Friday, 22 January 2021
VIDEO: This is Why the TAG Heuer Formula 1 is a Good Watch by EDC Gunner
In the description EDC Gunner offers a link to Amazon to buy the watch, I really wouldn't recommend buying any luxury watches from Amazon. I followed the link and clicked on a Gulf F1 - sure enough in the comments people were complaining about receiving fake watches.... just don't do it. I wouldn't even trust Amazon direct, but buying from third party sellers is just asking for trouble.
Thursday, 21 January 2021
DUEL: TAG Heuer 3000 Quartz Watches
932.206 934.206
The 3000 Series has always been one of my favourite TAG Heuer watches and it's a model that actually entered the range in the last days of the 'Heuer' era. In fact a quick look through the catalogues on the Calibre 11 website seems to suggest that it first appeared in 1984, just one year before the buyout by the Techniques d'Avant Garde group.
It's well known that in the aftermath of the takeover TAG Heuer continued to use parts stamped 'Heuer' on TAG Heuer watches and so it is here: the two tone one has a 'Heuer' clasp and a 'TAG Heuer' crown, while the steel version has a 'Heuer' crown and a 'TAG Heuer' clasp! I guess I could swap the clasps over to at least make one of them 'authentically' TAG Heuer... if I really wanted to.
The range last appeared in the 1989 Japanese catalogue, which means it was only produced for about six years and it can be tricky to track down the one you want. I always wanted a steel 3000, but eventually a two tone model came up for sale in the UK at the tail end of 2018 and I decided to bid on it. I remember it was on sale for something like £500 and I made what I thought was a rather derisory offer of £275, which the seller quickly accepted. A little too quickly for my liking, indeed it made me wonder if there wasn't something wrong with it - but happily I've had it two years now and it seems fine.
If you search for 3000 Series watches on eBay you will find plenty of results but they are almost always in Japan (for some bizarre reason) and more often than not two tone or gold plated. Steel ones seem the hardest to find and you also have to be aware that they were actually made in four different sizes. Full size models end with a number '06', ladies pieces '08' and the two inbetween sizes '15' and '13' (with '13' being the larger of the two). I'm not sure on the sizes of the other references, but I can confirm that the 06 models are about 37mm across the case and 9mm thick.
Two tone isn't everyone's cup of tea granted, but I already had a 2000 Exclusive and an S/EL in two tone so it didn't phase me. The gold is worn away around the edge of the twelve sided bezel a little bit and that's not uncommon at all with these watches - I think the gold was very, umm... sparingly applied in the 1980s. I actually like the two tone look on this particular watch, it seems rather fitting for a watch of this era and I also really like the rather 'industrial' looking case as well.
The TAG Heuer logo on the dial is rather large, probably larger than you'd find on a modern 43mm Aquaracer, but again I quite like that. The 80s were loud and brash and this watch epitomises the times, whether you feel comfortable wearing it in 2021 is another matter, but I'm fine with it.
I really like that this one has a silver/grey dial, there was a version with a gold dial which again you will often find for sale on eBay from Japan, but for me this slightly subtler version is preferable. The silver dial does have a gold ring around it though, which has the rather unfortunate effect of making the watch look like it's not put together straight from some angles. The culprit here is the that TAG Heuer mirrored the twelve sided shape on the inside edge of the bezel, which when placed so close to the gold ring on the dial causes some consternation! I'm used to it now, and when you hold the watch dead straight on it looks bang on, but when I first got it I actually thought the dial was sitting to one side of the case.
It took me just over another year to find a full size steel 3000 at a sensible price in the UK. I did actually find a NOS piece for sale in Italy, but they wanted £800 for it. I did enter into some negotiation and I think I got them down to about £675, but for some reason I was reluctant to pull the trigger. Then my luck changed and at the end Dec 2019 one came up for sale on eBay with a starting price of £335. I put in a bid of £500 for it, but no one else bid and I got it for £335. Result!
The seller was selling it because her father had passed away and they had found it in a drawer. They had replaced the battery and it came in it's original blue plastic box (complete with wrist measuring tool), however it was a couple of links short for my 7.5/8" wrist, so I had to rob a couple of links from the two-tone (which had a full bracelet seemingly and about a full inch of micro adjustment) and pondered removing the gold from them if I couldn't source the genuine article (as someone had done on my grey dial 4000 Series I noticed).
