Tag Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5 thoughts

[Cybertronian]

Hi all, I'm looking for some views on the Tag Heuer Aquaracer Calibre 5, and Tag Heuer in general. This would be my first Swiss watch, after years of buying cheap and cheerful 'fashion' watches which simply don't last.

I'm pretty smitten with the look of the watch, having tried one out on my wrist and it's a good size and considering I have fairly slender wrists. I'm not a watch expert besides knowing about the major players, so whether the Aquaracer has a good movement or not escapes me etc. It would be for daily use. At £1250 retail, I suspect it's at the lower end of the premium/luxury watch market but I was hoping to hear some of your thoughts.

Also, I'm aware that Tag Heuer is part of the group that owns Louis Vuitton, which raises an eyebrow for me...

Edited by Cybertronian on Thursday 29th December 12:59

[Rich n Em]

I'm likely in the minority here, but I'm not fan of the brand.

I've always enjoyed (and own a few) Heueur watches but found that when Tag bought into them and flooded the market with cheaper model quartz stuff I felt that it cheapened their status. The links to LVMH make it more of a high end fashion brand for me.

All IMO of course, but £1200 will get you a lot of watch from a better brand, don't rule out 2nd hand either...

[kazste]

Imo, there are good brand who can produce tat. As said before they do make some quartz watches but then to be fair so do patek phillipe, I think the model your looking at uses one of their own movements.
It's easy to say if you like it then buy it, and there's a lot of truth in this, but if you think it may not because life might be worth looking for a secondhand one as I would guess it will suffer pretty harsh depreciation.
Only other comments I would say is that its not a watch which to me shouts tag (if this is important to you) and does seem a little copyish of a submariner.

[TheHeretic]

I have an auto Tag aquaracer as well as a seiko auto and whilst they do look pretty similar, you can feel the difference in weight, but is the price difference worth it? I'm not sure. I could have had a bunch of seikos, g-shocks, etc for the same price, and looking back, that's probably what I would do now.

I did own an Omega speedmaster carbon fibre special edition which I lost, which was more expensive, but felt very nice indeed. I'd go down that router rather than Tag again, to be honest.

[RumbleOfThunder]

While I like Tag Heuer, I don't like their aquaracer line at all. For a diver of that sort, I'd rather stick with Longines or Oris perhaps, although the aquaracer seems to have the better movement...

[Tazza]

I may as well be the first to say it, but for that price I'd look on chronomasters for a Sinn (having owned a Tag in the past as my first "proper" watch) which is in a different league as far as quality goes (all in my vastly over-rated opinion, obviously!!)

[anonymous-user]

You said you really like that watch and the size is right then go for it.

There's nothing wrong with it, some people are a bit sniffy about TAG when compared to the older Heuer watches. This rears it's head often when we see re releases of older classic Heuer's like the Monaco or Carrera or Monza now being made by TAG Heuer as opposed to Heuer the original manufacturer. In car terms it's possibly like people saying Minis are now not proper minis since BMW bought them. It's might be true but it doesn't make them bad cars.

It might not hold it's value as much as other makes for £1200 but if you're not fussed about selling it after a year then it's not a problem.

[Cybertronian]

Thanks everybody for the thoughts and opinions - all were considered yesterday whilst I was out with the other half going from jeweller to jeweller. She could tell there was some slight doubt with the Tag and asked me why I didn't just go for the watch I've lusted after for years: the Omega Seamaster Professional Planet Ocean. She made a good point that the price has risen sharply in the last 5 or so years that we've been looking at it and that I should just get it over with if I can afford it now (just about) and so I left with this little wonder on my wrist:



Went for the 42.5mm model since I have fairly slender wrists and it felt just right. Absolutely love the little details like the seahorse on the watch back and the automatic movement is simply gorgeous! This should hopefully be the last watch I ever buy now (fingers crossed)...

[TheHeretic]

Very, very nice! Nice purchase.

[FreeLitres]

I think you went for the better watch. Enjoy!

[pastrana72]

Cybertronian said:

Thanks everybody for the thoughts and opinions - all were considered yesterday whilst I was out with the other half going from jeweller to jeweller. She could tell there was some slight doubt with the Tag and asked me why I didn't just go for the watch I've lusted after for years: the Omega Seamaster Professional Planet Ocean. She made a good point that the price has risen sharply in the last 5 or so years that we've been looking at it and that I should just get it over with if I can afford it now (just about) and so I left with this little wonder on my wrist:



Went for the 42.5mm model since I have fairly slender wrists and it felt just right. Absolutely love the little details like the seahorse on the watch back and the automatic movement is simply gorgeous! This should hopefully be the last watch I ever buy now (fingers crossed)...

i looked at the Tag too, it is nice but you have done the correct thing with the PO, that is a very nice watch and if you can afford it now, it makes sense to get it now, or you will still carry on looking at the PO with the Tag on your wrist.

I did the same thing a couple of years ago, always wanted one of these, but when I found out there were being discontinued it was time to buy one or regret it later.


Enjoy your watch, try not to buy more thats the trick.

[kazste]

First off nice watch not saying it would of been a mistake to of bought the tag, I have a few myself, but now you have a watch you seem to of wanted for a while.
Secondly however I would like you to either never post on this forum again, or to change your last post so that it no longer says you will never buy another watch as that kind of talk doesn't fly in this corner.

[Bungleaio]

Good move on the PO, much better looking than the tag.

[Spice_Weasel]

Good decision, OP

[Cybertronian]

kazste said:

First off nice watch not saying it would of been a mistake to of bought the tag, I have a few myself, but now you have a watch you seem to of wanted for a while.
Secondly however I would like you to either never post on this forum again, or to change your last post so that it no longer says you will never buy another watch as that kind of talk doesn't fly in this corner.

Don't worry, I'm also a keen G-Shock fan and can normally be found lurking in the G-Shock porn thread

Thanks again for everybody's help!

[Mr Happy]

Welcome to the club!