The Tag Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 diving replica watch will go on sale in a matter of weeks. And it looks like you have just stumbled upon a fine back-to-school present for your kid!
However, thanks to the relatively low profile of the timekeeper (the watch is just 12.1 millimeters thick,) you (or your son) can easily wear it on a daily basis without the risk of drawing too much attention to a steel hamburger on your wrist.Well, with its nicely shaped 39 mm case rated for not very impressive depths of just 100 meters, the new TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 is not a real diving watch, since, with such WR rating one might use it only for some basic snorkeling.
Although considered slightly inferior to the ETA 2892-A2 ebauche (the older caliber had some issues with its winding system,) the movement is nevertheless widely used by numerous brands to power their “entry-level” offerings.
Tag Heuer’s “Caliber 5” movement is basically just an ordinary (AFAIK, it is not a COSC-certified chronometer) ETA 2824-2 industry workhorse with some minor decoration.
Even scanning through this particular site, you may notice that the ETA 2824-2 caliber powers a great number of modern Tag Heuer copy watches, starting with the affordable Archimede Pilot T Titanium, which is modestly priced at €375 and going up to Oris Rectangular Bob Dylan Limited Edition, which is about three times more expensive.
Frankly, I do not really understand why on Earth TAG Heuer’s designers had to employ such a concept on this particular watch.
Or, as a matter of fact, on any watch.
Perhaps, IWC needed this kind of feat to somehow balance the chronograph’s busy dial. Fighting fire with fire, so to speak.
And it seems that TAG Heuer’s folks achieved quite the opposite.
The secret of success is rather obvious: the movement is quite reliable and incredibly cheap when bought in great numbers.
Well, back to our watch.
Although sporting the same general design of the Carrera family (including the easily recognizable Clous de Paris dial decoration pattern, polished baton hands with luminous substance and twelve applied hour markers instead of Arabic or Roman numerals,) the watch also features a date display window layout clearly inspired by IWC Pilot’s Watch Double Chronograph Edition TOP GUN model.
However, all things considered, this is a nice watch and it will surely be a hit, if the price is right.
If you like it, you should definitely get it: it will serve you or your son for years without major problems. All you have to do is to service it regularly and not abuse it too much. It is not a tool Tag Heuer replica watch, after all.