SPOTLIGHT ON: Mario Andretti's TAG Heuer 2000 Series 75th Indy 500 Watch

Recently Hodinkee posted a video interview they did with the famous racing driver Mario Andretti, Mario enjoyed a long and successful career including becoming the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship with the Lotus team, four Champ Car titles and one win at the Indy 500 (in 1969) and has gathered a fine collection of desirable watches throughout his career, seemingly without actually buying any of them.

TAG have produced many Indy 500 watches over the years, some of which are nicer than others, but this TAG Heuer 2000 Series made solely for the 33 drivers taking part in the 75th Indy 500 in 1991 is quite a special one as rather than simply sticking a badge on a regular model, they went the extra mile and produced a proper bespoke dial. True, it's not the most beautiful dial ever made, but at least they put some effort into it and as it was given to the drivers (who probably owned much more expensive watches anyway) it probably wasn't intended to be worn everyday (if at all).

Because it was given only to the drivers who took part in the race, most of whom would probably keep the watch as a keepsake and for whom the watch probably didn't represent a significant value to sell, I can't find any record of any of them ever having been sold, never mind for sale currently. Indeed, there is such a lack of information on the internet about this watch that I can't even really say for sure that it's automatic or quartz, given the year it was made I would guess quartz, but there are automatic models in the 2000 series, so who knows? The only other information I found was a photo of Arie Luyendyck's watch from the same race.

I do like this watch, even though I concede it's not conventionally good looking. I just like the fact that TAG went to the trouble to make something completely unique (well, technically not unique, but you know what I mean) rather than just adding some text or a logo to a production dial. On the other hand, I can see that it works more as a 'corporate gift' than as a commercial proposition, but even so I'm happy it exists and that we can see it, even if we know almost nothing about it!

VIDEO: Interview with Jean Claude Biver (TAG Heuer CEO) at Baselworld

ON THE WRIST: Aquaracer Quartz Chronograph

CAY1110.BA0927

Steffans, Northampton / 4th May 2018

I tried this one on at the same time as the 'not-quite'sure-if-it's-a-white-dial-or-not' 40.5mm WAY111Y, and I have to say that while initially I was quite taken with the alarm version, once I put this next to it I was immediately drawn to this one. It's undeniably the case that we are all drawn to certain design cues that we know and love and so it's not hard to see how people can end up with a watch collection that has a distinct air of similarity about it. Of my nine piece collection, seven have a black dial (if we include the Microtimer) so when it comes to future additions I'm trying to broaden my scope a bit, but when you see a black dial watch that looks this nice it can make your resolve waver slightly.

I've been thinking that I would like a blue dial Aquaracer (probably quartz and on a bracelet) at some point. Something that's maybe a bit more blue than my 6000 Series, which is blue, but only in certain lights. So, while I've not been persuing this as such, that's where my head has been at recently... and yet, this watch has that certain 'wow' factor that comes from polished skeletonized hands on a black dial. Of course I already have almost exactly these kind of hands on my Chronotimer, but there's no denying they look very smart indeed. One word of caution though, as much as I love my Chronotimer, the hands aren't the most legible as often the polished surfaces reflect black and the hands all but disappear. You can see the same problem on some of the Carreras with polished Arabic hour markers, they look great, when you can actually see them, but sometimes they just seem to vanish into thin air. In fact, you can see exactly what I'm talking about in the picture below.

CAY1110.FT6041

This watch is also available on a rubber strap, but for once I'm not convinced (I know....!). Granted I haven't actually seen it, but it doesn't look right somehow, this is actually quite a 'glam' watch and not 'tooly' enough to warrant the rubber, especially this kind of rubber strap that I'd rather expect to see on the more hardcore 500M divers like the one I reviewed the other day.

On the wrist it wears as you'd expect a 43mm to, if perhaps slightly smaller than my yellow dial Calibre S, which may be partly to do with the black dial. Next to the CAY111Y it didn't look massively bigger and unless you have really skinny wrists I don't see this being much of a problem for anybody, unless you just prefer a smaller watch of course.

