Start ‘em young

Last week I was looking for some papers through our safe when my almost 7 year old son sitting by my side screamed “stop” and immediately zeroed in on an old TAG Heuer Formula 1 from the early 2000’s.

He asked “is that your watch when you where a kid like me?” at which point I vaguely remembered receiving it as a gift but only wearing it once or twice because it was too small compared to my at the time favorite Formula 1 chronograph.

After the WIS ritual of showing him all the watches that will eventually become his as he gets older, I asked him if he want’s the watch now with the condition that he takes good care of it…

Once he realized I was serious and asked me to put it on his wrist, he stormed out of the room to go show his mother and younger sister (who is slightly pissed she didn’t get a watch and asked for a pink one) of how proud he is of his new “real” watch.

Thanks to Simone at the Miami Design District Boutique, it’s currently in transit to the service center in NJ for maintenance and a new battery (hope the dead battery didn’t spill acid all over the internals). Here are a couple of pics before it was sent out.

Very nice story !

Thanks for sharing.

I also start my daughter young, perhaps too young

Notice the black dial one is carrera lady.

My father's passion for watches was what got me into the hobby and sharing an interest like that is awesome 😀

A modern F1 will be an excellent gift for your son when he turns 10 😎

Awesome @miula
I'm also looking for a watch for my 7yo son. I was looking at Swatch and Hamilton but a colourful F1 is a great idea actually! This is a ladies size no doubt?

Looks like it, the mens size is 38mm which is pretty large for a little wrist. These are a great deal as the mens ones are much more popular than the women so you can snag there for a steal in really good condition. Ive done so for my girl, and now we have matching F1s with the luminous dial. They are such fun watches.

I've always liked the tradition of gifting a birth year watch. That would be awesome to see as well. I've got time before I figure out what I will do for my future son or daughter. 👍

I am not 100% sure but it measures 33mm so I would assume it is a ladies sized watch, my vintage F1 chronograph is 38mm and still way too big for his small wrist...

It's a shame they don't produce the smaller Formula 1 in 33mm since it is a great fit for kids although I do understand most people are not as demented as I am (and a few others) to give a child a relatively expensive watch vs. the usual plastic variety when most kids don't even like to wear watches in the first place...

Inspired by @miula I just bought this one for my sons 8th birthday coming up in May.



It's 36mm without crown, similar to the 1000 diver my wife wears. I fitted that one on his little wrist and it fits fine. I'll only remove the TH band and replace with a velcro. He can have the TH band when he's a bit older.
When I fitted the 1000 he said: 'am I getting a Heuer?' I said: 'no way, you might get a Tag Heuer, with a Heuer crown' 👍
Now I kinda want a similar F1 for myself 😉

Great guide to the F1 by DC by the way, very helpful during my quest!