Thankfully Tom at Bicester Village managed to find me a couple of links which were almost the same (slightly thinner and with different sized pin holes) which I managed to make work. These were one of the options on the TAG Heuer database, so I presume perhaps there were two different bracelets for the 3000 over its six year run?
One slightly odd thing about the 3000 Series is that when the crown is pushed in it will not turn, which can cause some little panic if you don't know and you try to unscrew it! It's the same on both pieces, indeed aside from the dial colour and case/bracelet finishing these are pretty much identical. The black coating on the ball bearings on the steel version have worn a little whereas on the two-tone they are still quite black... but it's really not that noticeable unless you really look closely.
I do like the two tone, but if I could only keep one of them then hands down the plain steel would take the win. Despite its quirky design features it still looks quite timeless, whereas the two tone definitely looks like a watch from the 1980s. In fact, anyone looking for an affordable alternative to an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak need look no further.
In fact I would go as far as to say that the steel 3000 Series is one of the favourite watches of my collection, it's a shame the bezel is a little scuffed at the bottom right, maybe one day I will get it polished or get a new bezel (if such a thing is still available thirty years down the line...).
Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Tuesday, 19 January 2021
SPOTLIGHT ON: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Chronograph (S.A.E.F. Special Edition)
CA1211-RO
Back in the early 90s, TAG Heuer seemingly made quiet a few 'special edition' watches for 'business' customers. We've seen various special dials which were clearly made for companies or other organisations, one obvious example being the first generation Formula 1 with a BP logo on the dial. This still goes on of course, with AMJ Watches in the UK seemingly at the forefront of organising and retailing watches for groups such as the Freemasons and the Emergency Services...
But this one was a new one on me, a green dial Formula 1 quartz chronograph with the TAG Heuer logo removed and in it's a place on octagonal logo with a horse's head in the centre. Nope, definitely doesn't ring any bells with me!
Turns out (if you blow the picture up large enough) that this one was made for the 'Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation'... which is 'a governing body that sets plans and systems to accelerate equestrian sport in Saudi Arabia' (according to their website).
This organisation was apparently founded '1410/5/29 AH' (from the Islamic Hirji Calendar) which relates to the 27th of December 1989, while the logo on the dial carries the date '1990'.
Which doesn't really help us pin down the year of manufacture, at all. You see, the familiar 1/10 second style quartz chronographs we all know and love replaced the original 'date dial' models around 1991 (they appear for the first time in the 1991 catalogue) but this watch can't have been made then because the model number clearly means it must have been produced in 1992 or later*
(*In the 1992/93 catalogue TAG Heuer assigned new part numbers to all models, ditching the old XXX.XXX system in favour of a two letters/four numbers configuration.)
This one presumably started life on a bracelet, but here it is being sold on a leather strap (which looks rather out of place to me). Funnily enough, I know someone who recently bought an early 90s Formula 1 chronograph and he quickly took it off the bracelet as he decided it was completely 'unwearable' - but then he went and put it on a NATO (to my utter dismay), still, each to his own.... I guess! :)
The watch was listed on eBay with a starting price of £249.99, it received fourteen bids and eventually climbed to £400. Although I liked the watch, knowing that it didn't come on the original bracelet (and knowing that the original bracelet is apparently 'pretty terrible') it did make me wonder what I would have put it on if I had bid for it myself.
I think it looks a bit odd on this leather strap, and I don't like NATOs, so what's left? Rubber, of course. Presumably the rubber straps for the original series chronographs would fit, or could be made to fit, but as to whether they are still available I really don't know. A pity, because the watch itself is really quite nice.
As a 'historian' it's always interesting to come across these unusual bespoke models, but at the same time it's frustrating that TAG Heuer didn't give them unique part numbers, even it was just another letter on the end or something... still, I guess nobody really thought that anyone would be interested thirty years into the future, back then quartz watches were viewed as fairly 'disposable', even relatively expensive ones.
If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years it's that there's always something else waiting to be discovered and I kinda like that about TAG Heuer. Contrast that with a brand like Rolex where there are so many people interested and so much money to be made for any little deviation that probably almost everything about them is 'known'. From what I can gather TAG Heuer's record keeping pre-LVMH wasn't exactly what you would call meticulous, I guess they were more interested in keeping afloat and trying to turn the company around from the dark days of the early 80s.
