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Only Watch 2021 Favorites: TAG Heuer

We continue to highlight a few of our favorite watches from among the more than fifty watchmakers that have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.

The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.

Today, we highlight the offering from TAG Heuer, which has created the Only Watch Carbon Monaco made with echoes of the highly collectible black-PVD-cased Monaco Reference 74033N, known by aficionados as the “Dark Lord”. TAG Heuer made the original watch in limited quantities in the mid-1970s, and it never appeared in a Heuer catalog.

This one-of-a-kind edition is cased in carbon fiber and features the brand’s largest-ever sapphire crystal caseback, which TAG Heuer’s engineers designed to give the watch’s future owner a clear view into its bespoke movement. The watch’s skeletonized dial is worked from a single piece of carbon fiber.

Sitting on top of the carbon dial are three black galvanized brass plates. These form the watch’s chronograph and small-seconds subdials. Those orange hands echo the Only Watch’s 2021 color palette.

The movement here, while technically a TAG Heuer in-house Heuer 02 automatic chronograph, has been decorated by hand especially for this watch.

The movement is endowed with an unique rotor in the form of a hand-finished TAG Heuer shield, which  is also decorated with a gradient orange to yellow color of Only Watch 2021. The seamless transition from orange to yellow was achieved by hand, painted by the master dial artist and micro-painter André Martinez from Le Locle.

Indeed, TAG Heuer utilizes specialists Artime SA to create a high-level of finish throughout the movement. And finally, TAG Heuer has created a new leather strap that looks like a metal bracelet. All new for TAG Heuer, the process starts as silicon is injected into the sole of the leather. This is then heat-stamped with a mold in the shape of a metal link bracelet, creating the three- dimensional effect. Very cool, and impressive.

Only Watch auction estimate: CHF 50,000 to CHF 100,000.

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The Watches

TAG Heuer Re-Lights Night Diver

TAG Heuer today expands its Aquaracer Professional 300 collection with three new watches. Two models with blue and black dials, first seen in April as steel bracelet models when TAG Heuer upgraded the deep-diving collection, are now offered with matching rubber strap options.

A third debut echoes a favorite bright-dialed TAG Heuer dive watch from the past.

TAG Heuer re-introduces an old favorite with Aquaracer Professional 300 Night Diver.

Return of the Night Diver

TAG Heuer’s highlight fall 2021 Aquaracer Professional 300 debut is the all-black, lume-dialed Aquaracer Professional 300 Night Diver. The watch recalls the TAG Heuer “Night Diver” first seen in the mid-1980s and re-introduced in numerous guises in the years since, most recently in 2018.

The Night Diver’s standout feature, then and today, is its fully luminescent dial, which TAG Heuer coats in green SuperLuminova. This is truly non-subtle lume, which may be too bright for some desk divers, but for others hits home.

TAG Heuer seemingly overfills the watch’s minute and central seconds with blue lume to clearly contrast with the green dial. That bright green color also appears on the hour hand and four primary hour markers. And critically, TAG Heuer fills the triangle at the top of the unidirectional rotating bezel with blue lume to match the blue of the minute and central seconds hands.

To emphasize the ‘night’ in the watch’s nickname, TAG Heuer coats the watch’s 43mm stainless steel case, bezel, crown, caseback and clasp with matte black diamond-like carbon. The bezel insert is black ceramic.

TAG Heuer’s ETA-based (or Sellita-based) Caliber 5 automatic movement powers all references in the new Aquaracer Professional 300 collection.

TAG Heuer fits the Night Diver with a black rubber strap
 with a black DLC steel folding clasp with double safety push buttons with fine adjustment system.

Full collection

You might recall that earlier this year TAG Heuer revamped its Aquaracer collection, displaying models with a more refined twelve-sided bezel, shorter lugs, slightly wider hour hands and more prominent horizontal engraved dial lines. The three new models debuting today expand the new Aquaracer collection to eleven references.

All three new Aquaracer models feature a unidirectional rotating bezel, a screw-down crown, are water resistance to 300 meters, feature a sapphire crystal and a double safety clasp. And they all have solid casebacks stamped with a diving suit sporting a twelve-sided faceplate.

Prices: $3,350 (Night Diver) and $2,700 (Aquaracer with blue or black dial with new rubber strap).

The new Aquaracer Professional 300 collection now includes blue or black-dialed models with matching straps. These models debuted in April with steel bracelets only.

 

 

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Featured News

Automotive Timing, Part III

 

Watchmakers have been multiplying their automotive and motorsports collaborations in recent years. Here, we review a few prominent timekeeping/racing alliances.

By Y-Jean Mun-DelSalle

In this Part III of our recently expanded four-part series outlining automotive-wristwatch partnerships, we highlight TAG Heuer.

TAG Heuer

Historically rooted in motorsports, TAG Heuer has worked with many car companies, starting with Scuderia Ferrari, but also McLaren, Mercedes, Audi and, more recently, Aston Martin.

