Fresh from the Showcase at SwissWatchExpo if you're looking for the most value for
the dollar in a dive watch and you just can't fathom spending the kind of money
that other watch companies get for their dive watches I really want to show you
this Tag Heuer Aquaracer I think it's the best value proposition out there.
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The Tag Heuer Aquaracer is really one of the very best values out there and I love this
watch it's based on the 1978 release from Hoyer before they were Tag Heuer of the 844 dive watch
they had gotten a lot of requests over the years from private companies to make water watches of
course you know them for their racing history but this really introduced a whole new line for the
Heuer company and when they came out with the Aquaracer in 2004 it was really a a throwback
to that 844 Heuer watch but they've made so many improvements on it that this is really I think a
viable alternative even for the Rolex Submariner the Omega Seamaster the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms
those watches are all a lot more expensive than this one but the build quality of the
Aquaracer is just impeccable you're going to love what I have to show you here but we're
really comparing two different generations of the Aquaracer and then we're going to throw in the GMT
version of it at the end so these two versions the older one came out in 2015 great watch but it was
revamped for 2021 and there's a lot of very subtle differences between the two so I'm going to show
you what a lot of those differences are though between the two this one is the original from 2015
and what we see here is that this one has a cyclops bubble over the date at three o'clock so
it's got kind of that Rolex look but the revamped version in 2021 they moved the date to 6 o'clock
and the Cyclops goes under the crystal so it doesn't stick up still magnifies the date for you
the dials on these watches are just beautiful I've got the blue versions here of course they
come in other colors black and white but you can see they have a horizontal design to them
just looking at the dials the the first thing I noticed was that the 2015 version the indices
are trapezoids and on the 2021 version they're octagons the the loom is really bright either
way you get a fantastic look the trapezoids remain at the Cardinal positions but the
octagons I think make it look a little bit more like the Seamaster and the Submariner
I liked the uniqueness of the trapezoids on the the 2015 version but I'm not complaining when we
get to the text on the dial it's interesting they moved the word Aqua eraser to above the
low the Tag Heuer logo and they cleaned it up a little bit they both have the Caliber 5 movement
which is an outstanding movement in-house from TAG Heuer but the 2015 version says Caliber 5 on the
dial the 2021 version does not I'm always a fan of dials that are a little bit more minimalistic have
a little bit less going on I like the two liner Submariner better than the four liner that's just
me that's why they make 31 flavors of ice cream we don't have to all like the same thing so you
can let us know what you think but I like that they removed the word Caliber 5 from the dial
when we look at the bezel the 2015 version has a painted aluminum bezel insert where the 2021
it's a ceramic bezel and then just the design of it itself the 2015 has built-in Riders to make
it easier to turn the bezel but the 2021 they switched to a scalloped design more similar
to the Submariner but just the way it feels when you turn it the 2021 version is a very very nice
tactile feel to it it's very easy to to move and I think it's Superior so on on bezel 2021 gets the
points another design difference is in the the hands themselves if you look at the hour hand
between the two the 2021 version that Ira hands a little beefier a little thicker a little more
obvious the difference between the minute hand and the hour hand if you were using it as a dive
watch and you were deep down and you needed to read that under low light the case itself
they went from a flat sided case and the 2015 model to a version with a polished bezel bevel
between the sides and the tops of the lugs that's also a cue to the 844 from 1978. it had that same
kind of high polished bevel and it gives it a little bit more play of the light a little
bit more shine when you move it on the wrist one of the biggest pluses for me of the 2021
version is the clasp on the 2015 version you have just a regular uh two two button double trigger
clasp it's very uh reliable very sturdy it's very nice but on the 2021 version
the adjustment process on it is so easy you actually just squeeze these uh buttons in on the
sides and you can slide the bracelet in and out on the Fly it's really even a superior system dare I
say to the easy Glide from Rolex or the system that's on the Seamaster because even while it's
on your wrist you can just squeeze these buttons and move it so it's very very easy adjustments to
make the watch a little larger or a little smaller I hate feeling stuck to my watch in the summer I'm
out there at the Braves game chopping and chanting and my watch is just killing me I like to make it
a little bit looser and then in the winter I hate to feel like it's flopping all around I love to
make it a little bit smaller so 2015 2021 your choice either one a fantastic watch you might
just like the way one looks a little better than the other I will point out the lug to luck lug to
Lug distance on the 2021 is a little bit smaller about one millimeter than the 2015 so it'll fit
a wider variety of risks if you feel like the 43 millimeter size might be pushing it a little bit
for you you might go with the smaller lug to lug it's also a little bit lighter by a handful of
grams and it's also just a little bit thinner it's about a half a millimeter thinner it's enough that
you can notice the difference on the wrist so if you want it a little bit more compact a little
more efficient and easier to wear go with the 2021 if you want a little more bulk go with the
2015. now in 2022 they took all of those design elements we talked about on the 2021 and added a
GMT function so to me this is one of the greatest combinations you could have because there's always
this sort of debate you know do you want to be able to jump time zones as you travel or as you
do business with other parts of the world or do you want to dive watch and of course from the
the hands of Rolex you don't get those choices to combine them into one watch but here we have
a GMT dive watch and so this might be the best all-around version because you get really what
would be two of the most useful complications on a watch the GMT the date you also get the turning
bezel to time things for a lot of purposes I like the turning bezel even better than a chronograph
and the chronograph really just clutters everything up with the extra buttons and sub-dials
so this might be my favorite watch but the value proposition on any of these is just off the chart
because these watches are such high build quality such good movements such great bezels and the the
you can feel the build quality in the clasp and then the way you turn the bezel the movement's
great and yet the price is just fantastic you could get several of these in your collection
for what one watch from another company cost so if you type in our website on the search bar
at the top type in the word Aquaracer you'll see everything that we've got one of my favorites that
we didn't talk about today is the limited edition 844 revamp that looks a lot like the 1978 844 on
a rubber racing strap and so that's just a super cool watch I'm sure we'll cover it at some point
here on the channel but give us a call if you have an interest in any of these we'll be happy
to talk with you further about them see what we've got in stock and what we can put on your wrist.