I have just finished months of researching diving watches, and have eventually purchased the new Tag Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300m 43mm for my small 6.7” wrist. I wanted to have one high quality diving watch for my collection (I have a few cheaper ones) and it is not exactly a market with a dearth of models to choose from



Why do I want a diver as I don’t dive ? I think the appeal is the multi-use nature and ruggedness. I like a watch when traveling which I don’t have to take off for swimming, which I do a lot of. Which I can keep on for bad weather, rough conditions such as sport, and has a ceramic bezel for some protection against scratches. I find the most “scratched” place on my watches is the top of the case !!



My objective for a “high quality” diver was to have a beautiful and well finished one, which would be fun during the day, usable with a suit, but also rugged. I am also not shy in admitting I wanting some name awareness, in particular with sporting heritage. No pressure then



It was a tough choice. The new Aquaracer is not cheap, but on the other hand is not in the heady £4-£10k space. The leading theme is the design, uniqueness, tough construction and comfort. Comfort is Big in this one, and frankly I don’t think I will be able to buy a watch again without a sliding clasp adjustment.



The Aquaracer manages to be an instantly recognisable design, in a sea of me-too models, with its dodecagon bezel; on a case mixture of conventional and toneau. I like the fact that the bezel is thick, but the dial is still expansive, and despite a lot of detail, is very clear. The ceramic blue bezel, with bright and large white fonts is a major feature of the watch. The triangle lume design at the 12 o’clock point of the bezel is one of the unique features that make this piece quite special. I also find the 12 sided polished bezel has a better grip than a pure circular bezel.



The dial has the classic Aquaracer horizontal pseudo deck planks, the only other watch that I have had which uses this is the Omega Aqua Terra, which changed a few years ago from vertical to horizontal. The lume filled pips are octagons, nicely supporting the polygonic theme of the watch, with tapering oblongs at 12, 3 and 9, and a reduced pip below the date. The date is a great solution to the long running feud, pro and against cyclops. The magnifying glass extension for the date is actually below the sapphire crystal, keeping it totally flat and smooth on the surface.



The sword hands size differentiate sharply between minute and hour, and the second hand stretches right to the edge of the rehaut, with a subtle yellow coloured steel surround on the end arrow. This avoids any confusion between the second hand and the long minute hand. White half minute marks run along the edge, perhaps a bit excessive, but they do form an interesting visual barrier between the pips and the bezel. I would mention that the lume is particularly good, almost comparable with the class leading Seiko lumibrite and Tudor Black bay, if not quite as long lasting.



The case is entirely brushed, apart from the bezel surround and the fine chamfering on each top side edge, which curves nicely around the top edge of the crown guards. The crown is chunky without being oversized. It is signed and of course screw down. I find the winding action of the Calibre 5 very smooth, and the screw down as well, unlike the gritty screw down on some other diving watches I have experienced recently. The screw in medallion back has the classic Tag Heuer diving helmet logo, and is exactly aligned. It is polished on the edge but brushed in the centre. I generally prefer exhibition backs, but this is as good a closed back as any, and the alignment is a nice touch.



The case is thin for a diver, at just over 13mm. Combined with the large flat caseback, very short/stubby lugs and a vertically dropping bracelet link below the lug, makes for a great fit on any wrist, including a small one. For me, diving and pilot watches only really look good large, and it is very few manufacturers, Audemars Piguet, Seiko and Oris being three examples, that can achieve this so well. Tag Heuer now joins this club. I did look at the new 40mm, its very nice, but the 43mm just looks right to me. I was falsely led by the new “smaller” fashion recently, which led me to flipping a Tudor BB 36mm and a few other smaller watches which looked a bit too dainty after long term wear.



The mechanism is the Calibre 5/SW200. This is a great and reliable mechanism, but I think that for this price Tag Heuer should have considered chronometer certification, or at least offered it as an option. I am not too bothered about long power reserves, or in-house (whatever that means), which I find unnecessary, but this price is starting to wander into Tudor, Oris and Ball in-house territory. It is not really an issue for me, and of course, Breitling, IWC, Ulysse Nardin and Bucherer, amongst many others, offer significantly more expensive diving watches also based around this mechanism.



