BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Classic 'Green' Lume Dial Quartz Watch

 
372.513

I was already way behind with my posting before Watches & Wonders dropped six new TAG Heuers on us, and so posting about this when I actually bought it way back in December 2021 feels kinda strange... but there we are. I've also got another two 'Buying Experience' posts to do, and by the time this actually gets posted potentially three (if things go to plan)!

So you may remember that I picked up a black bezel, full lume dial classic Formula 1 last year (from my favourite Japanese seller Spirit*Age) but I always wanted the green one really, and it was hard to find in good condition and at a reasonable price. This one eventually showed up in great condition, but was the price reasonable? Well yeah, it wasn't too bad...

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Two Tone Calibre 5 by Wrong Time Watch

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Superdiver' 1000M Special Edition

 
WBP5A8A.BF0619

It's been a long, long time since TAG Heuer offered a watch with a 1000M water resistance rating. In fact the previous 1000M contender was the legendary 'Super Professional', a model carried over from the Heuer days and eventually retired in the 1990s. In between of course we have had several 500M watches including some very stylish and surprisingly svelte (WAK series) Aquaracers, some rather more chunky (WAJ series) Aquaracers and of course the positively tank-like 'Aquagraph' (originally the '2000 Aquagraph'): a Calibre 60 powered chronograph that had the rare distinction of being able to operate underwater thanks to the rubber shrouded pushers. 

Of course there's a case to be made that all these extreme dive watches are a bit pointless since most real divers wouldn't dream of taking a phenomenally expensive Swiss-made wristwatch diving when there's a perfectly good dive computer available, but that's not really the point is it? After all, how many Speedmaster owners are planning to visit the moon?

VIDEO: Interview with Frederic Arnault at Watches & Wonder 2022 by Watch Advisor

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 'Solargraph' Quartz Watch

 

WBP1112.FT6199

The watch world is a leaky old place, but TAG Heuer managed to keep this one under wraps right up until the day before launch and even then all we got was the name, no pictures or specs (someone managed to download a bunch of text from the Watches & Wonders website and leaked it onto the internet). Solargraph.... that sounded exciting, particularly as watches with 'graph' in the name tend to be a little unusual or special: Micrograph, Multigraph, Aquagraph...

So, of course my first reaction was to Google 'solargraph' and it told me that 'solargraphy' is 'the art of long exposure photography that captures of the image of the sun moving across the sky.  These exposures can last days, months, even years.' This was accompanied by some examples of such photography, which lead me to suspect that what was coming was probably a Calibre 5 Aquaracer with some kind of funky dial.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch by Let's Talk Watches

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Monaco Heuer 02 'Gulf' Special Edition Chronograph

 
CBL2115.FC6494

A cynical watch enthusiast might conclude that watch companies are spectacularly adept at never quite giving the public what they actually want. One such example would be the 'panda-dial' 39mm heritage Carrera that the THF Forum has been crying out for forever... but there are many others throughout the watch world, not just in the TAG Heuer universe. But it's not without good reason, because ultimately if you do give the customer exactly what they want a) what is their motivation to come back for more, and b) where do you go from there?

VIDEO: This or That Pepsi GMT (TAG Heuer Aquaracer V Tudor Black Bay) by Brent L Miller Time

 

FEATURE: Watches & Wonders 2022 Part 3: Everything Else...

 

This is the third and (thankfully) final part of our irreverent coverage of this year's Watches & Wonders show, if you missed the first two parts you can find them by clicking the links below:

Part One:

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2022/04/feature-watches-wonders-2022-part-1-tag.html

Part Two:

https://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2022/04/feature-watches-wonder-2022-part-2.html

WATCHES & WONDERS 2022 PART 3: Everything Else...

ROB: So the big news from the latter part of the show seemed to be Grand Seiko's Constant Force Tourbillon, with many people declaring it the absolute hit of the whole show. It's not something I expected to see from Grand Seiko, since it doesn't have a highly finished dial... and honestly I couldn't get all that excited about it, cos... well I know it is very clever and all that but I'm not really that keen on watches you can see through ever since I tried on that Roger Dubuis Exotourbillon and realised that I could see my hairy wrist through it... what say you Jimbo?

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Chronograph by WatchBox Studios

 

FEATURE: Watches & Wonder 2022 Part 2: Rolex and Tudor

This is part two of this year's irreverent 'Watches & Wonders' coverage, if you missed part one you can read it by clicking the link below:

http://tagheuerenthusiast.blogspot.com/2022/04/feature-watches-wonders-2022-part-1-tag.html

WATCHES & WONDERS PART 2: Rolex and Tudor

ROB: So Jim, I guess we might as well start with the most shocking release of the whole show... the left handed GMT Master II in green and black. What on Earth did you make of that?