Monday, 18 January 2021
Sunday, 17 January 2021
BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Carrera 160th Anniversary Silver Dial Heuer 02 Chronograph
CBK221B.FC6479
Some of you may remember that last year I purchased a Carrera Heuer 01 at a 50% discount from Bicester Village and shipped it all the way to Sweden for my good friend Jim Dollares. At the time it seemed like a pretty stressful endeavour, but ultimately (and in hindsight) it didn't work out too badly.
Jim got a CAR208Z Carrera at a very good price, even with the shipping/insurance charges and so when he approached me to do the same thing again I was hesitant and wary but not unduly so. If we'd have both known what we were getting ourselves into we definitely would have thought twice!
27th November 2020 // Message from Jim Dollares
Hey man. Let me tell you a secret. I have been desperately looking to buy the silver 160th Carrera for two weeks now but no one in the grey market seems to be able to source one for me. The Swedish AD price for one is 78 950 SEK (£6950) which is just insane. I am negotiating a price with a Swedish dealer right now.
BUT, would you perhaps be open to me wiring you the money and you ordering it from the TAG Heuer UK website and then shipping it to me?
It didn't sound like such a crazy idea, but we didn't have all the time in the world. Brexit was scheduled for the 31st December and after that who knew what the import taxes Jim might be liable for. But still, it was only the 27th of November after all, so factor in a couple of days delivery to me, then 3-5 days delivery to Sweden... worst case scenario Jim should easily have the watch by the middle of December.
So remembering last time I said of course I would do it, but we need to find a way to send the watch - and I wasn't going to order the watch until we had that locked down. Last time, you may remember, I went and asked in the Post Office and they were all like 'yeah, no problem' and then when I went back having actually bought the watch then all of a sudden it was 'oh no, you can't send a luxury watch'.
Back then I went through several carriers until I found that DHL would accept timepieces up to a value of £4000. That was fine for the Heuer 01, but the silver Carrera 160th Anniversary cost over £5000, so that wasn't going to cut it. And, as it happens, in the meantime they'd decided to change their terms and conditions so that they no longer accepted watches, period. In fact the only carrier that did seem willing to take watches was UPS, although they had a maximum value of £500, which wasn't an awful lot of use to us... and besides, UPS would be in our bad books soon enough!
Later that day Jim came back to me with a different plan.
He'd found a company called Secursus who specialise in insuring parcels, and who offer very competitive insurance rates. Almost too good to be true actually… last time DHL had charged us £120 to ship and insure the Heuer 01 worth £2500, but Secursus were willing to insure a parcel sent with a ‘known’ carrier for £5300 for £38. Of course we still had to send the parcel as well, but that wasn’t a big expense since Secursus told us to send it ‘uninsured’.
One thing I didn’t like about this whole thing was that you have to send the parcel first and then insure it. So we decided to switch to Royal Mail because there you can pay for the service on line, and get your tracking number, which enables you to set up the insurance with Secursus BEFORE you take the parcel to the Post Office.
I’m not going to lie, I had very mixed feelings about all of this, but Jim thought it sounded fine and two days later the money appeared in my bank account… meanwhile I set up an account with Secursus, ready for the delivery.
30th November 2020
So finally it was time to stop talking and set the ball in motion. I went to the TAG Heuer website with credit card in hand and put the watch in the basket. So far, so good. Then I tried to pay and… it wouldn’t go through. Time and again I got the same error message…
One time it changed to a different error message telling me to try a different payment method, I thought about maybe doing a bank transfer, but then I wanted the protection of buying by credit card so I kept at it. Then the next time it reverted to the original message....
I knew my card had plenty of credit on it, so I really couldn't understand what the problem was, I just assumed it was an issue with the TAG Heuer website and decided to leave it and try again tomorrow.
1st December 2020
But again, the same problem... argh! Then I remembered that I had problems with the TAG Heuer website last year when I ordered my wife's green dial Aquaracer. That time it just hung when you tried to pay so you didn't know for sure whether the order had gone through or not. I guess at least this time you weren't left in any doubt and that meant that I could try elsewhere.