The bracelet is another one of the stand out features of this watch and contributes majorly to its high comfort level. It is well integrated into the watch, fully brushed and tapers sharply to the substantial clasp. The genius is of course the buckle, which has an “on the fly” adjustment. It is amazing how many butterfly clasps are still used, with no micro adjustment at all, or my BB 41mm S&G which actually has a full clasp, but no micro adjustment. Once you have worn a watch with this, like the Rolex easylink, or the Tudor adjustable clasp on the bronze BB, you really can’t go back. As my wrist expands and contracts during the day, click, and I am done! Tag even provide you with two half links, to perfectly adjust the bracelet so that only the long 1.5cm throw of the adjustable clasp is ever required.



I have two criticisms of the bracelet which prevent it being perfect. The minor one is that the middle link is not separately articulating, this would add a little to the comfort, but the elephant in the room is the horrible pin and collar system. This is not the worst one I have used, that pleasure is reserved for the Seiko Turtle which has the collars on the outer edge of the pin!! But it is close, with very stiff pin fitting, requiring a three stage extraction procedure, including a hammer. I have bent one pin already. If you are going to use knock in pins, and not the far superior screw in pin system, then at least it can be the easy insert of the Longines Spirit series, where only the last few millimetres are used to firm it up. Being cup half full, at least: 1. The adjustable buckle means you never have to adjust the links again after the first time, 2. The links will never fall apart ….



In summary, you can pay more for a diving watch, but apart from getting a more exciting mechanism, like the excellent Omega 88xx series in the Planet Ocean, perhaps more fine finishing, like the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, there is nothing that I like the look of, the construction quality or feature set more at a higher price. That doesn’t meant the new Aquracer is the best diver, it just means it’s the best for me. Its certainly the only diver that has made me excited to put it on, for a long time...

 

Congrats....thank you for your thoughts and impressions. Enjoy your watch.

 

Great write and read, congrats on the watch. My only wish is the made this one sub 43mm and no cyclops.

 

Nice, thorough review. Glad you’re enjoying the new design.

 

Congrats, nice write up, very interesting to read your thoughts.

 

Congrats! Love your enthusiasm and passion for this watch!

 

Oh maan I've been Aquaracer horny for so long now! Beautiful photos, great write-up!

Say what now! All comes down to personal preference of course but this is the first time I have ever in my life heard someone refer to a base sw200 as smooth

 

I don't think its the base, I think its the top chronometer grade, just not certified

It's also assembled and adjusted by Tag Heuer, rather then just plonked in, like IWC with the Aquatimer or XVIII, where some of the parts are also upgraded. So a Selita implementation from one manufacturer can be completely different to another.

 

Yeah sorry base was not the correct word, I meant like not modified, standard from Sellita. Do know that IWC and many other modify and upgrade many parts of the 200 but to my understanding TAG just put their own rotor on it and use the standard thing from Sellita for the rest. Either way, glad to hear that you enjoy the movement and the feeling of hand winding it

 

You are right. I don't know if Tag does much to the movement compared to IWC, but I think they do re-assemble it and regulate it. It would be interesting if anyone knows any inside info

 

Interesting to read, do we have any further details on this?

 

Paid promotion.

 

of what ?

 

Joke.

 

Some of these YouTube channels like Time & Tide (for example) who never have a bad word to say about TAG, even when they make something not so good.... it kinda got to the point where we were getting a bit skeptical about it and then one day they started putting 'Paid Promotion' on one of their videos kinda confirming what we all knew.

 

Not that I'm suggesting anything untoward here. It's a cool watch, I think I will get one sooner or later...

 

There are so many watch review channels. And so much of what is spoken is pretty meaningless. There are the reviewers that are supposed to be independent and the reviewers who work for watch shops.

Funnily enough I like the ones who are selling watches the most, like Tim Musso or Teddy Baldassarre, as they don't make any pretense to be completely neutral and they have loads of makes, in fact all the key makes, so they need to make sure they cover everything. Also it's interesting that they have knowledge of such a vast amount of watches, you can tell by the inflections in their voice, or the choice words they use, what they really think about things. At the end of the day, unfortunately, you can only judge a watch when you have worn it yourself. Which is why I have done so much flipping, to see what actually sticks. It's very easy to make me annoyed with a watch, e.g. Love the design but can never get bracelet right, etc.

So far, out of the many many watches I have had over the last years, only 4 have stuck. I actually think I am slowing down now

 

Tim has a great way of words & Teddy (apart from being very lucky see his fiancé) shows a great variety & can tell he’s a grafter. I like Bruce Williams & very friendly, Watchfinder are great but also sellers, B&J I like Adrian’s style of storytelling.

be interested to hear what has stuck & what has been flipped.

 

Tim Mosso is very interesting to listen to, but he doesn't praise everything to the skies...