to note is that officially this seems to be regarded as 43mm (at least on all the websites I've found - this model no longer features on Oris' website) but I think that is incorrect. I was wearing my Calibre 16 Carrera and this was 1-2mm smaller on the diameter. I've tried to see if they made this watch in more than one size, but I can't find that they did - so I am going to say this is more like 41.5mm than 43mm.

FEATURE: My Wife's TAG Heuer Watch Collection

You may remember I wrote a post called 'Women and Watches' in May last year, which focused on the increased levels of luxury watch advertising appearing in women's magazines. This struck me when we were away somewhere and I happened to flick through my wife's copy of Marie Claire to kill time while waiting for her to do something or other... and it really did surprise me just how much was going on in there. Tudor had a full page ad, as did Mondaine and Omega had a double spread. Then there was several pages of editorial photo shoots featuring among others TAG Heuer.

So apparently chicks dig watches now! Of course I already knew this because my wife has a pretty decent collection of her own. Indeed, this post has been so long in the making that her collection has actually more than doubled in size since I started writing it! And of course I'm all for it... what could be better than a wife who shares your all consuming hobby? 

Yes sure, I still get the occasional rolling eyes when I talk about purchasing another piece, but I'm sure it would be a whole lot worse if she didn't have an interest herself and it sure made our visit to the TAG Heuer manufacture in 2018 a whole lot more interesting for her.

WK1313-0

It all started about 15 years ago, when I decided to buy my wife a 2000 Series for her birthday. I had recently bought my first TAG Heuer (my F1 Kirium) and I had seen her peering at the blue dial 2000s in the cabinet in Goldsmiths, so a few days before her birthday I took her shopping and fooled her by walking straight past the door, before turning around and dragging her inside. She was pretty taken aback, but very happy and she's loved that watch ever since. It's still in very good condition, the polished over-riders on the bezel are a bit scratched up but other than that it's excellent. I noticed the lume is still pretty strong as well when I was putting it away after taking this picture.

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Of course, my wife kept her blue 2000 for best, but it wasn't long before she started thinking about getting a pre-owned one to wear to work... so her next piece was this grey dial 2000 which she bought off eBay for just under £200 (IIRC). Unfortunately a few years after she got it we were out on a country walk and she tripped and fell while wearing it, which scratched the glass and scuffed the clasp. She lived with it like that for a long time until it started losing time and needed a service and at that point she decided she might as well get the sapphire replaced and here it is looking as good as new.

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The collection stayed largely unchanged for nearly a decade, until 2014 when my wife and I came into a little bit of money unexpectedly and she suggested we both buy a watch! Don't know where that came from but it cost me as the watch I settled on (the Aquagraph) cost more than the windfall... ah well. My wife on the other hand had her eye on this lovely steel and ceramic Formula 1. They made several different models of this with varying amounts of diamonds, some had diamond bezels and one had a circle of diamonds in the centre of the dial. My wife liked that one but they didn't make it in the smaller size and my wife has very small wrists so she settled for this one.

I really like this watch, every time I take it out of the box to change the date I am super impressed by the ceramic bracelet and the overall design. They do of course make something very similar in a 41mm, but it doesn't work as well at that scale in my opinion.

Oris Artelier Silver Skeleton

What.... the hell! Yes indeed, it's not a TAG Heuer! I know I was as shocked and appalled as you are, but truth be told this is a gorgeous watch and it's all TAG's fault at the end of the day. Y'see, when I bought my Carrera Heuer 01, my wife said that if they made a ladies version of that she would buy it. Of course, they never did and since they didn't have any ladies skeleton watches for her to buy, when this one popped up at a discounted price it was game over.

We found this one at the 'Artelier' store at Bicester Village, which has since closed down. They had a good selection of watches in there over the years including Breitling, Maurice Lacroix, Chopard and Porsche Design, but this the only thing we ever bought there.