So that's what I did, although I wasn't at all sure the watch was available elsewhere... so I Googled it and the only place that came up was Beaverbrooks (a large, well known jeweller in the UK). They had the watch in stock and if I ordered it before 8pm that night it would arrive the next day. Result!
But again the payment wouldn't go through.
This time though, the message was a little more helpful. Instead of telling me to try again later or ring customer services, it gave me an error code and told me to ring Barclaycard. So that's what I did and after a fifteen minute wait I got to speak to someone, who transferred me to someone else, who transferred me to someone else (who turned out to work for Barclays rather than Barclaycard and couldn't help me) who transferred me to someone else.
This person could help me, at least to some extent, although she then had to conference call me with someone else and then pass me to someone else (IIRC) to finally convince them that, yes I am the owner of the card and yes I really do want to spend £5295 on a silver dial, 39mm Carrera with fauxtina!
I mean, honestly... I wouldn't have believed it either!
So after an hour, they decided that they would indeed let me buy the watch and if I tried again everything should be okay.
And at this point I did something that I would come to regret for days to come. Instead of just ordering it from the Beaverbrooks website, I went back to the TAG Heuer website instead. In my defence it seemed like the better option since Beaverbrooks doesn't exist in Sweden, so it would surely be better for Jim if the watch had come direct from TAG Heuer in case of any warranty claim.
I don't suppose it really makes a lot of difference, but still...
3rd December 2020
I didn't really expect the watch to come the next day, so I wasn't concerned when it didn't. But it didn't turn up on the 3rd either, so that evening I went on the TAG Heuer website and followed the link to the UPS website to track the parcel.
'We missed you' it said, which was more than a little surprising since my wife had been at home all day and there was no card through the door. The website said they would try again on the next business day (Friday) so I thought 'Okay, we'll see'.
4th December 2020
Nothing arrived on the 4th either, but by the time I got home it was too late to do anything. I noticed though that they accepted calls on Saturday morning, so I made a point of ringing them first thing and spoke to a lady in America (quite why it's necessary for me to speak to someone in America about a parcel travelling within the UK I have no idea) who said she would send an email to the local depot for me.
6th December 2020
My wife received a phone call from the local UPS depot, basically telling her that they didn't have an answer for us, but that they would check with the driver and come back to us.
Needless to say, they didn't ring us back and in fact we never heard from UPS again.
7th December 2020
On Tuesday morning I rang TAG Heuer and spoke to customer services, they said they would chase it up and come back to me.
8th December 2020
On Wednesday morning I rang TAG Heuer and spoke to customer services, they said they would chase it up and come back to me - and this time they actually did, to ask if I had asked for a 'rescheduled delivery'. I said no, the UPS website had changed to show that after I had spoken to TAG Heuer and I had assumed it was because they had asked them to reschedule it. Apparently not.
Also, I decided it would be worth posting a book to Jim and insuring it with Secursus, just so that I could test how everything worked with an unimportant parcel before sending the watch itself. So during the day I paid for postage on the Royal Mail website, then ran it through the Secursus website and posted it on my way home after work, fully expecting it to arrive with Jim by early the following week.
Since this parcel was just a book, it was a lot less problematic and I filled out the customs form even though technically one wasn't required, but partially hid it under the address label to see if the people in the Post Office caused a fuss.
9th December 2020
On Thursday morning I rang TAG Heuer and spoke to customer services, they said they would chase it up and come back to me.
I was getting a little bit annoyed by now, it had been nine days since I had placed the order and I had zero confidence that UPS were ever going to deliver the parcel. Which wouldn't have mattered too much had it not been for the looming Brexit deadline. After all, this was supposed to be the simple part of the whole process, it was only supposed to get stressful once the parcel was on it's way to Jim in Sweden!
10th December 2020
Jim mentioned that he was getting concerned that we were running out of time to get this done before the end of the year, so we made the decision to forget it and send his money back.
I would be lying if I said this wasn't something of a relief (albeit I still had £5295 on my credit card and a missing/stolen parcel to deal with!) but unfortunately when I tried to send Jim's cash back, my bank wanted to syphon off £210 in fees, so we had second thoughts about that! It really did feel like every move we made we were getting screwed over, so instead I made the decision to pay off the watch from my Barclaycard using Jim's money (my credit card limit was only £7000 so I had no choice) and bought the watch again, this time from the Beaverbrooks' website (who were still promising next day delivery if I ordered before 8pm).
