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Review of Tag Heuer Carrera Day/Date 43mm


P4GTR

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Review TAG Carrera Day/Date

After recently selling my gen Calibre6, I had to update the watchbox to show some TAG representation. A visit to the AD to see the Carrera oversized 43mm Day/Date wound up making me loony in love. I made a b-line back home to get one on its way to me from one of our trusted dealers. After probably driving Mary nuts, this came to me.

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The watch is extremely close to gen. Two things stand out from the gen counterpart. The tip of the G in TAG is flat instead of arrow headed on the dial emblem, and the screws in the movement are blued on the rep. Personally, I like the blue screws, and the emblem doesn't bother me. These are so minor, the only people that would ever be able to call this watch out, have a membership here. If you were inclined, you could hunt down a replacement emblem on ebay, they pop up from time to time, and the screws can be replaced with chrome non-blued versions at service time. Nice!

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The fit and finish is remarkable. All of the numbers on my dial are perfectly lined up. The day/date wheel lines up perfect. My chrono needles all line up perfectly, straighter than the gen needles were on the watch at the AD!

I've had a lot of PM's since this review, asking what to watch out for on the reps, QC wise. I urge you to purchase this from a dealer that will send photos of the exact watch you will receive, and look at these key areas in particular. Here is a list of the common variety of problems I've seen on some of these reps:

- Crooked numbers on the hour markers. The 1 in the "15" at the 3 '0 clock position is notoriously crooked, for example.

- The AR being too light in hue. Gen has a deep blue AR, typical TAG Heuer hue. Some reps are coming with weak AR.

- Small chips in the paint around the subdials.

- Poor day and date alignment.

- Chrono and subdial needles set exactly to 0.

- Micro-adjust lever should not be missing from the balance bridge. I've seen this on a few.

Moving on... The bracelet is sharp and needs a little tune up, but the markings are craftsmanship are excellent. I wet sanded the inner surface edges, than used my bracelet rattle fix which gave the bracelet a soft satin-like fit and finish. I can't believe its not gen. The pins in the bracelet were easy, which made resizing it the same. End links are decent, an excellent fit between the lugs, however gen end links are a little flatter on the little polished center areas, the reps are a little round and puffy. You could sand these or buy gen endlinks for about $80 if you were inclined. I think for the savings, I will sand them flat then re-polish them, since the fit and finish is otherwise excellent. Minute details, but I want to point out everything no matter how big or small.

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Again, it is all in the details. The inner surface of this last bracelet link was unfinished and rough looking. I took a moment to sand and polish it to a more gen like finish.

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Lovely AR. The gen has strong blue AR, the rep looks spot on.

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Beautiful watch. Perfect size for just about anything. This thing has presence.

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Crown and pushers reproduced with the highest quality.

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Awesome feature, the ability to admire the beautiful 7750 movement. Rotor is correct to gen.

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Black leather strap with rep Deployant.

*It was 11:30PM, so the date had begun to roll over. It is not an alignment problem.

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I haven't found any aftermarket straps that are as nice as the gen TAG versions. I would recommend purchasing the TAG leather strap (~$100), to go with the rep buckle. This strap pictured, is from Tango252 on Ebay. I found it way too thin, it slips out of the deployant catch.

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Wears very comfortable. Nice height due to a perfect case thickness. 43mm feels just right on my ~7" wrist. The watch looks larger than 43mm due to the oversized dial/crystal against a less thick bezel.

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Brilliant (review and the watch).

I will add this to the TAG Guide asap. Thanks for takin' the time, it was fantastic read.

:good:

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That is a great looking TAG :thumbsupsmileyanim: cool with the AUTOMATIC and CHRONOGRAPH around the seconds dial

Happy Timekeeping

Gunnar

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Great review and pics! I was in doubt between this and a Skyland V2, and you just made me spend more money soon in both of then.

I saw some 21j rep of this carrera here and it looks little cheap. This one feels better? I mean, the finish, the "weight"?

Cheers and again a wonderful review.