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Hmm, this was the third 'diamond' watch in a row, and what a beauty! This one features a stunning purple Guilloche dial with diamond hour markers and not only that, it's an unusual one made only for the Chinese market. It's not a limited edition or numbered, but it's pretty scarce and very hard to find any details on the internet about it. 

This is one of the joys of Bicester Village, you just never know what you are going to find... if I remember correctly I visited the store alone and described it to my wife when I got home and then we went all the way back a few days later to see it and she decided she wanted it straight away.

It's another beautiful watch, but the date window is so ridiculously small it really might as well not be there. That dial is really nice though... 

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/04/buying-experience-tag-heuer-lady-link.html

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My wife was looking for an Alter Ego for a while, but she wanted to expand her range of dial colours so she didn't want the common or garden blue or black models. She settled on the pale pink but found it hard to find one to buy, until she found this at a Cash Converters in Wakefield.

They weren't keen to haggle, but my wife got them to drop it a little bit and she left with it, complete with barrel box for £280. The bracelet is a pain in the butt to size, as it has tiny little screws holding it together and the TAG Heuer boutique in Hull couldn't even help. Eventually she sent it off to be sized and at the same time she had it refinished (it was pretty scratched up to be fair) and it came back looking much, much better.

Another really cool watch, but what were they thinking with that crown. For a start it's completely smooth and where they put it the bracelet is totally in the way when you are trying to adjust the time - thank God it doesn't have a date!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/07/buying-experience-tag-heuer-alter-ego.html

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This one was actually purchased before the purple Link, but it had to sit in the box for six months waiting for our 25th Wedding Anniversary to arrive. We had planned to go to Geneva for our anniversary and had both been saving hard for that, when on a trip to Bicester Village we came across this Swiss 150th Anniversary model. 

Years before we had seen a similar piece in the window and my wife had always regretted not buying it, so this time we had to be decisive. It was clear she loved it so I offered to buy it for her for our anniversary and she offered to pay for the holiday. What better gift could there be, it has several Swiss cities on the dial including Geneva and even though our holiday to Geneva was actually a few weeks before our actual anniversary I let her take it anyway.

Interestingly, in the buying post for this one I mention trying to get a post about my wife's watches finished.... it only took me another two years!

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2018/03/buying-experience-tag-heuer-aquaracer.html

WA1415

My wife looked at classic Formula 1s for ages, eventually deciding against the resin strap versions and then flip-flopping between the pink and green colour schemes. Unfortunately finding either of those in good condition was a very frustrating experience, not helped by shady sellers on eBay using generic pictures of the watches they were trying to sell rather than photos of the actual watch they had to sell!

In the end she took a chance on buying from the USA and scored a really tidy piece, although when I took it out of the box I was horrified at how short the bracelet was and started searching eBay for spare links; however, when she tried it on it was way too big for her tiny wrist! At least she didn't have to wait to long for this one as it arrived just a few days before her birthday.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/04/buying-experience-tag-heuer-formula-1.html

WG141C

I came across this one on eBay last Summer and sent my wife a link to it, often these emails don't get much response but this one was met with much excitement. I'd been looking at red S/ELs for myself for ages, but the prices were always over the top. This though was listed with some really poor photos, but an attractive opening bid of £300... and after some nail biting, that is exactly what she ended up paying.

This is a great watch, albeit a very, very small one. I think it's 25mm or thereabouts... I took a photo of it next to my 45mm Carrera Heuer 01 once, which was rather hilarious. Since then I managed to get my own red S/EL so now we have a matching pair.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/07/buying-experience-tag-heuer-ladies-sel.html

WL1316

I bought this as a surprise for my wife, and when it turned up it was a bit of a mess. I spent a good bit of time polishing it up though and it came out pretty darned good in the end. My wife loves it as well, but I knew she would because she had been looking at these on eBay on and off for a long time.

These Kiriums really do have the most gorgeous blue dials and the Mercedes hand set looks great against it, I do like the later Kirium hands, but these look great too.