That night I went on the TAG Heuer website and filled in a contact form quoting my order number and telling them that I had had to purchase the watch elsewhere and would appreciate it if they could retrieve the parcel from UPS and credit my card. Of course, despite several attempts the contact form would not post and so I ended up sending an email to a generic email address instead.
11th December 2020
I received an email from customer services the next morning telling me that my email had been passed on to customer services. Then I received another email from customer services telling me that they needed to chase it up and would come back to me.
Sure...!!!
I again asked them to please retrieve the parcel and credit my card as I no longer required the watch as I had already purchased it from Beaverbrooks.
I was told that 'if you no longer require the watch, you can return it for credit when you receive it', which is about on par with ringing your internet provider to tell them you have no internet and them telling you to 'go on their website'... just not what you want to hear, in all honesty.
So with a heavy heart I asked them 'when that might be', since I needed to return it and get my card credited before I ended up having to pay off the second watch and ending up with my credit card £5000 in credit.
'We need to chase it with logistics and come back to you.'
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
As if to add insult to injury, the TAG Heuer website was now running a banner add at the top of the screen assuring me that 'Order before the 22nd of December for guaranteed delivery by the 24th!'
Words.... they fail me.
By now I had zero confidence in anything working as it was supposed to, so I could have squealed with joy the next morning when the carrier arrived and deposited Jim's watch on the doorstep at 10:3AM.! I didn't, to be clear, but I could have...
To be honest, I didn't really even want to open the parcel, but I had to because the last thing I wanted to do was send Jim a damaged watch, or even the wrong watch!
Jim was keen for me to open the parcel as he thought being up close with the CBK221B might change my opinion of it (unlike most of the 'Council of Considered Opinion' who voted it the 'Watch of 2020', I was distinctly lukewarm with it), but in all honesty it didn't and I stand by my score of 3/5. While I had the watch out of the (very nice) box, I showed it to my wife (who scored it 2/5 for the COCO poll), she looked at it, shrugged, then wrinkled her nose at it and said 'it's quite boring isn't it'.
That made me chortle.
After checking it over to make sure there were no scratches, etc... I was straight onto the Royal Mail website to purchase postage for the parcel to Sweden. Then, once I had the tracking number it was straight to Secursus' website to insure it before taking it to the Post Office.
This didn't go quite to plan as this time Secursus' website didn't copy the tracking number over onto the invoice so I couldn't double check it. Thankfully after an email message to them and an hour's wait the problem was resolved and I hit the Post Office just before it closed for the night.
Technically, parcels between the UK and Sweden do not require customs labels, but we were told that if we had to use one we should either hide it under the address label or put something of very low value on it to avoid it being stolen. Not entirely sure how legal that advice is, but that's what they said.
However, when I went onto the Royal Mail site to purchase the postage, perhaps because it was a larger and heavier package than the book I had sent previously I had to list each item individually and with a separate weight. Terrific. Needless to say...
Well perhaps I shouldn't say too much about that here! Suffice to say, I did not attach the customs label and the Post Office didn't question it.
So, one problem was solved, Jim's watch was on the way... and the parcel was supposed to arrive within 3-5 days, although I didn't really believe that, especially not in December and with Covid and Brexit, it was just too easy.
14th December 2020
Nothing happened over the weekend, but on Monday I received an email from TAG Heuer telling me that UPS had finally admitted that they had lost the parcel and that they would be crediting my credit card the same day... albeit it would likely take three days to show on my statement. At this point I really didn't care about another three days, I was just happy that there was a credit coming.
By way of apology TAG Heuer offered me a discount off a future purchase or a free strap. Since I had just splurged all my watch fund on two watches I chose a spare textile strap for my WAY208C Aquaracer and that should (hopefully) be with me by the end of January as they didn't have one in stock and needed to order it from Switzerland.
I appreciate that there was a lot of money involved (believe me I was very aware of that!) and that a proper investigation had to be undertaken, but what I found frustrating and annoying was the lack of information coming from TAG Heuer prior to my email. After all, boutique or website, this is supposed to be a 'luxury shopping experience' and it certainly was not that. I'm just thankful that it wasn't a case of UPS claiming to have delivered the watch to me as that would have been even more stressful and worrisome.
