VIDEO: TAG Heuer S/EL Chronograph by Birth Year Watches

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Quartz

You know, I kinda thought my days of buying cheap, quartz powered eBay bargains were over, especially since I'd gone to the trouble of cleansing my collection in order to raise to funds to buy bigger and better things. But, sometimes you just want to buy something new, and after the massive disappointment of the 'grey' dial Link Calibre S I turned to eBay for a quick fix of silver dial perfection.

Y'see, a few weeks back I caught sight of (what I'm 99% sure was) a WK1112 in the window of my local H&T and it looked jolly nice. I don't really remember the finer details, but I think it was one of the later ones with the polished '12' rather than the lumed '12', but mostly I remember the silver dial sparkling in the sunlight. In fact my first port of call was the H&T website, but the watch in question had been sold, and so I turned to eBay.

Now as we all know, Ebay buying is fraught with problems, especially if you want something newer and especially if it costs less than £1500. That price point is the threshold where eBay's authenticity service kicks in. Now whether you trust it or not is another matter, but the fact that it exists at all is enough to deter some fakers and it's funny how many £3000+ watches you can buy on eBay for under £1500.... but I wasn't anticipating spending anything like that and since older fake 2000s are pretty terrible I wasn't too worried.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Link Quartz by Birth Year Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 1000 Series Quartz by Birth Year Watches

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 6000 Series Quartz Watch by Birth Year Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Ladies Link by Birth Year Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 1500 Series Quartz by Birth Year Watches

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Classic Formula 1 Restoration by Watch Fanatic

 

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.

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Max Verstappen Red Bull Champions' Limited Edition Quartz Chronograph

 

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A few weeks ago I got an email from a guy who told me that he was an ex employee of the Red Bull Formula1 Racing Team, he said he wasn't a watch enthusiast but he had received one of the 'Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Champions' watches and in researching what it might be worth he had discovered my blog and found it interesting reading my thoughts on his watch.

He said he had listed the watch on eBay for £3600, but perhaps unsurprisingly it did not sell and it was later relisted with a starting bid of £1025 and a buy it now price of £2800. Being that he wasn't into watches I tried to give him the best advice I could, but with a watch like this it's quite hard to advise on what he should expect because it's so difficult to assess.

First of all, who is likely to buy this watch? To me it's clear that it's probably more for a huge Max Verstappen fan than it is for a 'watch enthusiast'... much like the Alec Monopoly Formula 1s were, but this can work for and against you. A watch enthusiast is more likely to to be willing to pay 'thousands' for a wristwatch than a F1 fan who isn't really interested in wristwatches, but watch enthusiasts tend to be more invested in automatics than quartz pieces and with that rather clunky bezel this watch isn't exactly the best looking Formula 1 ever made either is it?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Watch by You'reTerrific

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer 4000 Series Quartz Watch

 

I last wrote about my white dial, quartz powered 4000 Series way back in 2023 so I guess it's high time for an update. Back then I had two almost identical 4000s in my collection, this WF1112 and the WF1111 which I had owned for several years before and which wasn't really in the greatest condition one way and another. Last time around I had just bought my green dial Calibre 5 Aquaracer and when I collected that I also picked up a brand new bracelet to replace the rather stretched one that the WF1112 came with (and which I had previously sold on eBay, wrongly thinking I could utilise the bracelet from the WF1111).

OWNED: TAG Heuer Microtimer

 

The TAG Heuer Microtimer. It's an oddity isn't it? And one that's not to everyone's taste I'm sure... but oddly it was one of the first watches I bought after setting up this blog back in October 2016. Indeed it was all the way back in February 2017 that I bought my Microtimer off eBay for the princely sum of £681.97. Unfortunately once it arrived I realised it was a little bit too beaten up for my liking and so I immediately took it to a local AD who sent it off to be repolished for me (which added another £100 to the overall cost). To be fair to them, it came back looking almost like new, save for a couple of small scratches and I was very pleased with my decision to have it refinished. 

