This year, theTAG Heuer news at Baselworld 2016They have been more TAG Heuer than ever. TAG because it recovers that segment that should never have abandoned, that of the first “good” watch for a public that is emerging from adolescence (assuming that this public is still interested in watches that only tell the time) and Heuer because the genius Biver has come up with the unoriginal – but effective – idea of recovering the catalog of classics with the Monza blued in black, although it is true that he has not gone as far as putting a type 11 or 12 caliber on it with the crown opposite the pushers as in the original.
The opinion of distributors and points of sale is practically unanimous: TAG Heuer once again has an important weight in its sales while leaving behind the pressure from the brand to reach objectives that with the available catalog were revealed to be unattainable. Once again, Jean Claude Biver takes the bull (red, I'll comment later) by the horns and turns TAG Heuer around like a sock to put it on the path of best-sellers that it had lost. At the end of 2014 he took full control of the brand (he was already responsible for the watch section at the LVMH group since April) and was presented at Baselworld 2015 with the announcement of the first smartwatch (sorry, “connected watch”) made in collaboration with Intel and Google, that's nothing. At the same time, he dismantled the space laboratory that his predecessor Jean-Christophe Babin had created, where the V4, Mikrograph or Mikrogirder had been conceived and launched, sophisticated (and expensive) pieces that did not at all fit into the new strategy. Even so, these pieces can still be seen on their website, under the heading Fine Watchmaking.
But not everything was reduced to recovering quartz movements and sub-thousand-euro prices: this year it had the audacity to present a tourbillon for less than €15,000. A price that, being high for a watch or even for a TAG Heuer of the new batch, marks a milestone in Swiss watchmaking, demonstrating that “it can be done” for that price. The audacity has been of such magnitude that it has managed to anger someone as usually stoic as Patek Philippe, who made statements about it and not exactly favorable ones. What was that like? “You can love it, you can hate it, but you can never ignore it.”
At Baselworld 2016 TAG-Heuer has presented no less than 66 new products divided into five families, and of those 66 there are 9 that are limited editions. Starting with what is going to be the flagship collection, the Formula 1, where there are 43mm chronographs with quartz movements (Ronda 5040D, with tenths of a second) with prices between 1,200 (NATO strap) and 1,350 (steel bracelet). The special edition (not limited) Senna with Link type bracelet (or S, for Senna) costs €100 more. The quartz time only ones are €995 with NATO (sub-€1000, remember?) and €1,150 with a steel bracelet. For 100 euros more there is also the special Senna series, also with an S or Link bracelet. Fixed aluminum bezels in all cases.
In an even sportier version it comes with black details on the bezel (this time rotating, unidirectional), crown and pushers. Black color due to titanium carbide, which guarantees its durability over time. Prices, between €1,100 (rubber strap) and €1,250 (steel). Going up one step, we have the same models but this time with a black ceramic bezel (€1,600) and even a bracelet with ceramic inserts (€1,850). Continuing with formula 1 but this time mechanical, we have seen the chronographs in a 44mm case and 16 caliber (valjoux/eta 7750), ceramic bezel and some very cool red details. The prices, between €2,550 and €2,800 depending on whether it is with a steel-only bracelet or combined with black ceramic. There is also a mechanical version only hour with caliber 5 (Sellita SW200) with prices between €1,600 and €1,850.
Finally, a special edition Red Bull quartz chrono, the Formula 1 team with which TAG-Heuer has reached a sponsorship agreement after more than 15 years of sponsoring McLaren. And it would seem (come on, almost certainly) that the consumer public of Red Bull in all its variants is more sought after than that of... what kind of consumer is the McLaren fan? Well that. Between €1,400 and €1,550. All models in the Formula 1 collection are waterproof up to 200 meters.
The Carrera family is no longer what it was. Neither Brad Pitt, nor other people's calibers. Not even contained sizes. Well, yes: there is a 43mm chronograph that remembers that old batch but little else: for a similar price (around €4,500) it now gives you manufacture caliber H1, ceramic bezel and a renovated dial. And JC Biver already says it: we sell watches whose perceived quality is two or three times higher than the price paid: Maybe not as much as three, but they have undoubtedly improved the sensation. Carrera three-handers for men have not been presented: all the new Carrera only time are Lady.
The rest of the Carrera collection grows to reach 45mm, starting at €4,750 (steel with rubber bracelet: white, red, blue) and going up to €11,450 for the titanium version combined with rose gold. An exercise in skeletonization that I don't particularly like and that in my opinion highlights – even more, if possible – the disproportion between caliber and case: all you have to do is look at the distance between the date window and the outer edge of the bezel. Time will tell if these 45mm have their place in the market, although based on the number of models launched it would seem that TAG-Heuer is clear.
It is so clear that the “tourbillon revolution” falls precisely within this collection: With another manufacture caliber (the H2, COSC, chronograph and tourbillon) it is with which they have taken the president of Patek Philippe out of his mind: a completely Swiss watch with an entry price (titanium case and rubber strap) of €14,300. But can you make (or rather, sell) a manufactured chrono tourbillon for that price? It is clear that yes, because I do not believe that JC Biver's “divine madness” leads him to lose money with his products… Yes, this encourages the interesting debates about value and price that are regularly debated in the forums. Because whoever else had assumed that “the Chinese”, that bag in which we put both the manufacturers of counterfeits and those who produce the iPhone, are capable of doing “anything at any price” although we assume (simplistically) that they will make it ugly and of poor quality. This is why one would understand a “cheap” tourbillon coming from the East, and in fact there are ones for prices around €1000 or less, but the alarms start to ring when a brand recognized throughout the world presents a “full-swiss” one at a price that is well below what one is used to reading. I still remember when the JLC Master Tourbillon appeared and we called its price of €35,000 a bargain in 2007! Today it costs more than double.
Aesthetically, without being my style, I find it more attractive than the chrono without tourbillon. And it seems so to me because I see the subdials and the tourbillon window itself more proportionate than on the H1. Regarding the function itself, I predict good sales taking into account everything that has been said: Swiss, premium brand, with a mythical complication (and useless but which one isn't?), sporty and at a price never seen before... until now.
The 42mm Monza with caliber 17 (ETA 2894-2) inaugurates that new “revival” section that was announced at the beginning: limited series (still without assigned quantity, I suppose waiting to see the scope to fix it) that reissue legendary models of the brand. What brand? Heuer, of course. In the recent past, TAG-Heuer has made the mistake of trying to dilute the link that unites it to the history of watchmaking with inaccuracies (to put it mildly) along the lines of “TAG Heuer has revolutionized aesthetics with emblematic models such as the TAG Heuer Carrera, marketed in 1963”… well, in reality they continue to do so today, but I hope they reconsider now that they are using the Heuer catalog with such determination. So much so that it has already been decided - by public vote - which will be the Autavia that will be reissued in 2017. Now they just need to drop those €4,700 Monza and they will square the circle.
The Aquaracer in another imaginative bouquet of quartz and mechanical versions (from 1,500 to 3,500 depending on combinations) and the Carrera Lady in various chromatic versions, these always in quartz, complete the no less than 66 models presented at Baselworld 2016.
Best watch strap | Best annual calendar watch | Best watch winder | Best Black Luxury watch | Best Luxury Watches Men | Best Swiss Luxury Watches Women | Best Men Diamond Watches under 1000 | Best Diamond Watches Women | Best Luxury Dive Watch