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Great review and pics! I was in doubt between this and a Skyland V2, and you just made me spend more money soon in both of then.

I saw some 21j rep of this carrera here and it looks little cheap. This one feels better? I mean, the finish, the "weight"?

Cheers and again a wonderful review.

The watch is very heavy. It feels, like a gen. There's no other way to put it. I've held both recently, and theres no difference. Once you give the bracelet some TLC it is excellent. The watch looks fantastic on both bracelet and leather, with its classic handsomeness. 21j would defeat the purpose for me at least. The skyland was my favorite watch. Now that I own this Carrera it's a hard choice. Can't go wrong with either.

Thanks everyone! :)

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The watch is very heavy. It feels, like a gen. There's no other way to put it. I've held both recently, and theres no difference. Once you give the bracelet some TLC it is excellent. The watch looks fantastic on both bracelet and leather, with its classic handsomeness. 21j would defeat the purpose for me at least. The skyland was my favorite watch. Now that I own this Carrera it's a hard choice. Can't go wrong with either.

Thanks everyone! :)

Thanks for the info! It will be my next purchase for sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congrats on the new watch.

I love this Tag and have really been considering it, but I've hesitated because I know the numbers can be misaligned (on some I've seen).

Did Mary pick the watch out for you and look out for any issues? Good to work with?

I appreciate the info. This rep ain't cheap, so would hate to get something i couldn't wear.

Take care,

Z

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Great review, thx!

How are your bezel numbers aligned? Are the 60, 240, 120 and 80 perfectly aligned with the triangular markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock?

The 240 is about 0,2mm off on my watch, the others are perfect. I looked around for gen pics and found several where the 120 marker seems to be a bit misaligned. Strangely, it's always the 120 on the gens.

Cheers,

W.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stunning!

I have been waiting for a review on this one, as I originally planned on going gen. Now it seems the money has other places to be spent, so I'm happy to see they have pulled it off!

...then used my bracelet rattle method to fix the feel...

Is this method described somewhere?

(I sent a mail to Mary last night :) )

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Walked by a store today, and saw this shining in the window under a poster of Dicaprio :) Couldn't resist walking inside and try it on. Slid my PAM111 rep down my pocket, to not have the shop owner ask to many questions... I loved the way it looked on my wrist, so sent a mail to Mary when I got home, and finally pulled the trigger. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Great looking watch there, thanks for the post. Trying to decide between this model and an Aquaracer chrono myself. Noob question but who is Mary/what is her site? Id really like to have my particular watch picked out for correctness and get pictures of it before I buy, Im hoping she will do this for me? Thanks guys!

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Great looking watch there, thanks for the post. Trying to decide between this model and an Aquaracer chrono myself. Noob question but who is Mary/what is her site? Id really like to have my particular watch picked out for correctness and get pictures of it before I buy, Im hoping she will do this for me? Thanks guys!

mary = watch international

i just ordered the same watch here from her, she sent all the QC pics and shipped very fast. i highly recommend her!

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  • 8 months later...
  • 3 months later...
Does the DayDate Chrono have the correct case size of 43mm now?

Until 2009 the rep still had same case like 41mm Carrera Date Chrono...

So did they correct it?

regards

According to the dealers websites the latest versions of the day date are 43mm buddy

Edited by The_Rymeister
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Guys I know this is an older thread, however I REALLY like this watch and want to purchase it. This will be my first rep, and I’m still a little nervous about the whole rep world buying process. Is Mary the only dealer with this quality rep or do all the dealers get the same reps from the same factory? Also what is her site and is she still a trusted dealer I was not able to find her name in trusted dealer area.

After doing some more research I located another thread (newer 2011) with the same watch from Joshua. So I know Mary is not the only dealer with is rep. I also found things to look for during QC of the watch.

So I would like to update my questiion with a new one. Being a new at this is there a trusted dealer easier to deal with over others; and yes i know all the trusted dealers are good but its so many things that can go wrong and I just want it to be right if I will shell out $400

Edited by thamayor214
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