Since then I've worn it 'sparingly' I would say, although in my 2018 'Owned' post I said I wore it more than any of my other watches, which I find it hard to believe - or remember! That said, over the last two or three years I've made more of an effort to wear it regularly, because for some years it did rather languish in the cabinet; a typical scenario following a polishing job for me, the same thing happened with my Grand Carrera Calibre 6 albeit to a lesser extent. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer 2000 Series 'Moon Dust' Restoration by The Nekkid Watchmaker

 

OWNED: TAG Heuer 1500 GMT Quartz Watch

 

As I've mentioned recently, I'm still in the process of trying to reduce my TAG Heuer collection to something approaching a 'sensible' size (20 would be perfect, really) and that obviously means selling more watches. That's fine, but obviously the further I go with that the harder it's going to get to convince myself to let go of watches that I've collected, especially watches that have been with me for some time and which (to me at least) represent the 'best' of a particular model line. 

And that's exactly how I feel about this GMT variant of the 1500 Series, at 40mm it is the perfect size for me and much better than the vast majority of 1500 Series models which are 37mm in diameter. As such, me selling this is basically ruling the 1500 Series out of my future collection because I'm not going to buy an inferior piece or buy another one of these again, so unless I win the lottery and money no longer matters, this is it. 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Midsize Watch by Birth Year Watches

 

HISTORY: TAG Heuer Airline

Quite a short 'History' post for the Heuer/TAG Heuer Airline as there are only six watches in total. The Airline first appears in the 1985 (and penultimate) Heuer catalogue, with four models displayed. These appear again in the 1985-1986 catalogue and finally all six appear in the 1987-1988 catalogue (with TAG Heuer branded dials). 

I always liked the look of these, especially the cool black and gold version but once I realised that they were only available in mid-size (35mm) I reluctantly accepted that I was never going to own one. One thing I love about these is the wacky printed bracelets with the major cities and the time difference, I mean... talk about avant garde! 

Confusingly, only two of the original four Heuer models have 'GMT' bezels even though they all have GMT hands. So in the 1987-1988 catalogue TAG Heuer introduce 'GMT' versions of the watches that didn't have them before. These are then given a suffix 'GMT' which suggests all the others aren't... even though they are. 

All models are quartz powered.

SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer 2000 Series 244.006 Quartz Watch

It's funny, I don't really look at eBay very often these days, but every now and then I click on one of those emails they send you heralding '327 new TAG Heuers' and occasionally it throws up something interesting. Of course, every third listing is suspicious as all hell, but now that eBay are utilising the wonderful and totally infallible 'AI' to check listings I guess we can all sleep safe in our beds.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  

Sorry, I can't help it. Ebay is a complete joke and I would love to know exactly how 'AI' is checking the authenticity of listings? How is it programmed to do that? I mean, it's probably no more completely useless than a real person who doesn't know their arse from their elbow - but I guess they can now point to using 'AI' and everyone will be reassured. 

Jesus Christ. I'm glad my eBay days are largely behind me. But anyway...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Indy 500 Quartz Chronograph by Random Rob

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Red Bull' Limited Edition Quartz Chronograph

Berry's Jewellers / Nottingham, 12th November 2024

I recently spent a day in Nottingham and was very much looking forward to visiting the TAG Heuer boutique there. Last time I visited the town I had a nice chat with a guy called Brad and I got to try on a 160th Anniversary 'Montreal' Carrera that was still (rather unexpectedly) knocking about. I couldn't quite remember where the store was (Clumber Street it transpired) but when I eventually stumbled on its location it turned out that it had been closed down two months ago. 

I found this quite surprising at the time, but then again we know the watch market has softened considerably lately and so I guess when the lease comes up on these boutiques perhaps WOS/Goldsmiths have to think twice before recommitting to another long lease. I've always thought perhaps they got a bit carried away with all these single brand stores, was there really enough additional business to justify opening all these boutiques? 

Maybe a few here and there, but they seem to have been opening them willy-nilly over the last few years. I can see the logic of opening them in places like Meadowhall in Sheffield, a place with huge footfall, but I struggle to see the viability of opening one in Solihull (for example). I mean, yes there's probably lots of rich doctor types living nearby, but I'm sure they could have been served equally well by an AD.