JIM: Hahaha well I am pretty sure Rolex is trolling the market, no? I get a headache just looking at the damn thing, it looks like the girl you ended up with at 3am after your best friend got it on with the hot one you actually wanted. Do you like it? You can buy it for a 300% premium via Watchfinder and wear it on your right wrist. TAG Heuer on the left, retarded Rolex on the right. A truly genius combination.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch by Soundsoserious

 

FEATURE: Watches & Wonders 2022 Part 1: TAG Heuer

 

Watches & Wonders has taken over from Baselworld as the most important watch fair on the calendar, today we welcome back our Swedish contributor 'Jimmy 'BB58' Dollares as we take a look at the new releases brought to the show by our most favouritest watch brand...

ROB: Welcome back Jim...

JIM: Hi Rob. I'm really looking forward to this because I am totally blown away by the releases from TAG Heuer this year! What are your feelings after having a day of reflecting over the news presented yesterday?

ROB: To be honest I was pretty taken aback yesterday morning when I turned my computer on; I wasn't really expecting everything (or almost everything) to be released first thing and I certainly didn't expect six new watches from TAG Heuer. I was pretty much expecting the Gulf Monaco and the orange Aquaracer, but everything else.... wow!

The Solargraph in particular was completely out of left field, and that's one that I am genuinely intrigued by. That could well be the new Aquaracer for me, if it's a sensible price.

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquracer 200 Professional Calibre 5 by Brent L Miller Time

 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Watch

 

WG111D

It's surprising sometimes when you look back through the archives, just how infrequently watch companies step outside their dial-colour comfort zone. Sure there are green, yellow, red and copper coloured dials out there in pre-owned land, but they aren't exactly plentiful and as a consequence they aren't always the most affordable pieces to collect.

Add to this that TAG Heuer often paired unusual coloured dials with Chronometer certified automatic movements and you can see why people listing their watches on eBay have lofty expectations on price (whether or not the movements are running to COSC guidelines 25 years later, potentially having had no servicing in the meantime...). 

VIDEO: ETA 2824 / Sellita SW200 Winding Issue by Grimwood Watch Modding

You may have heard me muttering about 'issues' with watches that use the Sellita SW200 and ETA 2824 movements in the past - which includes any TAG Heuer branded as a Calibre 5 (such as my Aquaracer WAY208C and my wife's Oris Atelier). This video clearly explains exactly what the problem is and how you can minimise the issue, though when you are paying thousands of pounds for a watch you really shouldn't have to. Don't think that it is only TAG Heuer and Oris though, as the guy in the video mentions his Breitling also uses this same movement and has the potential to suffer the same gnarly fate. 

Unfortunately this third party movement issue is likely to prevent TAG Heuer and other brands from raising their game when it comes to warranties. While TAG have recently increased the warranty on their in-house Heuer 02 movement to 5 years, I'm sure the Calibre 5 models will stay at two years until a solution can be found because raising the bar to five years could potentially mean a horrendous amount of warranty work...

Thanks to Jim Dollares for bringing this video to my attention.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 Watch

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 'Orange Dial' Watch

 

WBP201F.BA0632

TAG Heuer really excelled themselves at this year's 'Watches & Wonders' watch fair, dropping six must-see models; the least compelling of which was probably this orange dial Aquaracer 300 Professional. Yes, you heard me right, TAG Heuer released an ORANGE dial Aquaracer and it wasn't even close to being the headline release, such was the quality (and surprise) of TAG Heuer's 'W&W 2022' line-up.

But by any standards an orange dial Aquaracer is a big story, after all it has been more than ten years since there was an orange dial Aquaracer available, and truthfully, that one was kinda disappointing. The WAJ1113 (released in 2010) was a nice package with its black rubber bezel and 500M water rating, but it had one Achilles heel; the dial was just too damned dark for its own good.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer at Watches & Wonders 2022 by Revolution Watches

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 200 Professional Calibre 5 Watch

 

WBP2111.BA0627

TAG Heuer Boutique / Beaverbrooks, Milton Keynes, 5th March 2022

What with the release of the Swatch x Omega Moonswatch last week and also Watches & Wonders hitting us hard with all sorts of amazing new releases (who saw that left handed green and black Rolex GMT Master II coming?) it kind of feels like the 40mm 200 Professional Aquaracers are slightly old news already... but of course nothing stays 'new' very long; no doubt in a few weeks time something else will be the 'most talked about thing since the internet started'. Besides, a good watch is a good watch regardless of whether it's trending on Instagram or not, and in any case it certainly wouldn't colour my opinion much, so lets take a closer look...