To be fair to TAG Heuer though, my recent experiences of UPS (through my work) haven't been very good at all and if Beaverbrooks were using them and TAG Heuer were using DHL then it could have been a whole different story. I certainly had no problems last year when TAG Heuer were dispatching through Parcel Force. In future though, I wouldn't waste my time ringing UPS, and that's another thing...
When you follow the tracking from the TAG Heuer website to the UPS website they ask you to sign up to 'UPS My Choice' so that you can re-arrange parcel deliveries and get 'better' information from them. I did actually try to do that at one point, the problem with it is that when you try to put your address in it won't let you click on the drop down box which says 'United States', so unless you actually live in the United States it's absolutely bloody useless. I don't get why tracking for European parcels would be on a site that only caters to US citizens? Ridiculous...
And on top of that, several times I tried to visit the tracking page on the UPS website and it wasn't even working at all!
15th December 2020
By now we were expecting Jim's first parcel to arrive, but despite the Royal Mail website assuring me that they had 'handed my parcel to their 'delivery partner' (in this case Postnord) and directing me to their tracking website, Postnord weren't acknowledging receipt of the parcel and would not do so for nine days after I posted it in the UK! Sure as hell it does not take 9 days to fly from the UK to Sweden!
At this point I am going to hand you over to Jim to tell his side of the story...
16th December 2020
I decided to try calling Postnord since they should have taken over the shipment, but no updates were showing in the tracking. On my first attempt I was told I was number 227 in line and that Postnord ’will answer your call as soon as possible’. After waiting a couple of hours I tried again, this time number 267 in line! After putting my phone on speaker and waiting for what felt like forever I finally was able to talk to someone. That someone had zero information and only told me ’not to worry, the tracking will update once the parcel arrives in Sweden’. That night I drank a lot of whisky.
17th December 2020
On this day we got the first tracking update about the first parcel Rob sent. Apparently the book had now ’arrived to destination country’. Who knows what happened during the five day flight time with zero updates!
19th December 2020
This just keeps getting better... apparently there are news reports today in Swedish newspapers saying that an unknown package contained a bomb which exploded in the Postnord central in Stockholm. Would this not have been just the perfect ending to this nerve wrecking story, the watch got destroyed by a bomb! Wonder if Secursus would have covered this?
21st December 2020
One final tracking update for the book. The book had been delivered and was available for pickup at my local supermarket. This meant that we could calculate how long the delivery of the watch would probably take. Delivery of the book was supposed to be 3-4 days according to Royal Mail. It actually took a total of 13 days!
23rd December 2020
After leaving the UK 10 days earlier, we finally got an update in the tracking saying that the watch has ’arrived to destination country’. This close to Christmas we had no hope left for it to be delivered before Christmas and so it transpired...
29 December 2020
The watch spent six days in the airport before finally being on its way again. Later the same day I finally received a notification saying that the package was available for pickup! I opened the package in my car and sent Rob a photo showing that the watch had been successfully delivered! What an incredible relief for both of us. This whole journey started more than one month ago and surely lead to many worrying days for both me and Rob.
So how do I feel about the watch now that I finally have it on wrist? First of all, photos and videos don't do this watch justice at all, it is ten times nicer in reality! The dial is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I am seriously considering becoming a 'silver dial only collector'. The size of the case wears perfectly, a good mix between dressy and sporty. I was not sure about the alligator strap but now I feel it suits the watch very well. There are some minor details I would like to change about the watch and I am not a huge fan of the Heuer02 movement or the clasp, but I will leave details about this for my full review which I hope Robert will publish on the blog once I finalize it during spring.
(Of course I will!)
I know this watch was voted watch of the year for 2020 by the Council Of Considered Opinion (COCO) but I feel pretty sure that history will teach us that this is in fact the watch of the century!
Oh, and by the way, during this ridiculous journey Rob and I exchanged a crazy total of 576 messages. One thing is for certain though, we have gotten to know each other even better!
--- --- ---
Thanks Jim, I am so pleased that you feel so strongly about the watch, it would have really sucked to go through all that and then for you to open the box and be like 'meh'.
In all the chaos, I didn't even really get much time to study the CBK221B. Although to be honest I didn't really even want to take it out of the box, I only did so because I had to check it over before sending it to Sweden - can you imagine if Jim opened the box and it had a big scratch on the back? Jim said he hoped seeing the watch in the flesh would change my mind about it, but it didn't really. I did quite like the back though and that rotor looks much better than I thought it would.