I don't have the exact thickness to hand (and TAG's website doesn't seem to supply it), but as you can see it's none too thick and will slide perfectly under a shirt cuff, and look perfectly at home with a suit. This is one of those watches that looks much better on the wrist than in the window and much, much better than it does in the catalogue. On paper it looks very average, but wrapped around my wrist I must admit I was rather taken with it... I still wouldn't put it on a rubber strap though, even a smarter one, it just seems a bit too dressy for that.

The bracelet is pretty standard Aquaracer fare, though I did notice the clasp has already picked up some scratches, but then this does seem to be a bit of a trend in Steffans unfortunately. I don't know whether it's down to the staff in the shop or just the punters in Northampton, but this shop does seem to have more than it's fair share of scruffy watches, which is a bit of a shame as the guys in there seem like good sorts.

The Chronograph is your standard quartz model with the 1/10th of a second reading at the 6 position, just as you've seen on other watches like the Formula 1 Red Bull and many, many others. The 1/10th of a second chrono does give you that fast moving subdial hand which does look pretty neat and will undoubtedly win you some 'cool' points with people who aren't entirely clued up on the watch game (not that you should be concerned with such nonsense of course). Price for this model is £1750, which is a jump over the Formula 1 models, but undeniably looks worth the extra cash, I've really gone off the Formula 1's of late, I'm not sure why, though it could be something to do with my CAU2012 and the slightly bitter taste it's left in my mouth.

Overall then, a very nice looking watch and one which definitely merits a visit to a jewellers and a go on the wrist. If I had to choose (and if I didn't already own the Aquagraph and the Aquaracer Chronotimer) I think I would spend the extra £400 and go for this over the alarm version, sure I'll never use the chrono for anything much, but then I'd probably never use the alarm either.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Tete de Vipiere by Onewheee

FEATURE: My Top 'SIX' Favourite Monacos...

A couple of months ago I posted my 'Top 5 Monacos' to the blog, unfortunately... I made a mistake and omitted one of my favourites, so I thought the best thing to do would be to re-post the article, and make it my Top 6 Monacos' instead...

The Classic 40th Anniversary Steve McQueen Monaco

I feel like I'm in a slightly odd position when it comes to the Monaco, I mean, can you imagine someone writing a blog devoted to Omega who just wasn't that bothered about the Speedmaster? No, me neither, and yet... the truth is, while I kinda like the Monaco, it just doesn't excite me the way a watch that costs serious money needs to if it's going to win me over. I mean I'd like a Monaco in the collection, but I imagine it will be a long time before I have £3,000 in my pocket and nothing I'd rather spend it on.

My affection for the Monaco 24 range and in particular the CAL5113 is well documented on this blog, and for the purposes of this post I'm going to ignore these wonderful, futuristic and rather expensive models and instead focus on Monacos the purist might like, or at least tolerate... because you know what I'm like, there ain't gonna be no blue dial Calibre 11 in my list!

I'm also going to ignore the Haute Horlogerie pieces like the V4 and also the Bamford customised watches, this list will be Monacos we can all find on the pre-owned market if we look hard enough (and perhaps if we live in the right country), and finally, I'm also going to discount the Monaco Sixty Nine, because as much as I like that it exists, it's too thick and at the end of the day I've already got a Microtimer so I don't need another one strapped to the back of a Monaco!

#6. CAW211N.FC6177 - The Boutique Edition

I only really came across this one the other day and it rather piqued my interest, echoing as it does the design of the blue/white Monaco 24 somewhat. I think the dial design works perfectly and I really like that it is symmetrical rather than offset like the classic 'Gulf' models. 39mm case size is perfect for me and it has the TAG Heuer logo rather than the Heuer, so I'm happy.

#5. CAW211E.FC6414 - 'Men's Club' Japanese Limited Edition

I had to include this because it's just so unusual, made in a limited run of... I want to say of five hundred pieces, but I'm not 100% on that at the moment, 'Men's Club' is a Japanese magazine (I'm assuming 'lifestyle' rather than 'sexy ladies') and the watch was available through the Espace TAG Heuer boutique in Japan - I say was because I'm pretty sure it will be sold out by now. Being a Japan only release it was priced only in Yen (675,000) which equates to about £4,500. A fair price for a unique and very attractive alternative Monaco.

#4. CAW211F.FC6300 - The Blue Stripey One..

