TAG Heuer Men's CV2A11.FC6235 Carrera Calibre 16 Swiss Automatic Chronograph Watch
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Customer Experiences
I don't think the other reviewer even owns this watch. Sounds like he is commenting purely based on the specs and pictures. I'm not an expert on watches but I do know a lot about them and currently have in my collection a Rolex SubC, Panerai PAM 111 and now the TAG Heuer Carrera Day/Date. Though not a Breguet as mentioned before it is a work of art and is currently running at +3 seconds a day which is well within the COSC standards of -4/+6 seconds/day (TAG Heuer Calibre 16 movement isn't COSC Certified). My Panerai PAM 111 (modified ETA 6497 movement) runs +5 secs/day and it is COSC Certified and my Rolex SubC (in house manufactured movement) is by far the most accurate at +5 seconds/month and is also COSC Certified. I've purchased all my other time pieces from an Authorized Dealer and normally wouldn't recommend buying one from the grey market like Amazon but since they had this particular model in stock (see note below) and for a great price I decided to take a chance. Although, it doesn't come with a manufacturers 2 year warranty (like you'd get from an AD) Amazon does provide their own 2 year warranty and their customer hasn't let me down yet.
TAG Heuer/Carrera Calibre 16 Background:
I had always liked the sporty look of the Carrera but TAG Heuer has gotten a bad wrap lately because of their marketing. Everyone knows who they are so people don't feel like it's an exclusive brand anymore. This is where the novice watch collector would be dead wrong as this watch actually uses the tried and true ETA/Valjoux 7750 chrono movement (TAG Heuer brands it the Calibre 16). This movement is the workhorse of the automatic chrono industry and has proven itself to be extremely accurate and rugged since it was introduced in 1974. This is the exact same movement found in a variety of Swiss watch manufacturers ranging from $1K-$10K in price like IWC, Breitling and Omega just to name a few. The difference? Each watch manufacturer buys the movements dissembled from ETA and makes their own modifications and assembles them for quality control and branding. The best part is every watch technician knows this movement so servicing it if/when something goes wrong can be done locally instead of shipping it back to Switzerland and waiting 6-8 weeks to get it back.
TAG Heuer Carrera Day/Date vs IWC Portuguese Chrono:
Personally, I was on the fence about purchasing this Carrera Day/Date (a lot more classy looking than the standard 41mm Carrera Date) or the white dial IWC Portuguese Chrono (very classy). So you could conclude that I was looking for a classy looking automatic chrono watch with a croc leather strap and although I'm talking about the 43mm day/date a lot of what I say below can hold true for the 41mm Calibre 16 Carrera's as well. Both the IWC Portuguese Chrono (not the Portuguese Auto non-chrono) and TAG Carrera Calibre 16 have a modified ETA/Valjoux 7750 movement I mentioned above and both bring their own style and class to the table. Its worth mentioning that the IWC ETA/Valjoux 7750 movement uses 31 jewels whereas the TAG Carrera Calibre 16 uses 25 (IWC replaces some metal bearings with jewels but neither are COSC Certified). The IWC grey market price is $6,600 whereas the TAG above is $3,168. Money wasn't the issue for me but it is kind of nice to save $3,432 and use it towards my next purchase of a Breitling Navitimer Caliber 01 (first in-house movement and 2mm larger than standard Navitimer). So it came down to functionality and personal preference. The IWC was smaller at 41mm and I prefer slightly larger dials with the exception being my Rolex SubC (most comfy watch I own). The IWC Portuguese Chrono has no luminescent dials and the chrono only has two dials (no chrono hour dial) that will only allow you to time up to 30 minutes whereas the Carrera will go up to 12 hours. The IWC has no date and the Carrera has both the day and date. Also, the IWC has a solid metal case back whereas this current model Carrera has a Sapphire case back (more on this below in my note). So although the IWC is a beautiful time piece and I will own one someday I decided to save a few grand and snatch up this beautiful Carrera Day/Date. They both looked great on my wrist at the AD and both would look great with casual or suit attire but in the end it was all about functionality for me. I wanted a rugged, reliable chrono that could be dressed up or down and anywhere in between and that's exactly what I got.
Note: One of the biggest reasons I pulled the trigger now on the Carrera instead of the IWC was due to the fact that TAG Heuer has decided to change to a solid steel case back on ALL Calibre 5,6,7 and 16 Carrera models including this one (Calibre 16). They will no longer have the sapphire crystal case back as TAG Heuer want's to separate its ETA/Valjoux movement models from their current in-house manufactured movements like the Carrera Calibre 1887. This is a rolling change so ones Amazon sells its last 3 watches above they will all have a steel case back. My AD wasn't even able to order one with a sapphire back.
Quick Comment - NEVER BUY A ROLEX FROM A GREY MARKET DEALER!!! It will not be recognized by Rolex as real no matter what. Since they make all their own movements in-house you have to mail it directly back to Rolex to be repaired. If anything were to happen to the movement they would refuse to fix it. This is the only Swiss watch manufacturer I've heard of doing this but it seems to work since most reputable internet dealers don't offer Rolex watches or warranties if they do happen to sell them. Their movements are a lot harder to fix and they keep and control all the parts.
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