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 by Brent L Miller Time

 

SPOTLIGHT ON: A Quick Look at the New Releases from Watches and Wonders 2022

 

Rest assured there will be individual 'First Impressions' posts for all the new TAG Heuer watches once I've had a bit more time to digest the finer details (and of course complete with the usual insights and scores from the COCO Council), but today I thought I would just give a very brief overview of the TAG Heuer Watches & Wonders 2022 releases, plus one rather surprising Rolex...!

CBN2A1H.FC6512

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Kirium Quartz Chronograph

 

VIDEO: Servicing a TAG Heuer Carrera CV2110-0 by Your Watch

 

BUYING EXPERIENCE: TAG Heuer 2000 Series Regatta Chronograph

 

CK111R.BA0328

Ever since I got interested in watches I've always gravitated towards the unusual pieces, the ones a lot of people might find 'interesting' but not necessarily things they'd actually want for themselves. One perfect example of this is the oh-so 'Avant Garde' Microtimer, and another would be the various 'Regatta' chronographs that TAG Heuer have put out over the years. 

Now you might think that would mean a wealth of cheap as chips watches all for me, but of course these types of watches are produced in smaller quantities, making them difficult to find and not as cheap as you might imagine. Take this 2000 Series CK111R Quartz Regatta Chronograph for example, I think I've only come across this model 2 or 3 times in the last few years with the price generally falling somewhere between £750 and £1000.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 Day/Date by Brent L Miller Time

FEATURE: My Top Five Brown Dial TAG Heuer Watches

 
WW2116.FC6217

Okay, let's be honest, TAG Heuer doesn't exactly have an endless supply of brown dial watches from which to compile a top 5... and even though I managed to cobble together a list of about twenty five individual references there was lots of repetition with the same watch featured on a bracelet and one or two different coloured straps. But ultimately I have come up with a reasonable list of watches that while I probably wouldn't actually buy myself with my own money, I certainly wouldn't object to wearing if given to me as a present. 

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Aquaracer Calibre S Quartz Chronograph

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300M Review by Wrist Advisor

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TAG Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T 'Dubai Boutique' Limited Edition

 

CAR5A8AA.EB0262

As you may or may not know, TAG Heuer recently opened a new flagship boutique in Dubai and to celebrate they not only projected TAG related images all over the enormous Burj Khalifa skyscraper (click HERE for video) but also released this limited edition 45mm tourbillon in the colours of the UAE flag. 

GALLERY: TAG Heuer 1500 Series GMT Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: Heuer Monza 40th Anniversary Calibre 17 Chronograph by Escapement24

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Autavia 60th Anniversary Heuer 02 Flyback Chronograph

 
CBE511C.FC8280

TAG Heuer Boutique / Beaverbrooks, Milton Keynes, 5th March 2022

I'll be the first to admit that when this TAG Heuer Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronograph was announced at the start of the year it didn't exactly get me hot under the collar. I mean I liked it, but I can't honestly say that it 'excited' me to any great degree. In fact if anything it rather confused me because I had thought the Autavia chronograph was a thing of the past and the model was now firmly established as a three handed 'Pilot' watch. Bringing back the Autavia chronograph once again seemed like muddying waters that were just starting to clear, no?

But having now had the opportunity to see the CBE511C in person and also to get it around my wrist, I can honestly say that this might just be my favourite Autavia yet. Yes, at last there is an Autavia (and a readily available, production model at that) which can take the fight to the Calibre 11 limited edition and finally put to bed my regret at not buying one of those back in 2017.

GALLERY: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Watch

 

VIDEO: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Senna' Special Edition Quartz Chronograph by Edgar the Jeweler

 

ON THE WRIST: TAG Heuer Formula 1 'Red Bull' 2022 Quartz Chronograph

 

CAZ101AL.BA0842

TAG Heuer Boutique / Beaverbrook, Milton Keynes, 5th March 2022

If you ever find yourself in the MK Centre be sure to take yourself along to the TAG Heuer boutique positioned on one of the less travelled 'crossways' (and also accessible via the Beaverbrooks store on the main thoroughfare). It's not a huge store but when I visited it had a pretty decent selection of pieces, including a good sprinkling of new releases and both versions of the new Formula 1 Red Bull Special Edition.

I actually saw the rubber strap version of this watch in a jeweller's window about a week after it was released, but it took me a few more weeks to actually get it on the wrist and to be honest I probably wouldn't have tried both on but for the fact that when I asked to see it I didn't specify which one I wanted and Louise (who was excellent by the way) pulled out the bracelet version first...

GALLERY: TAG Heuer S/EL Quartz Chronograph