So, yes, it doesn't show a tremendous amount of imagination I know, but this one has almost everything (no TAG logo) I like about the grey boutique edition, but with an even  nicer colour scheme! RRP is apparently £5050, but I've managed to find one at a company called 'Regal Time' who have an unworn example with a full two year TAG Heuer warranty selling for £4330. Still too much to tempt me of course, but I can't deny this one's a beauty.

#3. CAW211M.FC6324 - ACM Limited Edition

This is one I have actually tried on, must be a good couple of years ago at Bicester Village. Can't remember off the top of my head how much they were asking, let me go see if I noted it when I reviewed it... nope, but I think it was somewhere between £2500 and £3000. In my review I did say that the black case looks a bit odd on the wrist, but I still kinda like it, probably because the coating makes it look a bit more modern. This one has the ACM logo on the display caseback and an orange backing on the strap to match the tip of the second hand. Nice!

#2. CAW2117.FC6271 - Singapore GP Limited Edition

This is the one I missed out in my original post, and it only occurred to me when I started looking at the Grand Carrera Singapore GP Limited Edition. All the Singapore GP Limited Editions look great to me, you just can't really go wrong with a combination of black and green. Ideally I'd prefer it if the case was black, but on the other hand there's a nice contrast between the black dial and the silver case which gives it a classic air. No doubt this was produced in a small quantity - it doesn't seem to say on the watch itself, which is slightly odd - and so finding one is going to be tricky, but if you can find one, what a beauty!

#1. CAW2119.FC6289 - Carbon Fibre Dial Limited Edition

Another limited edition and another Monaco that I've actually had on my wrist, this one I tried on either last year or 2016 in the Royal Exchange branch of Watchfinder. As I recall, it was on offer for about £3600 and was in great condition (Blowers are selling one right now for £3750) save for one scratch on the case near the pushers for the chronograph. A lovely watch, but again, am I ever going to have that kind of money burning a hole in my pocket and nothing else higher up my list?


I think it's safe to say that I won't be adding a Monaco to my collection anytime soon (unless a ton of money falls into my lap of course) but I'd still like one, even if only to round out my collection, I mean imagine having a collection of ten Omegas and no Speedmaster, that would be kind of strange wouldn't it?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer NRDC Aquaracer Review by Peter von Panda

BUYING EXPERIENCE: Grand Carrera Calibre 8 GMT

WAV5111.BA0901

I guess it all started about a fortnight ago, when I visited the TAG Heuer outlet at Bicester. As you may remember I tried on three Grand Carreras that day including a GC GMT with a diamond bezel. I'd never really been that taken with the single sub-dial Grand Carreras, and I was pretty focused on getting hold of a CAV511A Chronograph GC.

But after I tried that blingy piece on it got me thinking, the chrono versions of this watch sell for way more and did I really need another chronograph? Wouldn't it make sense to get a cheaper watch with a GMT instead (a complication I don't already have) and rather than getting yet another tachymetre bezel watch perhaps a more dressy piece would be a better addition to the collection.

So having already had a trade in offer from Watchfinder for my CAU2012 against a CAV511A, I found this WAV5111 on their website for a decent price (£1950) and checked with them that my offer of £1200 trade in stood. This meant I could turn my orange Formula 1 into a chronometer certified Grand Carrera GMT for £750. I didn't think about it for too long, except to ponder whether I should maybe go for the white dial version, just to tick another box. But I quickly decided that if this is to be my dressiest, poshest watch then it really ought to be black, and so I quickly did the deal.

Rather than post my CAU2012 I decided to take it down to London last Saturday and drop it in to Avery Row myself, which meant I could also try my new watch on and size the bracelet - but I couldn't pick it up until they'd had time to check mine over and authenticate it, which while a little frustrating I can understand.

While I was in Watchfinder I got them to swap the rubber straps back over on the old watch as I tried to do it myself but was too worried about scratching the otherwise immaculate PVD coating. Incidentally, Watchfinder have listed my watch now and if you do want a CAU2012 (despite everything I've written about it) you won't find one in better condition, because it really is mint.

I was served by George, who was nice enough, but they really ought to give him a better watch to wear while he's in the office. Surely there must be an old Kirium knocking around they could give him rather than having him wear a Daniel Wellington while he's serving people looking to buy Rolexes and Royal Oaks. It just gives a bad impression in my opinion.

