ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Superdiver, WOS Carrera & Formula 1 Goodwood FOS and Gulf Editions

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 16th October 2026

For only the second time ever (as far as I can remember) I spent the evening of my birthday watching a band (Belphegor) instead of sitting in a restaurant eating an overpriced steak. Jolly good it was too (despite only narrowly avoiding clattering to the floor like a sack of spuds at one point - I'm getting too old for this shit), and on the way to the 'Corporation' in Sheffield I decided to stop off at Meadowhall and visit the superbly staffed TAG Heuer boutique.

I haven't been to many watch shops this year, not least because the new releases have left me less than enthused about trying anything on, but this visit proved quite worthwhile and may have played a defining role in deciding where my WOTY vote goes. Maybe.

And we might as well start there, because this is easily one of the best looking watches TAG Heuer have released this year; I love the black/orange colour combination, though I could definitely live without the purpley looking wavy dial. Incredibly, despite the watch only coming out a few months ago AND being a limited edition, both this and the blue model are already being heavily discounted - which seems odd.

The blue one is okay, but I really like this one... the only issue I really have with this watch is the weight. It's just too damned light and I can imagine a lot of people would balk at paying the price for a watch that weighs this little. I'm not advocating for Aquagraph levels of weight (that's too far the other way) but this is after all, supposedly a tool watch, so there is a slight expectation of ruggedness and heft that's sadly lacking.

Obviously it's not the first time I've handled a titanium watch, but even I was surprised when I picked it up off the table. Because unlike the original Aquaracer Solargraph Ti, this one LOOKS like it should have some weight to it and it's very disconcerting when it doesn't. I can't help wondering if that's why it's not selling, because it looks good and if it was selling, well they wouldn't be knocking a grand off the asking price, would they?

Honestly, if this was steel, it would be a slam dunk WOTY for me and I'd probably be selling watches to get one. As it is, it's very good, but it definitely ain't perfect.

A newer release, is this 'Goodwood Festival of Speed' Formula 1, which is powered by the 'Calibre 16' automatic movement. This is actually very nice; the green dial with silver/white subdials really works, the orange chrono hand pops and the orange highlights on the crown and top pusher really finish things off nicely.

Even so it was a bit of a shock when I took the watch off and turned it over. Seeing the price sticker on the reverse rather took me aback, because at the end of the day, this is still a Formula 1, with a similar level or finish and bracelet to my orange dial WAZ101A. 

Yeah sure, that's a quartz three hander and this is an automatic chronograph, but does that really justify the £3000 difference? I dunno, I'd be a lot happier if it was just under £3000 and once this hits the pre-owned market it will probably make a lot more sense.

This is the sort of watch that traditionalists hate; 44mm dia, titanium case and bracelet, carbon bezel, blacked out skeletonised hands... and on paper exactly the sort of watch I should love. But, in person it feels incredibly bland. How something that looks such a dog's dinner can also appear bland I do not know, quite an achievement really... and forget reading the time, cos it ain't happening.

Finally we have the Watches of Switzerland limited edition Carrera. I saw this in a window a while back and thought it looked 'okay', and it's certainly preferable to the Gulf F1... but it's not exactly at the top of my Christmas wish list. It must be said though it certainly stands out in the display cabinet, and will surely appeal to some people.

I will say that I'm glad that TAG Heuer are finally bringing some more colourful dials to market for those of us with larger wrists. Because while I'm not totally sold on the pink, lilac and green dial Carreras, it would be nice to have the 'option' to wear them if I wanted to. It's not that pink is inherently feminine, but combine that colour with a watch that looks too small on me and it really does look like I'm wearing one of my wife's watches. 36mm is just not viable for someone like me with a 7.5" wrist. 

So there we have it, a bit of a mixed bag really, but one definite winner (especially as the current offer price means it's a better deal than the F1 Goodwood FOS!

