TAG Heuer And Time+Tide Bring Back The Sundowner, Now With An Automatic. But Is It Better?

The first TAG Heuer Sundowner made in collaboration with Time+Tide was one of my favorite watches since I started writing this newsletter. I was truly in love with it. It was sporty, it was tough and gruff, it came with a very cool quartz movement. It came super close, maybe the closest ever in my book, to being the perfect expensive quartz watch. TAG and T+T are now bringing back the Sundowner and they have, seemingly, listened to the people. When the original came out, there were plenty of people out there who said they loved the look and would buy one instantly, if only it was an automatic instead of a quartz. Well, here you go, the new Sundowner with a COSC-certified automatic and quite a few caveats.

The case is still sandblasted grade 2 titanium, but it has grown to 42mm wide and 12mm thick, with a lug-to-lug of 48mm. The first one was 40mm wide and 11mm thick. Water resistance goes from 200 meters to 300 meters. The 12-sided bezel now has a ceramic insert in gray with rose-colored markings, which is OK, I guess, but doesn't hold a candle up to the sensational rough bare titanium of the previous version. The crystal is sapphire, and the titanium caseback has the Time+Tide logo in relief and the edition number.

The dial is black with a sunray-brushed finish. A wave pattern replaces the horizontal grooves, and the applied octagonal indices and the hands are 5N gold-plated and lumed. The date window is gone. The Time+Tide logo is still at 6 o’clock, which I said last time we could do without, but with the date removed it actually looks decent.

Inside is the TAG Heuer calibre TH31-01, an automatic that runs at 4Hz, and has an 80-hour power reserve. It hacks and can be hand-wound. The green NATO is gone. It's replaced by a black rubber strap with curved ends that you can cut to fit, or a three-link sandblasted titanium bracelet. Both use a titanium folding clasp with toolless micro-adjustment.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 × Time+Tide Sundowner II went on sale yesterday with the titanium bracelet limited to 50 pieces, priced at $5,750, and the rubber strap variant limited to 450 pieces, priced at $5,100. The all titanium variant is all sold out, but the rubber strap version is still available. See more on the Time+Tide website.