As I said before, the Avery Row branch seems to be more of a collection point than anything as its stock is severely limited in comparison to the Canary Wharf and in particular the Royal Exchange branches. But it serves a purpose and they probably do have maybe 100 watches in there I guess (including one of those ridiculous Omega PloProf things).

Even though it was disappointing that I couldn't take the watch with me I felt much happier having inspected it and tried it on. It was also handy that they could size the watch for me and add in a link so that it would fit me properly, and I knew it was only going to be 7-10 days before I would receive the watch so it wasn't so bad.

I arranged for the watch to be sent to my work, which was simple but for the fact that my work email is a Gmail address and they didn't like that very much. I guess they have to be careful, and I was prepared to have it delivered to home if necessary, but in the end I resolved it by sending them a photograph of my work catalogue which has the email address printed on it. Eventually Tom said it was fine (perhaps because this was my second purchase from him this year) and much quicker than expected (last Wednesday I think it was) I received an email from Tom telling me that my sale had gone through and that I would be contacted by the shipping department soon. 

I got the call on Thursday and finally on Friday afternoon my parcel arrived...

A huge outer box...

Incorporates the document folder...

Instructions in one, Chronometer certification in the other...

Beautiful inner wooden box, unfortunately scratched at the front :(

And there it is, finally a Grand Carrera owner!

Nice!

100M water resistant with display case back...

Classy and practical, just like me..  :)

Between ordering and arrival I did get a bit nervous, because I started worrying that I'd sold myself short and should have spent the extra and got the chronograph after all. But once I had it on my wrist those worries soon dispersed, I'd still like the CAV511A, but in addition to, not instead of. I know I'm obviously in the honeymoon period, but I'd say this is probably my second favourite of my watches right now.

The only slight niggle, well two I guess, was that the box is scratched up at the front, but it's not a massive deal (and to be fair that was clearly visible on the website if I'd looked more carefully). The other was that they seem to have added another spare link into the watch bracelet so that when it arrived it was too big and I had to take it to a jewellers to get it taken out again - I really don't know why they did that. But still, better that I've got a spare link than not I suppose, and aside from that, so far I'm rather chuffed with this one!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Bamford Monaco Limited Edition by Onewheee

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Quartz Alarm

WAY111Y.BA0928

Steffans, Northampton / 4th May 2018

I had to pop into Steffans because my new watch arrived today and for some reason it turned up with an extra link fitted into the bracelet, so it was too big. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world and anyway, I'll cover that in my new watch 'Buying Experience' post very soon.

While I was in Steffans I tried on a couple of watches, the first of which was this white dial Aquaracer. I say white dial, because in the cabinet it certainly looked white, but when you look a little closer you realise it's not really white. At least not in the way the 'Explorer II' Aquaracer is, it's much more of a white/grey... or even white/silver, and it has a slightly off white/cream tinge to it as well. It's not unattractive, it's just a little bit hard to say exactly what colour it really is.

The watch is 40.5mm in diameter but it wears bigger I'd say. When I had it on I was unsure if it was 43mm or 41mm, and I must admit I was quite surprised when Wes told me it was actually 40.5mm. Perhaps it's a peculiarity of white dial watches that they look slightly bigger? I've not had a white dial watch for a very long time so I'm not sure. Either way it sat nicely on the wrist and it certainly wasn't 'small' at all, indeed I would have been perfectly happy to wear it on my 7.3/4" wrist. Even when I put it alongside a 43mm with a black dial it still looked absolutely fine.

This particular model has an alarm feature which is set using the sub-dial on the left hand side of the watch-face. I'm not crazy about small seconds, but in this instance it's clear they've done it to give the face a more balanced look and perhaps to create that 'chronograph' look at a cheaper price. I think the big date is a nice feature too (hint, hint), one that I've definitely changed my opinion on in recent weeks.

The sale price for this particular model is £1350, which seems great value considering you're getting an alarm and a bracelet for about the same money as some other models in the current range which are basic three handers (eg; the new Khaki Aquaracer), and because you have a big date you also have the added bonus of no cyclops.