What did strike me about the watch was how small it looked for a 39mm, but Jim was actually pleased to hear this as he was intending for this to be his 'dress' watch.
I honestly don't think Jim or I have the nerves left to go through this again and once Brexit happens who knows what the customs situation will be between the UK and Sweden, but I'm glad I could help a fellow TAG Heuer enthusiast acquire their watch of choice (again), even if it does have a silver dial and the dreaded fauxtina!
Of course, after all this, there was one final kick in the teeth. After Christmas someone posted a link on the Calibre 11 forum showing the CBK221B on sale on the Ernest Jones website for just £3800. At first I thought it was totally bogus, but apparently it checked out and another recent interviewee 'Imagwai' managed to snag the final piece! Great for him, of course and Jim seemed fairly sanguine about it, but I was quite annoyed... especially after all we'd been through.
TRYING TO SEND A WATCH TO SWEDEN (December 2019)
Saturday, 16 January 2021
Friday, 15 January 2021
HISTORY: Alter Ego (1999-2004)
The Alter Ego was launched in 1999 as an exclusively 'female' product range. Rumours abound that a men's Alter Ego was considered, indeed one Calibre 11 forum member claims to have in his possession a prototype case, but if true, ultimately the idea was abandoned.
The Alter Ego was only available with a quartz movement and in two case sizes, both of which came in a variety of brushed and/or polished finishes. As you would expect from a range aimed exclusively at ladies, the watch was also available in precious metals and with mother of pearl dials, diamond dials, bezels and even bracelets.
1999 ALTER EGO CATALOGUE
The Alter Ego did not feature in the main 1999 Catalogue, but there was a separate launch catalogue made which featured Helena Bonham Carter, Kristin Scott Thomas, Monica Seles and Marion Jones. Six watches were featured at launch, all of which were in the larger (29mm) case size:
WP1311.BA0750: 29mm, silver dial, brushed steel on a bracelet
WP1312.BA0750: 29mm, blue mother of pearl dial, brushed steel on a bracelet
WP1314.BA0751: 29mm, white dial, polished steel on a bracelet
WP1315.BA0751: 29mm, silver dial, polished steel on a bracelet
WP1316.BA0751: 29mm, blue dial, diamond bezel on a polished bracelet
1999 ALTER EGO CATALOGUE (alternate version)
This catalogue was much more in depth than the shorter version, containing more watches and different pictures of the ambassadors. Unfortunately I did not discover this one until I had already finished this post and so most of the watches listed in the 2000 catalogue were already shown here. There were two pieces unique to this version of the catalogue.
WP1314.FC8128: 29mm, mother of pearl dial, polished steel on a brown strap
WP1311.FC8127: 29mm, silver dial, polished steel on a red strap
2000 CATALOGUE
The 2000 catalogue introduces more models to the range, albeit the watch is still only available in the larger size. Here we see the introduction of the first precious metals and diamonds and also previous models now available on textile straps alongside bracelets.
WP1317.BA0751: 29mm, mother of pearl dial, diamond bezel on a polished bracelet
WP1318.BA0751: 29mm, blue dial, diamond case on a polished bracelet
WP1319.BA0751: 29mm, mother of pearl dial, diamond case on a polished bracelet
WP1350.BA0752: 29mm, mother of pearl dial on a two-tone brushed bracelet
WP1351.BA0752: 29mm, slate-grey dial on a two-tone brushed bracelet
WP1315.FC8216: 29mm, silver dial, polished case on a blue textile strap
WP1410.BD0753: 25mm, blue mother of pearl dial on a brushed bracelet
2001 CATALOGUE
With the 2001 catalogue we see the introduction of yet more variations on the 29mm theme, but also the first 25mm pieces.
