Handsome, functional, very readable
Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.8 out of 10
Created: Dec 26, 2008
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I've had my Aquaracer for a short while now and I really love it.
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br /This is my second Tag and I'm looking forward to not having to buy batteries every 8 or 9 months, since this watch is "automatic" and should self-wind with regular wear.
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br /Some have mentioned that the watch will need regular maintenance (perhaps every year or two) to maintain the automatic mechanism. This wasn't mentioned to me at the point of sale. I suspect I will just let it go and see how long it runs without problems.
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br /The watch itself is really beautiful, one of the nicest looking Tag's I think.
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br /The blue background is not a solid blue, it looks like metallic blue with tiny gray or silver dots creating a very tiny grid-work. The result, to my eye, is that the blue background takes on different shades of deep blues depending on the light and the viewing angle. All these colors have a beautiful, and lustrous effect to them.
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br /The dial is very easy to read. That was one of the reasons I was attracted to the watch. No extra dials or gizmos to confuse your eye, just nice big hands and nice big marks on all the hours.
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br /The glow-in-the dark material, which is implemented as tiny strips centered in the silver hour marks, gives off a very faint greenish color by day. To me this is a very beautiful contrast with the blue background.
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br /The crystal, which is synthetic sapphire, is very clear and I love the anti-glare aspect of it. I hope it as anti-scratch as I have been lead to believe. Apparently it is only scratchable by diamonds or certain cutting materials which one should not normally encounter.
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br /I teach aerobics and wear this watch during class. It gets lots of waving around, bumping, and quick-stop impact during various exercises and so far it seems none the worse for wear. I have not yet tested it under water... honestly I'm a little worried about doing so. Other expensive "water resistant" watches I have had have proven to not be so resistant afterall, and I'd hate to mess this watch up.
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br /The band is very comfortable and it has what I would call a double latch mechanism, which theoretically should lessen the chances of the watch unlatching and falling off your wrist.
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br /The watch is not cheap, but is less so than many Tag's and comparable watches. It the favorite of all my watches now. I have 4 in total that were all priced over $1,000.00, just to give a frame of reference.
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br /I'll create a new post in a few months or years after I can see the longevity of the watch.
a handsome hunk of (seemingly) very reliable and durable swiss bling
Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Jun 26, 2008
Thanks for your feedback
Since I do, in fact, use reviews like this to aid my decision making, I decided to write one. I needed a watch, and, frankly, since I'm 38, built like Jamie Bamber (hence, not a hipster), fairly well educated (Ph.D. in English), straight, single, and living in NYC, I figured it should be an impressive, trendy watch. Previously, I'd been wearing a 66 yr old tiny Art Deco (arabic numerals) wind-up Movado my dad had worn and had given to me (don't cry; he's still alive and wearing a Rolex); however, that watch is a family heirloom, and I truly feared I'd destroy it either at the gym or at home (I'm a bit of a klutz around my sink). When searching amazon, I granted myself a 1k budget. However, I wanted a Swiss automatic watch that I felt sure could take all sorts of abuse. I can't swim, so I'll probably never go diving. But I do shower two or three times a day, sweat copiously (and work out almost daily, running and lifting, for an hour or more), and wash seemingly endless sinkfuls of dishes (I eat six meals a day, most of which I make at home). Furthemore, I liked 'The Bourne Identity'. Truth is, I wanted an Omega Seamaster Automatic, but that watch was several hundred dollars beyond my budget. So, I confined my search to TAG Heuer. They make some beautiful watches. I considered buying a Link, because I like the bracelet, but with my budget, I could only afford a quartz Link, and even then the price would be a reach. I almost bought the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Automatic with the dots for numbers and the black bezel, but I decided not to buy a watch that looked so very sporty, and I thought that a plain steel bezel would show fewer scratches. Also, I didn't like how visible the numbers seem to be on that model's bezel (Also, w/r/t a few other models of TAG Aquaracer: I don't ever wear any green, so I ignored all the TAG's whose logo contains green). Anyhow, the watch I bought, this one (which cost me 1135 before tax and s/h), is really handsome. It's an automatic, so it does run fast. It runs ten seconds fast every 24 hours, but bear in mind, I run two miles every day (sometimes sprints), lift and drop heavy dumbbells often, and do about 350 crunches a day. My point: The watch gets shaken a lot. I've left it in a bowl of water (and put that bowl under a running faucet to simulate a leisurely swim) for an hour without any adverse effect. The date changes at 12:01am. The thing is heavy, but the weight feels nice, manly. The blue of the dial is a light navy, but dark enough to be more sober than festive. In bright sunlight, the blue looks slightly metallic, and in low lamplight, it's easily mistaken for black. In partial or angled sunlight, the blue becomes graduated, dark around the far rim and shades lighter the closer to the side toward the light. The lume is very strong, and because the crystal is so clear and because the metal hour markings and hands are wide enough, the watch can be read in quite low light (even reflected light). The watch looks both sporty and serious, a little commanding even (it's alpha without being at all douchey). It's a watch I'm proud to wear now, and can imagine being happy to wear when I'm 45. Also, I should say, I wanted a watch that nobody would suspect is a replica. As an unpublished novelist living in Brooklyn, a guy who just wears old 7faM jeans and a black t-shirt (and who rides the subway!), I feared that an Omega (of any sort) would instantly be perceived as a replica, even if it wasn't one. I searched the internet for TAG replicas, and, apparently, while the Link and TAG's more expensive models have been replicated, there are very few Aquaracer (quartz or automatic) replicas floating around. An Aquaracer is sufficiently affordable that it's not regularly replicated. As for my watch's effect on people, I just got it, and I'm a hermit, so the only people who have really obesrved it are the two guys who work at the jewlery shop near my apartment (the shop also sells watches: Movado, Raymond Weil, and Briel) at which I had my bracelet adjusted. Both guys said "Wow. Nice watch. That's a TAG. Nice, Man. Where'd you get it?" In the past few months, I've walked past Keanu Reeves, Claire Danes, Parker Posey, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (sp?) on the street (it is NYC, after all). If, in the future, anybody like that stops to chat with me expressly because she admires my watch, I'll return to this review and add an addendum. If this happens with Danes, I'll send TAG Heuer a letter of appreciation. Does anybody have Evangeline Lilly's phone number? I've got a TAG now; I'm ready to sculpt my destiny.