Ultimately though, I think if I was serious about getting hold of one of these I would be waiting for one turn up pre-owned since I have my doubts that the resale will hold up particularly well. The dial is neither one thing or the other and as such I think it might be a bit of a soft seller. That said, it's certainly an attractive watch that will fit a lot of wrists and won't offend anyone, but whether it will really excite anyone is perhaps another matter?

VIDEO: Heuer Monaco Calibre 11 Review by Watch Lifestyle

FEATURE: Why I've Sold my Formula 1 Calibre 16

CAU2012.FT6038

I know, it's a bit out of the blue, or maybe it isn't... maybe you picked up on my underlying dissatisfaction? Either way, it's happened, though I must admit it happened kind of quickly. Some people buy watches with the intention of 'flipping' them at a later date and some people enter into every purchase committing to a life-long relationship with no intention to sell. Generally speaking when I buy a watch my intention is that I am going to keep it for a very long time. Indeed, looking at my current eight piece collection, there are five watches that I have absolutely no intention of selling, unless absolutely necessary: Microtimer, F1 Kirium, Aquagraph, Carrera 45mm Heuer01 Skeleton and my Aquaracer Calibre S, and of the other three, I really don't see me selling two of them (the last one is another story, more on which soon perhaps...).

I have sold two watches previously, my first pre-owned TAG was purchased from eBay when I was a bit naive and didn't realise just how small some older watches were. Consequently my first 2000 Series lasted barely a month before I had moved it on and bought a larger one. That one lasted a year, before I sold it for roughly what I paid (plus £140 for a rubber strap I bought and sold with it), again because I felt it was too small. Since then I've bought seven more watches and sold none, until now.

I must have first noticed the CAU2012 in about 2014/15, because it was a watch that I was looking for for a long time. Every time I went to one of the outlets I would hope to find it, and every time I went into a jewellers I would look for it and ask if they could they get it. But by then it was already out of stock everywhere and nobody could get it. Then of course I finally found it on eBay, but I was wary of paying £1650 for a second hand watch from eBay and what I really wanted was to be able to try it on, then when I did find one pre-owned in a jewellers it was even more money and it was miles away...

So the fateful day came when I visited Bicester, I was actually going to buy the yellow dial Calibre S Aquaracer (the one I now own), which I had seen there a couple of days before. Only since my visit on the Saturday, lo and behold, guess what had appeared in the shop. Finally, there it was, in all it's orange and black glory, the CAU2012!

Three years of trying to find this damn watch clouded my judgement I guess, and I purchased it on the spot. I was so excited to finally get my hands on it, but the honeymoon was short lived. Immediately it became clear that the clasp was so badly designed that I couldn't wear it, it irritated my wrist really badly and in hindsight I wish I'd just taken the watch back and argued the toss. But of course, I'd been here before with my everyday F1 and I knew there was a work around. The only problem was, the work around wasn't that great. The problem was, by the time I'd ordered a BT0717 strap and waited for it to arrive the watch was already five weeks old, too late to try and take it back for sure...

I imagined the BT0717 strap would be just like the BT0714, just 2mm wider. But it wasn't, it was much thicker, much less flexible and much less comfortable to boot, plus it didn't look nearly as cool as the rubber strap the watch originally came with. So not only was it not a great work-around, it also made the watch look a bit cheaper too. Not good...

My other huge issue with this £2500 watch (not what I paid for it but that's irrelevant), was that while the hands have rather too much lume on them (and that's not something I thought was possible) the hour markers have none at all, just orange paint. There's also no lume pip at the 12 position, so telling the time in the dark is pretty much impossible. I say the hands have too much lume because while the photo above gives the impression of nice silver hands, in truth all you can see is the white lume and in all honesty the longer I lived with this watch the more I came to hate those hands. They just look stupid, and the one thing that might have rescued that was lume on the markers. Personally I don't think it's too much to expect lumed markers and a well designed clasp on a watch that costs £2500.

So as I gradually fell out of love with the watch, I wore it less and less. I guess I was already thinking about moving it on, and once that started I began worrying about damaging it, especially as it's PVD coated. If the watch had been a cheaper quartz model I think I would have lived with the problems, but it seemed like I just had too much money tied up in a watch that I no longer really wanted and so a couple of weeks ago I seriously started thinking about selling it or trading it in for something else.

