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SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer 7 Jewels 1/100th Stopwatch

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You may remember the other day I posted about a 1986 TAG Heuer Stopwatch Catalogue that achieved way more on eBay than I expected it to... and prior to that I had been watching a stopwatch on eBay that was up around the £165 mark which I quite liked, mainly because it had that orange and black 'McLaren 1974 Carrera' kind of look about it. But the truth is, I really have no use for a stopwatch of any kind...

But then I came across this one on an eBay auction and potentially a cheap pick-up. When I started watching it it was around about £55 I think, which is less than that 1986 catalogue went for! On closer inspection the dial was a little bit tarnished, but not terribly so and again for someone who really has no need of a stopwatch, beyond the desire to own a 'TAG Heuer' model, the main attraction was the price.

Clearly the model is from around the time of the change-over since the back still shows a Heuer sticker and while I can't be 100% sure on the exact part number since it is so badly worn, I have looked through that 1986 catalogue on Calibre 11 and it seems to tie up except for the 'TAG Heuer' logo, so I'm going to go with it.

Apart from the mild wear to the dial the stopwatch looked in pretty good shape overall, the listing claimed the piece was 'fully working', although aside from that it was pretty sparse on information. I guess the pictures tell you pretty much all you need to know; after all is said and done, it's a 1/100th second stopwatch!

I watched the auction until it was nearly finished, then with fifteen minutes to go I started writing a post for this blog and forgot about it. Oh dear... I went back to it about twenty five minutes later to discover that someone else had won the auction for a fairly paltry £63, which is still less than that catalogue went for. I must admit I was slightly disappointed, but ultimately it was an item of no practical use to me, so maybe it was for the best... besides, I don't think there is that much demand for these stopwatches and they seem to pop up fairly regularly so I guess I'll be able to get another one sooner or later at a reasonable price.

NOT BUYING EXERIENCE: TAG Heuer Stopwatch Catalogue

I found this catalogue on eBay a couple of days ago, when the bidding was right down at £5. Stopwatches aren't really my thing, but it still looked like a nice piece of TAG Heuer memorabilia so I watched with an eye to picking it up if it could be had for a sensible price. Unfortunately the auction finished at 8:20PM when I was due to be out with friends so I had to leave a bid about an hour before hand.

The catalogue had already risen to £8.50 when I came to make my bid, and I tentatively entered a figure just above £16. This immediately raised the price to about £18 and I made one final bid of £21, which again merely resulted in pushing the price of the catalogue up.

To be honest I'm not sure I wanted to pay £21 for a stopwatch catalogue, especially with quite a few other items in my watch list... so I wasn't too unhappy and I went out and completely forgot about it until I got home later. It was only then that I realised just how hopelessly hopeful my bids had been...

You may remember a similar situation occurred a few months ago when a 1988 TAG Heuer catalogue appeared on eBay and I couldn't be there to bid on it, that one was really nice and went for over £40 if I remember correctly. I was really disappointed that I missed out on that one and deeply regretted not leaving a higher bid.

So I was rather shocked when I got home to find that the stopwatch catalogue had achieved more than double the price of that very desirable item! £87 it went for... would you believe it?

Just as well I hadn't set my heart on it I guess, I'm just kinda surprised that it made quite that much (or even close to that if I'm honest)... but still I guess like that 1988 catalogue I tried to secure before, these don't come up very often so you have to bid hard when they do. Certainly a lesson learned for me for the future!

HEADS UP: Heuer Stopwatches (now available at Bicester Village)

While these dash mounted stopwatches aren't really my thing, they are undeniably an important part of Heuer history and undoubtedly very cool. I couldn't really see them fixed to the dash of my Corsa, but I guess they would be nice things just to own regardless, and if you feel inclined to add them to your collection (and you live in the UK) then today could be your lucky day because these two (Heuer 'Master Time' and Heuer 'Rally Master') are available now in the Bicester Village outlet (about 65miles North West of London) at some seriously good prices.

The 'Master Time' (limited to 500 pieces) which retails at £1450 can be yours for just £725, and the 'Rally Master' (thought to be limited to 200 pieces - but not completely confirmed there) which retails for £2950 is on offer at £1475...

That's a seriously heavy discount of 50% on offer there, which means if you are interested it could benefit you greatly to pay them a visit or possibly contact the store on (01869) 249008

CATALOGUES: TAG Heuer Stopwatch Catalogue (1986)