WP1411.BD0754: 25mm, blue dial on a polished bracelet
WP1412.BD0754: 25mm, white dial on a polished bracelet
WP1414.BA0754: 25mm, mother of pearl dial, diamond bezel on a polished bracelet
WP1415.BA0754: 25mm, blue dial, diamond bezel on a polished bracelet
WP131A.BA0751: 29mm, black dial on a polished bracelet
WP131A.FC8125: 29mm, black dial on a black textile strap
WP131B.BA0751: 29mm, mother of pearl/diamond dial on a polished bracelet
WP131C.BA0751: 29mm, blue mother of pearl/diamond dial on a polished bracelet
WP131F.BA0751: 29mm, blue MOP/diamond dial, diamond case on a polished bracelet
WP131D.BA0751: 29mm, blue/diamond dial on a polished bracelet
WP131E.BA0751: 29mm, mother of pearl/diamond dial, diamond case on a polished bracelet
WP131G.FC8125: 29mm, black dial, diamond case on a black textile strap
WP1440.FC8141: 25mm, mother of pearl dial, gold case on a red lizard skin strap
2002 CATALOGUE
The 2002 sees the introduction of more new models and for the first time a selection of 18k solid gold pieces. Also of particular note is the 'River of Diamonds' WP131L, although I have to say it isn't quite as impressive as the 'River of Diamonds' S/EL which preceded it.
WP1440.FC8149: 25mm, mother of pearl dial, gold case on a white leather/satin strap
WP1442.FC8143: 25mm, blue dial, gold case on a blue lizard skin strap
WP1443.BG0755: 25mm, mother of pearl dial, gold case on a polished bracelet
WP131L.BA0755: 29mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond set polished case and bracelet
WAA1410.BA0760: 25mm, dark blue dial on a polished bracelet
WAA1415.BA0760: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond case on a polished strap
WP1444.BG0755: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond bezel/case on a polished gold bracelet
2004 CATALOGUE
The 2004 catalogue represents the last stand for this rather short-lived model, but that's not to say there weren't still more variations to be added to the range. In fact, 2004 sees a complete clear-out of all previous models and in it's place only the 25mm range with a new, simpler dial with less hour markers.
WAA1412.BA0760: 25mm, pale pink dial on a polished bracelet
WAA1413.BA0761: 25mm, pale blue dial on a brushed bracelet
WAA1416.BA0760: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond bezel on a polished strap
WAA1417.BA0760: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond bezel on a polished strap
NON CATALOGUE MODELS
These models were not featured in any of the catalogues covered previously. It is possible that some of these may have been specific to certain countries and could have been made in fairly small numbers, obviously the costly gold ones but even some of the other pieces. The orange one in particular seems very hard to find any information on and I could only find two pictures of it on the internet.
WP131P.BA055: 29mm, pink dial on a polished bracelet
WP131P.FC8150: 29mm, pink dial, polished case on a pink strap
WP131R.FC8152: 29mm, orange dial, polished case on an orange strap
WAA1411.BA0760: 25mm, purple dial on a polished bracelet
WP131H.FC8183: 29mm, mother of pearl dial, polished case on a pink strap
WP131J.FC8125: 29mm, mother of pearl dial, polished case on a black strap
WP1417.BA0754: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, diamond case on a polished bracelet
WP1416.FC8148: 25m, black dial, diamond polished case on a black strap
WP1440.BG0755: 25mm, MOP/diamond dial, solid gold case and bracelet
WP1441.FC8142: 25mm, black dial, polished gold case on a black lizard skin strap
WP1441.FC8148: 25mm, black dial, polished gold case on a black textile strap
WP1443.FC8148: 25mm MOP/diamond dial, polished gold case on a black textile strap
For me the Alter Ego really represented the 'Avant Garde' spirit that TAG Heuer often reference in their marketing material. I think it's a shame it didn't last longer and I also think it was a good move to make a range specifically for women. Right now it seems that women are rather poorly served, sure there are 108 ladies watches on the TAG Heuer website, but a lot of them are the same watch on different coloured straps and there seems to be little invention or creativity. In fact it's a fairly bland selection, save for a few notable pieces like the purple Carrera with the textured dial.
All the more reason to celebrate the Alter Ego then, and there are plenty of pre-owned pieces available at reasonable prices. The only thing you really have to look out for is condition. All those polished surfaces attract scratches like you wouldn't believe and the bracelets are prone to stretching and are difficult to size (my wife's had to go to the service centre to have a few links taken out).
The crown is badly designed as well, being polished and inaccessible - bravo! But still, the overall look is striking and still looks quite special even today, more than fifteen years after its untimely demise.
Next up will be the History of the 4000 Series
Thursday, 14 January 2021
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