I really didn't want to sell it on eBay, because I couldn't take the stress of sending it off only for some tool to rip me off, or try to return it (eBay really encourages you to take returns even if you clearly state 'no returns') and so I looked to jewellers for a deal. The outright purchase option was a rude awakening since £650-850 seemed the norm. Since I paid £1750 for this one year ago I deemed this too much of a loss. But Watchfinder offered me £1200 against a Grand Carrera chronograph (CAV511A) and I came very, very close to taking the offer. But then, I took another look at the pictures on the website and realised that all three CAV511A's they had were a bit damaged on the bezel. Not terribly damaged, but damaged none the less and I knew it would bug the hell out of me on such an expensive watch, because even with my watch as a trade, I would still be paying out another £1500.

But now, I have sold the watch and it is no longer in my possession. I have no regrets, other than perhaps buying the watch in the first place. I still like the dial, although it is slightly bigger than ideal at 44mm, but I'm not keen on the case or the way the pushers and crown seem to stick out to the right. The lume issue rankles, but I've learned a lesson there and always check any watch before purchasing now. But yet again the strap/clasp was the biggest problem and you can see why I so often focus on that in my 'On the Wrist' reviews, I really don't want to buy any more watches where I have to buy another strap to be able to wear it at all.

I knew I'd made the right decision when I came to pack the watch up for sale, I didn't have any last long lingering looks, if anything, my overriding emotion was relief, because I just wanted it gone. It's a rather sad ending to a tale that took several years to play out, but I guess if nothing else I learned a few lessons about watch buying from it. I just hope whoever ends up buying it gets more enjoyment out of it than I did.

I actually traded this watch in and I'm waiting for my new watch to arrive, hopefully it should be here very soon. It's not something I would have ever thought I would buy, even a few weeks ago, but you know how it is, you try something on and realise just how much you like it and a few days later you're emptying your wallet again. I'm really looking forward to getting it on my wrist and sharing my new arrival with you soon.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S Regatta Review by JSNissan

SPOTLIGHT ON: 2000 Exclusive Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi Limited Edition

CN111B.BA0337

A few weeks ago I came across this rather nice looking limited edition 2000 Exclusive chronograph on a site called 'Closer' (part of Rakuten Global Market). It wasn't a watch I'd ever seen before but when I read on it became clear that this particular watch was aimed squarely at the Japanese market.

This piece is dedicated to Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, who is a professional footballer and who is a former goalkeeper and captain of the national team, but was also issued to coincide with the 2002 World Cup which was hosted jointly by Japan and Korea.

The watch is signed on the back plate and each piece is numbered out of 500. This particular example looks to be in excellent condition from the photos (I understand that in Japan they are very fastidious about condition - they sound like my kind of people!), but having said that there is a list of 'faults', albeit the translation makes it a little hard to understand. 

The watch is offered for sale at Y69,300 (£460) which doesn't seem bad at all for a limited edition piece celebrating a fairly momentous occasion for the Japanese football fan. Unfortunately it seems that while Japan won their group they were then knocked out of the competition by Turkey in the next round, so maybe it wasn't quite as momentous as it could have been...

If you are interested in purchasing this watch, then please follow the link below (I have no interest or connection to this sale, listing or website).

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/closer01/item/202929/

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Calibre 5 Review by My Watch Addictions

SPOTLIGHT ON: Grand Carrera GMT Calibre 8 Singapore GP Limited Edition

WAV5114.XXXXXX

I've posted about a couple of Singapore Grand Prix Limited Editions before, there was a Formula 1 piece and also a Monaco, both of which featured a black and green colour scheme as seen here on this Grand Carrera from 2008. Limited to 150 pieces this one features a black bezel (the case remains steel), a green running second hand, a black GMT dial and a reversed date (white on black rather than black on white).

The watch was released to celebrate the Singapore GP in 2008, and F1's first night race. It proved to be a very memorable race with Fernando Alonso taking a surprise victory after his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed and caused a safety car, and later on championship leader Felippe Massa was released early from his pit stop and set off down the pit lane with the refuelling hose still attached to his car...

I must say I am a bit of a sucker for the green and black colour scheme on these Singapore GP watches, the stitching on the leather strap looks fantastic and I think it's really great that they haven't gone too far with it. By that I mean they haven't felt the need to have green hour markers or made the GMT wheel green, that would have been OTT, sometimes less really is more and the scheme as it is works superbly on this watch.