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer 41mm Carreras, F1 Solargraph and Day/Date Carrera

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 23rd January 2026

Another visit to my favourite TAG Heuer boutique and, well... as we'll see in a moment it was 'interesting' but hardly what I'd call 'exciting'. And honestly, it was a bit of a turning point for me perhaps. Because standing in that boutique with about £20,000 of watches on the desk in front of me it really made me question (once again) the point of this blog. As I've said before, I am not a rich man. I now own half a (struggling) business but I'm not remotely rich, in fact I'd probably be better off working for someone else. 

So honestly, the chances of me buying a glassbox Carrera for £6700 are quite literally ZERO. I wouldn't buy any watch for £6700. I wouldn't buy a watch for more than £5000 at the absolute max (not unless my financial situation vastly improved) and the most I have ever spent on a watch to date is £3300. Sure I could sell my entire collection and I would be able to buy three or four watches at £6700, but today it feels to me like what you're getting for that money is what TAG Heuer basically consider a run of the mill Carrera chronograph.

Well no, I guess the run of the mill Carrera chronograph would be the Calibre 16, but even so if I was parting with the best part of £7000 I would want to feel like I was picking up something 'special', and sadly I just don't feel that way about these. At the same time, I've recently been speaking to someone who lives in America, who was excited to tell me about the limited edition 'Caribbean' watches she'd been hunting down and it really made me think about how much fun I used to get from this hobby when it was more about chasing old F1s and 90s S/ELs...

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Extreme Sports GMT Chrono & Lilac 36mm and 41mm Day/Date Carreras

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 31st October 2025

A few weeks ago I stopped in at the Meadowhall boutique on the way to a concert in Sheffield, it's always nice to visit as the staff are great and there's a surprising amount of pieces in there that you don't find in AD's or most other TAG Heuer boutiques that I've been in! Sometimes things show up ages after you've forgotten they've come out and sometimes they surprise you with something that you only found out about a few days beforehand. One such example being the new Carrera Extreme Sports GMT in green and black pictured below.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Limited Edition, Carrera Extreme Sports Chronograph & Aquaracer 'Beaverbrooks Exclusive' Solargraph

 

Beaverbrooks / Meadowhall, Sheffield 6th September 2025

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 6th September 2025

Well my last 'On the Wrist' post was a bit negative wasn't it? So let's redress the balance slightly with this one, which also focuses on watches I tried out on the same day in Sheffield.

First of all, my wife and I visited Beaverbrooks where she was eager to see the new 'Beaverbrooks Exclusive' Aquaracer in... turquoise (or Tiffany blue, if you prefer) and since I've already made my reservations about the new 34mm Aquaracers clear (mainly the ugly-ass bezel!) I decided to keep my mouth well and truly shut and let her make up her own mind. 

Well she certainly liked the colour (although it wasn't quite as striking as she'd hoped), we know she likes diamond hour markers, the bezel didn't seem to be an issue for her and she loves the idea of a 15 year battery (and speaking as the person who ends up changing all her batteries for her, so do I!) but in the end she concluded that £2700 was a lot of money that could buy her something more exciting from Watchfinder. 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Senna' LE Tourbillon & F1 Solargraphs

 

6th September 2025 / TAG Heuer Boutique, Meadowhall, Sheffield

6th Septermber 2025 / Beaverbrooks, Meadowhall, Sheffield

Last November TAG Heuer released the long awaited 'special' Senna watch... the one that Julien Tornare spoke about in that interview with Wei Koh of Revolution Watches... the one that made us think that maybe TAG Heuer were actually about to do something crazy like a new S/EL. Oh how silly did we feel when that proved to be completely wide of the mark?

But our embarrassment turned to shock when we saw the price of this new (not limited) Senna tourbillon, priced as it was with a £12,000 premium over the rest of the range. Of course this was before 'The Great Tourbillon Repositioning' where TAG Heuer decided to increase the prices of all their tourbillon watches by about £10,000 overnight... (oh yes they did).