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/10/buying-experience-tag-heuer-kirium.html

WBD1316.BA0740

So that's watch number ten, which is almost the end, but not quite because in another few days the green Aquaracer can finally come out of the cabinet. Yes it's very nearly my wife's 50th birthday and at last she can get her hands on her WBD1316. And that really is a beautiful watch, pity they only made a few and they've all gone now.

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/10/buying-experience-tag-heuer-ladies.html

ON THE WRIST: Oris Dive Control Chronograph Limited Edition

01.774.7727.7784-SET

Oris Boutique / Mayfair, 9th March 2019

It's a good many years since I tried on an Oris Aquis on an orange rubber strap, and in the meantime I haven't really seen anything from the brand that excited me. If anything they seemed to moving in completely the 'wrong' direction as far as I was concerned, with small, olive drab military watches and other retro pieces. So I was a little surprised to see this 51mm Dive Control in the window of the South Molton Street boutique and was more than eager to try it on.

As I suspected, the rest of the shop was a non-starter for me, save the odd Aquis, but even those I struggle to really get excited about these days (although I did see an interesting metallic green model in Watches of Switzerland earlier in the day). But really, I only had eyes for this one, and while it is definitely a big watch, it really doesn't wear as big as you would think.

When I first tried it on I assumed it was 45-46mm, it was only when Serge told me that the watch was actually 51mm that I realised. I think it's because the lugs are so short and the rubber strap come straight down off the case and moulds straight to the wrist. True it's also very thick and that is a bit of a hindrance to daily wear, but it could be a lot worse.

This piece is limited to 500 and comes in a nice little case with a watch tool and different heads to fit a variety of screws, including the bespoke ones that hold the strap in place. Incidentally, you get both the black and yellow rubber straps with this one and I think that's a great move. Black helps to shrink the perceived size of the watch, but yellow is ideal for days when you perhaps want people to notice it or maybe you want to wear it in the sea or on the beach.

Serge's ultra-violet torch was running low but he assures me that the lume on this piece is crazy bright and I have to say I love the look of this watch... I just wish it was a bit smaller. I don't have a small wrist, but even with the shorter lugs 51mm is a big piece size. Obviously the high spec of the model (which includes a DLC coated titanium case) is what pushes the price up to £3900, but even at that price you have to say it's good value for money. It's beautifully made and the bezel features a very clever locking system, but I can't help but feel that if they made an Aquis that looked like this (albeit with a lower spec), even if it was say £2000, then I think they'd have a real winner on their hands. I'd certainly be in the queue for one!

FEATURE: Another Trip to London to Look at Watches...

Long time readers may remember that almost exactly a year ago my friend Rich and I made a day trip to London with the express intention of visiting as many watch stores as possible... well, we decided to do it all over again, only this time we really went for it!

Our first port of call was the Omega boutique at the top of Regent Street, and strangely enough I'd never tried on an Omega before, so it really was high time I did. I ended up trying on six different pieces, including the Speedmaster and Speedmaster 2, three Planet Oceans and 300M Chronograph. We ended up staying in there nearly an hour, which I really hadn't been expecting or intending to do.

I must say, the service we received in this boutique from Lin Lin was superb and seeing that I was noting down the pieces that I had tried on she offered to print me spec sheets for everything. I'll probably never buy an Omega, but if I did, I would make a point of going back to this boutique and asking for Lin Lin, she is a credit to the company!

Next we headed down Carnaby Street and happened to stop off at the Swatch boutique. I've never been overly sold on Swatch, but I know Rich likes the collectability of them and it was interesting to see the System 51 models on display. We didn't stay too long before heading down a few doors to G-Shock.

I didn't actually try anything on in G-Shock, but it was quite interesting to see the wide variety of styles and prices on offer. They even had some steel models that were over £1000 which I wasn't really expecting.

We popped into the Karl Lagerfield store on Oxford Street so I could pick up a little gift for my wife. It's a shame Karl has died recently and I love that his cat is worth $3.5M. Crazy! After picking up this cute (if somewhat overpriced keyring), we headed a couple of doors up to Watches of Switzerland.