The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is the black bezel. It looks good, but the bezel is the part of the watch must susceptible to scratches and so I'm not sure that coating it in PVD is the greatest move from a practical standpoint. I have actually managed to find one of these for sale on the internet for just under $4000, but the watch is unworn and is being offered at just below it's official retail price of SGD 7550, so I guess it's fair enough. By way of comparison, I believe the list price of the standard WAV5111 was around the £3400 mark, so it's not a huge premium for the limited edition.

To be honest I don't think this picture does it any justice, but these GMT Grand Carreras seem to be notoriously difficult to photograph well and they definitely look much better from some angles then others. I would definitely like to catch sight of one of these to check it out, although how likely that is here in the UK I don't know, but then who would have guessed a Chinese special edition Lady Link would turn up at Bicester Village? You just never know...

One more thing to look out for, apparently the watch was supplied with a book detailing the history of the Singapore Grand Prix which was written by Eli Soloman and titled 'Snakes and Devils'.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Kirium Chronometer Review by The Watch Guy

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M Calibre 5 Dive Watch

WAJ2111.FT6015

TAG Heuer Boutique, Bicester Village / 29th April 2018

I must admit I've only recently started to come around to this style of Aquaracer, and realistically when I asked to try this particular piece on it was more with a view to producing material for the blog than a potential purchase. However, once I got it on my wrist I have to say it worked it's magic on me and I came away rather converted and wondering if perhaps there might be another Aquaracer in my future...

When your collection gets to a certain size you have to try and avoid buying the same watch over and over again, which isn't always easy as I've discovered recently. I mean some people do, and there are people who only buy Submariners in different dial colours, hell there are people who only collect black Submariners with slightly different text on the dial! Personally, I want my collection to be diverse and so the fact that this 500M Aquaracer doesn't look like my Aquagraph or either of my other two Aquaracers is a huge plus. In fact, if anything, this watch reminds me of another watch that I quite like, the white dial 'Explorer II' Aquaracer.

WAY2013.BA0927

Somehow though, I find the grey dial a bit more attractive, although I did like the white one when I tried it on last year. I think perhaps the black/white contrast is just a little too harsh, and I notice on the new 41mm version coming out later this year they've changed the hour markers to polished metal, which is a shame in one way but still I can kind of see why they've done it as it will give the watch a more luxurious look.

This WAJ2111 is a tool watch first and foremost and wears the rubberised hour markers better, and of course the grey/black contrast is a little more subtle and dare I say it 'classy' looking. I also really like the vertically fluted dial which sets of the splash of colour on the second hand perfectly. It's a bit unusual having the date on the left hand side, but again it's a point of difference versus other watches and less of a problem than the cyclops which I could definitely have lived without.

This model has an 'Omega' style helium release valve, which sticks out from the case at the 10 position. It doesn't bother me, but I much prefer the Aquagraph style valve which is barely noticeable, but then maybe people don't like that, because for them it's a 'design feature' rather than a practical function of a watch which will most likely never actually be used?

These bezels have definitely grown on me, although I still think the gold ones are pretty disgusting looking things... again they initially give an impression of being slightly agricultural in photographs, but when you actually see them they are better than you expect. As ever, the thing that gives me most concern is the rubber strap. While the strap itself is fine, I am slightly concerned that the end of the clasp might stab my wrist as so many others seem to do, and that makes me think that if I was going to buy this then I would be looking for the bracelet version which comes on a very similar bracelet to my own CAF7103 Calibre S with the push button clasp (hmm, I wonder if they are compatible, that would be a bit handy!).

WAJ2111.BA0870

Finally, as you can see above, the watch has a display caseback - always quite impressive on a 500M diver, and all the more impressive that it hasn't made the watch uncomfortably thick. It's not thin, at 14mm, but on the wrist it feels great and not at all clunky. As ever, you never quite now how you're going to feel about a watch until you actually get it on and I must say this watch feels a lot better on than you probably think it's going to. It's design tends to give the impression that it's a bit of a lump, but in reality it's not at all.