The logic seemingly being that they weren't selling at £20k so maybe they will sell at £30k. And that's not me being sarcastic, that's literally how the luxury industry operates - make a product more expensive and it appears more exclusive and thus more desirable. I know, crazy, right? But that's literally how it works sometimes... and anyway, any bragging rights TAG Heuer once enjoyed for selling the 'cheapest' Swiss made tourbillon have long since lost their impact, so why not?

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Porsche 963' Calibre TH20-00 Limited Edition Chronograph

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield, 30th November 2024 

Way back in September last year (IIRC) I visited the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall Centre only to find I'd missed the Carrera Extreme Sports Porsche 963 by a mere 48 hours. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it had come back into stock on my last visit... especially as we know it is limited to just 963 pieces worldwide. 

As I've mentioned previously, I find myself rather perturbed by this new Carrera line. On the face of it the daring, avant garde designs should be right up my alley, but somehow I find them a little hard to warm to. At least partly to blame are the strange looking rubber straps, with this faux integrated look that while admittedly practical, also feels very 'faux' indeed.

ON THE WRIST: Heuer Monaco 'Racing Green' Calibre 11 Limited Edition Chronograph

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

At the tail end of last year I was lucky enough to get hands-on with the previous 'Racing Blue' Monaco and I really quite liked it. Sure it had the wrong logo on it and the crown is on the silly side of the case, which I don't like, will never like and can't understand why other people think that's how it 'should' be... but regardless, it was a nice watch. 🤣

So when TAG Heuer launched a new version, similarly limited to 1000 pieces, I thought 'Okay - this looks pretty good and I like the green'. However when I looked a little closer... it started to lose its appeal a little bit, not least because the green subdials were actually a little bit tealy, and worse still the strap didn't match all that well.

BUYING EXERIENCE: TAG Heuer FT6051 White Rubber Strap

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TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

Some of you will probably remember that the original 45mm Carrera Heuer 01 Skeleton (CAR2A1Z) was at first available in just one format: red dial highlights and a black rubber strap. This was later expanded to include a white rubber strap and indeed a red rubber strap. There was also a 'Blue Touch' edition which featured blue dial highlights and a blue rubber strap, that was pretty nice too... but by the time that arrived I'd already bought mine and I don't have any regrets about that.

It's perhaps a little surprising that TAG Heuer didn't play around more with this, as we saw some future possibilities at the launch event (yellow, orange and lime green models were on show but none of them made it into production - booo!). But still, if you own a CAR2A1Z you can of course order a white or red (or blue I guess) strap for it, and that's exactly what I decided to do after 8 years of ownership!

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monza 'Carbon' Special Edition Chronograph

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's kinda funny, this one has been around for so long that when I clocked it in the display case in the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall centre, I honestly didn't even think about whether I had ever seen it or tried it on or not. I was just like... 'Oh there's the carbon Monza'... and it wasn't until the (always fabulous) Maxine asked me if I'd seen it before that the penny finally dropped. I mean it's been at least two years since the Monza CR5090 first appeared on (Red Bull Racing boss) Christian Horner's wrist, so it just feels very familiar, even though before today I'd never actually come across one in person. 

Thinking about it it's been quite a number of years since I had any kind of Monza on the wrist and I'd kinda forgotten quite how big a 42mm 'square' watch really is. I think even from this photo you can tell that it's quite a lump of watch and it sits quite high too. But with its carbon case and nylon strap, of course it's anything but heavy. 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 'Gold Skipper' Calibre TH20-00 Chronograph

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

While I've never been particularly enamoured of all those fusty old 'Heuer' watches that vintage enthusiasts get super excited about, even I have to admit that 2023's Carrera Skipper was an eye-catching release and easily the best of the modern 39mm 'Glassbox' range. So I was interested to see the watch housed in an 18k rose gold case - especially since on paper the gold should work wonderfully with the strong blue dial. Would it look super classy though? Or douchebaggy? After all, blue and gold is nice combination, but a tricky one to get just right, especially when there are other colours on the dial to consider.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 7s - Baby Pink and Ice Blue

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's always a pleasure for me to visit the TAG Heuer boutique in the Meadowhall shopping centre, the staff are lovely people and they always have time for you. If you are in that part of the world I heartily recommend stopping by. I tried on quite a few watches on my most recent visit there and there are still more 'On the Wrist' posts to come, including the carbon Monza (finally) and the latest 'Racing Green' Monaco (meh).

