Tag Mercedes SLR Quartz

[opti]

Brother bought me this for my birthday, I thought it would be cool to have a beat around quartz that I can use to time my runs/rides and workouts. And here we are, Tag Mercedes SLR

My first impressions were so so. The weight and case are nice, things that were a bit meh were the dial and internal rotating rehaut , which is not as smooth as Id like it, and slightly moves around in there.

Naturally, the first thing to do is have a look inside. The rear cap is fixed by 6 screws. The cap itself is very good, nice, heavy and solid. The engraving itself is also quite good. problem I had was the 2 of the screws just turned and didn't actually bite into the thread making them useless, infact as of writing one of them has fallen out and is now lost.

Cap off, we have a quartz movement, with a pretty tight plastic spacer ring jammed in there too.

Case is very solidly built, feels good and looks very good. There is a purple tinge to the AR coating but it was a challenge to photograph. Some people dont like it but I actually think the purple reflection looks pretty cool.

When you take the band off though and look between the lugs, well, not the best finishing.

The pushers come in at an angle due to their design. In the pic below you can see how exposed they are when pushed, no gaskets no nothing, this is definitely not one for the pool guys. Id advice keeping it away from water as much as possible, it will probably handle washing your hands but that's about it.

I guess you can say ahh you dont see between the lugs, but oh, what is this? Yes that's a chinamens fingerprints all over the hour markers. I managed to polish them off with soem cotton buds and now they sparkle quite nice as seen in the other photos. Another thing I find irritating is the black chrono part of the dial. The black extends under and a little beyond the chrome ring around it. Its a shame that there is no love for quartz models

Detailed picture of dial with markers cleaned and in the case. 3 oclock subdial is a simple 24 hour clock, 6 o'clock subdial constantly counts seconds, and the 9 o'clock counts the minutes when you start the chrono.

Onto some wrist shots shall we...

The watch is fairly thick and sits high, which I really like.

its 45mm wide. This is on my 7.5 ~ 8 inch wrist.

Tried it some leather to see how it would look.

Lume is pretty much stranded rep lume. It glows a cool aqua green, while not terribly bright it does seem to last, or maybe my room is just very dark..

Comparing lume to a seiko dial (seiko left, slr right)

Conclusion:

Despite its many flaws, I still like it, Im being critical because I don't want to give anyone false expectations. It really does look great on the wrist and feels pretty good, better than my photos. The rubber strap is fairly comfortable and the clasp shat me off to begin with but its come good now. It has a great sporty look and feel. Its a shame that quartz doesn't get any love from the rep makers, I'm sure the 7750 version doesn't suffer from a lot of these issues.

Edited March 31, 2010 by opti

[castlemountain]

Conclusion:

Despite its many flaws, I still like it, Im being critical because I don't want to give anyone false expectations. It really does look great on the wrist and feels pretty good, better than my photos. The rubber strap is fairly comfortable and the clasp shat me off to begin with but its come good now. It has a great sporty look and feel. Its a shame that quartz doesn't get any love from the rep makers, I'm sure the 7750 version doesn't suffer from a lot of these issues.

its 45mm wide. This is on my 7.5 ~ 8 inch wrist

Good job, opti - thanks for the effort

I really like these SLRs and think I might get one. Also nice with the white leather.

However I have a 7" wrist and wonder if it is too big.

Is that 45mm east/west on the outside of the casing (not just outside of the bezel)?

Could you please measure north/south from end of lug to end of lug?

[By-Tor]

Awesome review. Thanks for this, enjoyed it a lot!!!

[deniz21]

wow very cool my friend , great review.

and you know what this watch looks so hot on the gator

wear it well my friend

[opti]

Awesome review. Thanks for this, enjoyed it a lot!!!

Coming from the master reviewer himself

Thanks Bytor

castlemountain Ill measure the height tonight, the 45mm width is measured from the outside if the case, not including the crowns. It wears much smaller than a 45mm Planet Ocean though, I think this is because the face is smaller and the case tapers towards the top. So it sorta feels a bit more like 42mm ish

[opti]

Thanks Deniz \

hmm cant edit my firstpost, but Im adding some bonus pictures from the Australian Formula (was there last week)

Here is the slr, with a Mercedes-Mclaren F1 in the background (scored some pit passes), they had an F1 car, Vs V8 Super car vs Mercedes AMG. They gave the other cares a head start ofcoarse but the F1 still smashed them both.

And no F1 is complete without some scantily clad women.

[castlemountain]

castlemountain Ill measure the height tonight, the 45mm width is measured from the outside if the case, not including the crowns. It wears much smaller than a 45mm Planet Ocean though, I think this is because the face is smaller and the case tapers towards the top. So it sorta feels a bit more like 42mm ish

Thanks a lot, opti As you say it wears smaller, that is really the details I would like to know.

Looks like you had a nice time at the Australian Grand Prix, love the pics - especially the one with the girls

[gran]

Great input

Thank you opti

Gran

[cornerstone]

That's a great review - thanks! (With extra points for scantily clad women and race cars )

A lot of "bang for the buck" - it's good to hear.

[maxman]

If I was to purchase a Tag and Indeed I might, It would be one of the SLR series. I have always likes the SLR and what they represent.I would have to go with the 7750, but the quartz Is a great everyday "beater", like you said. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort, very nice review. Mike

[jmb]

I had an a21j version of one of the Mercedes SLR models (or maybe a fantasy) before I switched over to all Rolex and Tudor. It wore nicely and looked nice.

[dennish]

I've been trying to find information on the gen 2007 SLR Quartz, and it looks like they were all automatics. I'm thinking this quartz model (that's now being sold) is a fantsy watch. Anybody know. I wanted to get one for fun and because I drive a Benz. My interpretation of this great review is that the workmansip is kind shoddy also.

[opti]

Some colors are fantasy as far as I know. Workmanship is not the worst, but just somethings have not been finished as nice as they could have. The problem also is that with the quartz jobs the watch operates differently a bit, the chrono counters are not accurate. The minute counter should be 30 mins, not 60. And at the 3 clock chrono it should be an hour counter going up to 12, on the quartz its just a 24 hour clock.

If you really love the watch, its probably worth going the step up for the 7750, if your just curios and like the design but don't mind that its a bit inaccurate you could live with the quartz.

As is the way, its more about you than what other people think about the watch. Others will most likely react the same for both models, but its you that has to look at it everyday.