Ahh, I see. You put the warranty booklet on the top. It's a similar color to rest of the background, that's why it looks squared off.

 

@Mspeedster -- you had an interesting posting on Instagram regarding the "first year" (early) Formula 1 watches, which used the ESA 965.313 movement. Let me ask the obvious question -- Do we believe that the "TAG Heuer 3.86" marking is providing a date for the movement? I would assume that this is the "Rolex Style" dating, with the "3" indicating "third quarter". What do you think?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

and here's the ETA 955.412 movement . . . dated 1.88

 

Good question. Like yours, my first year '86-'87 F1 has the same ESA movement, dated 3.86. Although I believe I bought it sometime in the first half of '87. My other F1s with the updated ETA movement are marked 3.90 and 4.91. Which makes me suspect it might actually be quarters. I'll ask my watchmaker, who's serviced many F1s, if he knows if the marking is the month vs. quarter. He's the one that told me after the first year, TAG switched to the ETA.

Here's my Instagram pic, for those who might be interested.

 

Surely that would indicate the time the movement was made rather than when the watch was made, no?

 

Correct.

It's not the 3.86 marking on my movement that indicates it's a first-year run, it's the movement itself being an ESA. In addition, @Snowy commented on my Instagram post that the order is actually ESA first, then Ronda, then ETA in the Formula1 Series 1.

 

@Snowy gave me permission to share his early F1 with the Ronda movement. He believes it's the Ronda 515 but doesn't know the year.

 

My watchmaker (@TAG1000Diver.com) got back to me on the movement dates. He believes it's the month. As he's seen them go from 1.XX to 12.XX.

Also, @Snowy's theory on the Ronda is that at some point TAG Heuer wasn't able to get the ESA movements in sufficient quantities to meet demands of the popular F1 and used the Ronda as a stop gap. Then redesigning the watch to accommodate the ETA movement.

However, @TAG1000Diver.com offered another possibility, that 3rd parties might've used the Ronda to repair old F1's with ESA movements, because new replacement ESA movements are not readily available. He's only seen the ESA & ETA in the watches he's worked on.

 

After checking the specs, I don't think it can be the Ronda 515, because it's too large.

However, I did see that the Ronda 705 is listed on the TAG Heuer website under their vintage Formula 1 page. (Which I believe leveraged DC's Calibre11.com source material.) The Ronda 705 is approx. the same size as the ESA and ETA movements listed. Although I know my ESA is a 965.313, like Jeff's, not the 965.312 stated below.


I do know that the ETA is not interchangeable with the ESA. The hands and the dial's backside pegs will not fit from one to the other. That's why an ESA movement is a clear sign of an early first run F1.

 

This topic has already been beaten to death. However, Hodinkee's Malaika Crawford give's a refreshing view of how young people buy things at the 31:36 mark. Which is where the video should start if I've set the time correctly in the url.
Q&A – Cartier, TAG Heuer x KITH Formula 1, Auctions, And More | Hodinkee Radio (youtube.com)

 

She has a very peculiar accent Can anyone place it for me?

 

Somewhat forced home-counties* "upper-class" English.


* Home counties are the ones that surround London: Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent.

 

At least she pretty much admits to being obnoxious from the start.

 

It’s not so much an accent as an affectation.

 

As a follow up, that hot pink one did sell at its $1400 asking price.

 

I've now had an offer of £710, but from an overseas buyer with 4 feedbacks. So, no thanks.

 

That's not far off from your £9XX asking price, why not counteroffer? I don't see your listing anymore; did you take it down?

 

Popped into the Oxford St store today (as you do), and naturally they were "sold out" of Kith F1s. I did score the Kith F1 catalogue, and an interesting conversation with the sales guy where it was intimated that next year might be worth waiting for......


I also happened to drop into the Swatch store.....
But will post elsewhere about that.

 

Nice that they gave you the booklet. Those have been selling for a premium on eBay too.

The TAG Heuer UK website actually shows Ronnie as available at the Oxford store, but the blue & green as unavailable. The website must not be up to date.

 

I contacted the guy who offered 550 and he upped his bid to 700. He is in the UK and has good feedback so I went with him.