But today we shall focus on two.... I was going to say ladies watches, but really only one of these is truly a ladies watch, and that, quite obviously is the baby pink strapped WBN2315. As you can see I didn't actually try it on, in fact I'm not at all sure the strap was big enough to go around my 7.1/2" wrist, but my wife did and she quite liked it.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph 'Green Dial' Quartz Watch

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / 28th September 2024, Meadowhall, Sheffield

When the green Solargraph was announced I must admit I was a teeny bit concerned that maybe I had rushed into buying the Calibre 5 version. I've always said that given the choice of two identical watches one quartz, one automatic, I would probably choose the quartz... and a solar powered quartz appeals even more. 

But generally speaking there never really is a choice of identical looking watches is there? So the question that required answering here was primarily how do the two dials compare, and secondly was the light blue second hand a deal breaker?

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquracer 'Sprite' Calibre TH31-03 GMT Watch

 

28th September 2024 / TAG Heuer Boutique, Meadowhall, Sheffield

It's funny, I've been waiting a while to see this one, because as seems to be the norm now when TAG Heuer release a bunch of watches together, there's always one that lags behind. Last time I got to visit the excellent Meadowhall boutique I saw all of the new three hand Aquaracers and also the 'Batman' GMT, but I was really pinning my hopes on this all new colour scheme being the one that really got me interested. 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Carrera 36mm Two Tone Calibre 7 Watch

 

Until relatively recently TAG Heuer have never made a watch that looks like this in a size which could possibly be considered 'unisex' but this is 2024 and 'Men's' watches are undoubtedly shrinking while 'Women's' watches get bigger by the week (I still don't understand why it's desirable for women to wear watches which are oversized while for men it is the height of poor judgement - but that's fashion for you. Thankfully I care not much for fashion, so I will continue to wear my 45mm H01 thanks all the same).

So when the opportunity to try this on arose I thought 'why not'. Truth be told in the not so distant past anything that was even close to being wearable for a man would have come with a deployant bracelet insufficient to breach my enormous man-hands, and so it was tremendously surprising to find that the watch slipped over my hand with ease and fitted more than comfortably around my 7.1/2" wrist. So presumably we must conclude that this is indeed a 'Unisex' watch, because I don't know about you but I don't know many women with 8" wrists.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre TH20-00 'Sparks' Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield June 2024

It's odd. This is clearly one of the best TAG Heuers released in 2024 (any fool can see that), so why am I finding it so hard to come up with something to say about it? In person those yellow hands pop much more than the renders suggest and indeed the whole watch has more 'life' to it on the wrist. But I don't know.... somehow it doesn't grab me like the 'Bling Lord' does, or indeed the turquoise model. I'd also perhaps put it behind the 'Monaco Boutique' model released earlier this year. Yes it's a more inventive combination of colours than simply black with red highlights (for the ten millionth time), but there's a reason why those colours get used again and again and again.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield July 2024

While clearly there's little genuine 'excitement' to be had from trying on an entry level quartz Formula 1 chronograph at this point, I will admit that this is, while by no means a contender for my hard earned sponds, a marked improvement over the red, yellow and green models released way back in 2022. This one just has a little more... class about it. The blue manages to be bright enough without screaming its head off at you like a 1999 Subura Impreza (surely a gold bezel and pushers/crown would work wonderfully here though?), and as such it successfully treads the fine line between fun and, well gaudy.