I've been in this store several times, but I've still never been up to the top floor. I always head for the basement first since that's where the LVMH brands are to be found, and this time I tried on a couple of TAG Heuers and my first Hublot. Then we headed back up to street level and I tried on my first Ulysse Nardin, it was to be a day of firsts, with more to come...

Mindful of the long day ahead and our poor feet, we decided a brief stop at the Slug and Lettuce on Hanover Street was in order. I had ideally planned to get in there before 12 as I feared it might be rather busy on a Saturday lunchtime, but it was actually rather quiet and we passed a pleasant half hour in there before moving on.

Our next stop was Oris on South Molton street, where I discovered the rather exciting 'Dive Control Limited Edition 1000M Chronograph', a real beast at 51mm but one that you could actually wear due to it's very short lugs and non-flaring strap. Can't honestly say there was much else in the store I was interested in, but that one got a big thumbs up from me.

Selfridges was next, and after wasting half an hour going around in circles trying to find the toilets, we finally hit The Wonder Room, where I tried on my first ever Rolex. Not only that, but I managed to find one that I actually liked... which was a surprise to me, as I find most Rolexes hideous!

Also in The Wonder Room, we looked at a couple of TAG Heuer Monacos, a couple of Aquaracers and a Breitling Exospace B55 on a blue rubber strap. Our server 'Alan' seemed to think that Rich and I were an 'item' and he suggested we might like to 'share' a Pepsi GMT Aquaracer!

Alan was clearly desperate for some commission as despite telling us he was heading off for his lunch he kept hovering as we moved around the room, terrified that the minute he left we might buy something from a different salesman. In the end he gave up and I tried on the Brietling assisted by a truly charmless chap who demanded to know what was stopping me committing to the £6000+ Exospace!

I had hoped to try on a steel non-Offshore AP Royal Oak on this visit, but it was not to be, Selfridges and Harrods were a steel Royal Oak free zone, which makes me wonder if they are now playing the same silly games as Rolex?

With time knocking on, we crossed Oxford Street to visit the TAG Heuer boutique and catch up with the lovely Aneta (who I already knew from the Bicester store). There wasn't much in store that I hadn't already seen, but I did have a good natter with Aneta and managed to try on the new Senna Carrera Heuer 02T. Also Aneta told me they are expecting the Nanograph in store soon, so hopefully I will be able to see that in the near future!

From here we took a walk down New Bond Street (completely missing the Victorinox shop we had hoped to visit), before stopping off at Charbonel et Walker to pick up some hideously expensive chocolates (£95 per kilo, I kid you not!), good job I only bought a few...

After a nice lunch in Richoux on Piccadilly (if you like Carrot Cake, this is the place for you) we crossed the road to Burlington Arcade, only to find that at 5:45pm the shops were shutting up for the night. Next time we will go there before we go to Richoux... but that wasn't the end of our day, because while Bond Street closes at 6pm on a Saturday, thankfully Knightsbridge does not!

And so we headed into the Seiko boutique where I was unimpressed with the both service and the overall attitude. A complete contrast to some of the places we had visited today, especially the Omega and TAG Heuer boutiques which had been exemplary.

And so we made it to our last destination for the day, Harrods. It was a shame to see that the enormous Lange & Sohn display piece had been removed (perhaps headed to Baselworld?) but we spent a good forty five minutes chatting with Mahmoud in Hublot while trying on some very nice watches. And then finally a good little while with Harry in the mixed brands room where we had a look at the new Tudor GMT Pepsi and a couple of rather striking Zenith Defy El Primero 21s.

Needless to say I will be reporting on each of the 27 watches I tried on in due course, I will probably spread them out a bit though as this blog is supposed to be focused mainly on TAG Heuer and only 7 of the watches I tried on were TAGs. I've made a start, and the Rolex, Oris and Seiko reviews should be up soon...

I wonder how many watches I'll manage to try on next March...?