Well, I wasn't expecting to like this watch half as much as I do, which gives me some food for thought. This watch could have been mine for under £1500 yesterday (there was an extra 10% deal going on) but I managed to resist, after all I'm not made of money and I've already got a new watch on the way as it is, but this one is definitely going on my list of future possibilities! 

But maybe not in this Calibre 5 version, because this watch is also available with a quartz movement as the WAJ1111, which is quite interesting, because it's quite unusual to find a watch that looks almost exactly the same in an automatic and a quartz. In my experience it's nearly always the case that the automatic looks just a bit nicer, with a red second hand tip or something. Hmm, definitely food for thought!

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500M Calibre 5 Overview by Gemnation Corp

ON THE WRIST: Heuer Carrera JH80 and JH81

CV2119.BA0772

TAG Heuer Boutique, Bicester Village / 29th April 2018

I'm not sure which visit it was (I seem to have been to Bicester an awful lot this year already) but I mentioned on the Calibre 11 forum that I had seen a Heuer Carrera with a silver dial and a red logo in there, and that it was on a bracelet. I thought the bracelet was unusual as I'd only seen these types of watches on leather straps previously. So the forum tried to establish which watch it was and we kind of concluded that it was a CV2119, albeit I was still a bit unsure.

So today when I visited I made sure to check it out properly so that I could confirm to the forum exactly which watch it was (one member 'dtf' was ready to drive to Bicester if confirmed that the watch was indeed a 'JH80' at 'Outlet' price). So on closer inspection it turned out the watch was exactly what I had thought, the CV2119 was designed by Jack Heuer and produced to mark his 80th birthday. The watch carries his signature on the backplate and can be had on either a bracelet or a leather strap.

I must say, while this watch is definitely a bit too retro for my tastes, the dial is very nice and I really like the touches of colour that pepper the dial. The chrono second hand, subdial hands, logo and the '80' on the tachymetre are all rendered in red, which gives a nice pop to a watch that is largely shades of grey.

Personally if I was going to purchase this watch I would definitely choose the bracelet because I think it goes some way to modernising the look of the piece, but I can also see why most people would choose the strap because it seems more in keeping with the style and that may be why this generally quite desirable model has ended up in the outlet. You could of course purchase a leather strap and clasp to suit, but it wouldn't be cheap, I'm guessing, but I'd imagine you'd be looking at nigh on £200... but then if you buy from the outlet you're not paying the usual premium for the bracelet, in fact this watch is actually on sale at £3185, which is a considerable saving over the £4000+ list price.

The pushers though confirm the watches' retro aesthetic, and while I know the vintage watch fans love these sort of pushers I have to say that personally I'm not a fan. Again, in my opinion I can see maybe why the bracelet version might not sit (as) well with the market, because while the pushers and dial scream retro, the bracelet looks very much like it belongs on a more 'up to date' Carrera... 

The backplate is a nice touch, with Jack Heuer's signature marked in red under the 16th century Heuer family crest and the watch is numbered out of 3000 pieces (I presume that's 3000 in total for the strap and bracelet versions).

Alternatively, you could choose the JH81 which while not designed by Jack Heuer, is chronometer certified and comes with a different dial design.

CV5110.FC6310

I think I prefer the dial on the CV2119 if I'm honest, but 'reverse panda' dials like this are very popular with watch buyers and wearing the leather strap this piece seems to work better overall, even if it's even more retro and thus less to my tastes.

Again, as I mentioned in my review of the new 50th Anniversary Monaco I'm not a big fan of the branding on the clasp, it just seems too 'in your face' somehow, especially for such a tasteful piece. No doubt it's probably echoing some old Heuer classic design that I have no awareness of, but to me it just looks a bit too brash on a watch like this. It probably looks less intrusive on the Monaco with it's striped dial etc, but even then I thought it was a bit much. It's not quite 4000 Series tackiness, but it definitely something I'd like to see toned down a bit.

Unfortunately I didn't catch the price of the JH81 in the outlet, but it's sure to be considerably less than the original £4200 list price. Incidentally both these watches are sold out according to TAG's own website and by way of comparison Watchfinder are selling a pre-owned CV2119 for £3450, so this is definitely a chance for someone to get hold of a brand new one of these with a 2 year manufacturer's warranty for a very reasonable sum.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Brisbane Welcomes Archie Luxury (with gifts and kindness)