The previous models didn't so much tip-toe up to that line as run screaming across it while dressed head to toe in Gucci and clutching a diamond encrusted cane, but yet they still managed to find favour with the fantastically unpredictable Charlie/Imagwai (you remember his curious Top 10 Aquaracers a little while back); to this day I cannot fathom how this slight fellow who counts a tasteful blue Rolex OP and until recently an original Carrera re-issue in his collection could lust after something as outrageously gauche as the 43mm green rubber clad Formula 1. But there we are.... there's nowt so strange as folks as my old dad used to say!

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Three Handers & Batman GMT

 

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield June 2024

I wasn't exactly 'effusive' about the new 42mm 'wave dial' Aquaracers when I wrote my 'First Impressions' post last month, but I was open to being persuaded by a hands-on experience and that came at the tail end of June when I visited the superb TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall centre. Did I come away converted? Or did getting them on the wrist simply reinforce my initial grousing? Well... somewhere in between perhaps.

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 Professional 'Solid Gold' Calibre TH31-00 Watch

 

WBP5152.FT6210

TAG Heuer Boutique / Sheffield, November 2023

One of the least reported surprises of last year in TAG Heuer land must surely have been the introduction of not one but two solid gold cased Aquaracers. This is the first time TAG Heuer have ever produced a full gold Aquaracer, with the material recently only used for special pieces in the Carrera range (there have been various solid gold pieces in the past including Monacos, Monzas, 6000 Series and 2000 Series).  

Why has there never been a solid gold Aquaracer before? It's a good question isn't it... with no satisfactory answer. Perhaps because most people would balk at paying £16,000 for a solid gold TAG Heuer that isn't a Carrera or Monaco... and yet here we are, finally, with an almost solid gold 40mm Aquaracer. I say 'almost' because clearly that black coated crown isn't solid gold and that's my first and actually main issue with this watch. I just don't get it. Clearly a solid gold watch should have a matching solid gold crown, it's a no brainer - so why on Earth did TAG Heuer decide to give these solid gold pieces black crowns?

Okay it's not so bad on the black dial version (which comes on a black rubber strap of course), but here it looks silly, mismatched and dare I say cheap. If they didn't want to use gold for the crown for some reason, then why not a blue coating or ceramic? At least then it would match...

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Tiffany Blue' Calibre 5 Watch

 

WBP231K.BA0618

TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 22nd April 2023

Admittedly, it's been rather a long time since my wife and I took a look at this one, but it's Thursday morning already and I need a post for Friday - that's how it seems to be at the moment, and so I took a look in my 'draft' folder and came up with this one. It was either this or my Top 5 Blue Dial TAG Heuers, and I really don't have time to sift through all the possible options right now!

It may have been a while ago, but I can say without fear of contradiction that my wife absolutely loved this one. A pity then that at 36mm it looked ridiculous on her tiny wrist - she doesn't own anything bigger than her 32mm WBD Aquaracers and even they look quite chunky on her. In fact she loved it so much that I think had it been smaller she might even have overcome her reluctance to buy another automatic. 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Monaco 'Dark Lord' Tribute Special Edition Heuer 02 Chronograph

 

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TAG Heuer Boutique / Meadowhall, Sheffield 22nd April 2023

It's almost a year since the release of the TAG Heuer Monaco 'Dark Lord Tribute' and to my great shock and surprise a few weeks ago I finally got to see one! In fact, in the weeks since I saw this particular one in the TAG Heuer boutique in Sheffield's Meadowhall centre, I've seen another one - this time in the flagship boutique in Oxford Street (London). I guess Dark Lord's really are like buses huh?

I suppose I shouldn't be quite so surprised, since after all the 'Dark Lord' is a limited release model, rather than a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-never-to-be-seen-again limited edition of 600pcs like the purple and green dial Monacos, and now that the initial rush of interest has abated they are slowly starting to appear on the high street. But even so it's hard not to be somewhat in awe of this long awaited legend of a watch, or at least the 2023 interpretation of it.