Formula 1 WAZ1118 stopped

V
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so I just got a new formula 1 a couple weeks ago, replacing a thirty year old professional 200m, and this morning I looked at the time only to realize the time was like 8 hours off, the battery is fine, and this has also happened a few times with my old one in the past as well - I'll set the correct time and it's fine thereafter - anyone ever have this happen or know why the watch might stop for a period of time? Also I noticed that the luminous hands/markers are barely visible if I go into a completely dark room, really only bright if I shine a light on the watch beforehand - my old one isn't terribly bright but it's thirty years old, I recall it being much brighter when I first got it.
 
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from a watch seller on ebay......I know, I know, not the best place to purchase one, but it was in new/unworn condition with tags, etc.
 
V
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honestly it's been fine aside from that and like I said it's happened a couple times with my old one over the years with no explainable cause
 
Mspeedster
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V vonbottle
honestly it's been fine aside from that and like I said it's happened a couple times with my old one over the years with no explainable cause
Did you also buy your old one from ebay?

Never had any of those issues on my F1, bought from an AD about 6 or 7 years ago. There are a lot of fakes of the F1 on ebay, complete with boxes, tags, papers and copied serial numbers etc.
 
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my old one was not from ebay, I bought it from an online dealer - it was always sent to Tag to be serviced so I imagine they wouldn't work on it if it was a fake. If this one is a fake it's pretty damn good
 
Mspeedster
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The fakes these days are so good, it's hard to tell unless you have a real one side by side in hand. But one way to check is to take the caseback cover off. If the movement is gold color, you're less likely to have a fake. But if it's silver, it's definitely a fake.

The Ronda silver colored movement is cheaper, with less jewels, not entirely Swiss Made. The fakes typically use that one. TAG Heuer always uses the Ronda gold colored version.
 
Mspeedster
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On your old one, if it's from 30 years ago, that would've been odd behavior when new back in the day. But if that stoppage was happening more recently, it's not uncommon for a very old quartz movement to do that because of age, usually a sign that the circuit or coil might be going bad. Shouldn't happen on a brand-new Formula 1 though.
 
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Mspeedster Mspeedster
On your old one, if it's from 30 years ago, that would've been odd behavior when new back in the day. But if that stoppage was happening more recently, it's not uncommon for a very old quartz movement to do that because of age, usually a sign that the circuit or coil might be going bad. Shouldn't happen on a brand-new Formula 1 though.
I don't recall it happening when it was newer, probably a couple times in the last few years. Even if it were the cheaper movement, I wouldn't expect it to stop for eight hours though.......now, could a magnet cause it to stop? I realize when I went to bed I had taken my magsafe wallet off my phone to charge the phone and I put the watch on top of it, the eight hours or so is roughly the time between going to bed and putting the watch back on
 
Mspeedster
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V vonbottle
I don't recall it happening when it was newer, probably a couple times in the last few years. Even if it were the cheaper movement, I wouldn't expect it to stop for eight hours though.......now, could a magnet cause it to stop? I realize when I went to bed I had taken my magsafe wallet off my phone to charge the phone and I put the watch on top of it, the eight hours or so is roughly the time between going to bed and putting the watch back on
That might've been the cause. Yeah, even the cheap quartz stuff shouldn't stop like that if brand new.

Your comment about the lume being weak is also what raises an eyebrow on the authenticity. But how bright the lume should be is sort of subjective. Again, without a confirmed authentic one in hand to do a direct comparison of the lume, it's hard to say.
 
flawless
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V vonbottle
I don't recall it happening when it was newer, probably a couple times in the last few years. Even if it were the cheaper movement, I wouldn't expect it to stop for eight hours though.......now, could a magnet cause it to stop? I realize when I went to bed I had taken my magsafe wallet off my phone to charge the phone and I put the watch on top of it, the eight hours or so is roughly the time between going to bed and putting the watch back on
That'll probably be it - simple way to test is do it again.

You'll also want to get your watch demagnetized at some point.

Post some pictures if you want us to take a stab at authenticating it.
 
RockBurner
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As i understand it, all lume needs "some" recharging, (perhaps not the old radioactive stuff, 😉 ), even Supaluminova will need some extra photons occasionally. It could be that your watch has been tucked under your cuff all day. (Happens to me all the time)
 
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RockBurner RockBurner
As i understand it, all lume needs "some" recharging, (perhaps not the old radioactive stuff, 😉 ), even Supaluminova will need some extra photons occasionally. It could be that your watch has been tucked under your cuff all day. (Happens to me all the time)
good point, the watch isn't always exposed absorbing light, so maybe that's all it is - when I stick it under a lamp for a few seconds it does glow pretty good in a dark room......I'll have to compare it to my other ones
 
Albert-AMG
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Edited thread title to add more descriptive information for search purposes
 
flawless
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Not saying it's fake for sure, but there are several things that make me question it - bezel numbers, markings and logo appear off, lume on the 12 looks weird, dial print below 6 and around date window + date window size/bevel.

WAZ series are a lot simpler than the CAZ, and I've not seen enough to be sure. But I'd definitely want to take a close look at the inside of the bracelet, at those little dimples. If you can post a couple of pictures of those, with the dimples in clear focus, it'd help.
 
flawless
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V vonbottle
Any other shots?
Those dimples look like the fake WAZ I saw a couple of weeks ago - somewhat inconsistent and not the right finish. I've got a genuine one at work, and will send you a picture via DM tomorrow.
 
Mspeedster
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flawless flawless
Not saying it's fake for sure, but there are several things that make me question it - bezel numbers, markings and logo appear off, lume on the 12 looks weird, dial print below 6 and around date window + date window size/bevel.
I noticed some of those same things too. The lume on the 12 doesn't look smooth and the lettering on the logo doesn't seem as crisp as it should.
F1 suspect areas 1.webp

Same with the lume on the 6. The "Swiss Made", "30", and red paint on the seconds hand all do not look as sharp as I'd expect.
F1 suspect areas 2.webp


One other difference, which may or may not mean anything in terms of authenticity is the TAG Heuer logo on the case back. I noticed that the render on the official TAG Heuer website has the old style "TAG" with arrows.
WAZ1118.BA0875_01.webp

Looking at some random pictures of the watch on the internet, most have the newer style TAG, but some also have the older style TAG like this one.
Old TAG logo.webp

But as there are so many fake F1s out there, it's hard to know which are real or not just by looking at random photos. The newer TAG logo case back could have been a running model change.
 
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