As one of the most highly-anticipated watch/car partnerships with authentic motor racing heritage and on-track success, the friendship between TAG Heuer and Porsche has existed for decades and is now transformed into a strategic partnership ranging from sports competition to product development.

From a 1959 Ralley.

Racing fans and watch fans will know that the Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico gave its name to creations from both brands. Porsche named its most powerful engine the Carrera after its class win in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, and Edouard Heuer’s great-grandson, Jack Heuer, conceived the first Heuer Carrera chronograph in 1963.

Jo Siffert, wearing Heuer.

Thereafter, Jack Heuer struck a sponsorship arrangement with Jo Siffert at the wheel of various Porsches with the Heuer logo on his car and suit. Siffert was the Swiss racing driver on which Steve McQueen had based his character during the filming of Le Mans in 1970 in which he drove a Porsche 917.

The Porsche 911 Carrera, from 1972.

In the 1980s, TAG Heuer and Porsche developed the TAG-Turbo engine that led the McLaren team to three consecutive F1 world titles. Porsche also created its own Formula E team with TAG Heuer as title and timing partner in 2019, the Swiss watchmaker being a founding partner of the electric racing championship.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team tackles its second season running the Porsche 99X Electric race car in 2021.

And there is more. The two brands will be collaborating in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup worldwide one-make cup series. For their first joint timepiece, they produced the 44-mm TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph, powered by the in-house Caliber Heuer 02 with 80-hour power reserve.

In the Porsche colors of red, black and gray recalling historic Heuer models, the watch features a rotor in the shape of Porsche’s trademark steering wheel. Arabic numerals suggesting the numbers on Porsche dashboards are set against an asphalt-effect dial.

The TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph Special Edition.

“Time is at the very core of racing. Without its mastery, there is no competition, no progress,” says Frédéric Arnault, TAG Heuer CEO.

Back view of the TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph Special Edition, showing the Caliber Heuer 02.

“From its early years, Heuer made it its specialty to develop tools like chronographs, stopwatches and dashboard timers, which helped drivers, teams and race organizers keep time in increasingly accurate ways,” Arnault continues. “The company served a very tangible purpose in motor racing from the start; it was in its DNA. Later, it was Jack Heuer who saw the natural connection from a branding perspective, and we became the first non-automotive brand to sponsor a F1 team. We started with Carrera as it’s an iconic name we share, but that was just the first step.”

 

Y-Jean Mun-DelSalle is a freelance journalist and editorial consultant who has lived on three different continents. She meets with inspirational individuals in pursuit of excellence: emerging and established artists, designers and craftsmen, engaging entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and the movers and shakers of the world today. She contributes regularly to regional and international titles such as Artsy, Asia Tatler, Design Anthology, Forbes, Portfolio, Robb Report, Shawati’ and Vogue, shining a spotlight in particular on art, architecture, design, horology and jewelry.

 

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The Watches

TAG Heuer Launches Titanium Monaco

Just ahead of TAG Heuer-ambassador Max Verstappen’s win at the 78th Monaco Grand Prix this past weekend, TAG Heuer launched a new titanium-cased version of the brand’s famed square-bezel chronograph.

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Titan Limited Edition frames the familiar Monaco dial in an eye-catching, sandblasted 39mm titanium case.

The new TAG Heuer Monaco Titan Limited Edition.

The metal, which TAG Heuer rarely uses for Monaco, means the watch is lighter than its steel cousins while its matte-finishing perfectly complements a new silver-hued, sunray-brushed dial.

For this limited edition of 500, TAG Heuer took advantage of the watch’s metallic, almost monochromatic aura to just subtly note Monaco’s racing history, applying black sub-dials and racing red accents on the central hand and the 12 o’clock marker.

As long-time Monaco fans might note, the new watch also echoes the left-side-crown placement of the original Heuer Monaco. This is because TAG Heuer fits the new watch with its updated Caliber 11, named after the original groundbreaking automatic chronograph inside the 1969 Monaco.

The new watch is actually the first Monaco since 2019 to utilize the modern modular chronograph, which TAG Heuer creates using a Sellita base and a Dubois Dépraz module. TAG Heuer has tapped its Heuer 02 caliber, with its right-side crown, to power the Monaco releases in the interim.

To enhance the watch’s link to Monaco’s auto-racing-inspired history, the new Monaco Titan Limited Edition arrives on a sporty anthracite alligator strap, patterned internally to recall racecar tire grooves.

TAG Heuer offers the Monaco Titan Limited Edition in TAG Heuer boutiques and on www.tagheuer.com.  

Price: $7,900. 

Specifications:

TAG Heuer Monaco Titan Limited Edition Chronograph

(Reference CAW218B.FC6496, a 500-piece limited edition)

Movement: Automatic TAG Heuer Caliber 11, Sellita base with Dubois Dépraz module

Case: 39mm 
Grade 2 titanium sand-blasted, domed, beveled sapphire crystal, sandblasted sapphire crystal screw-down caseback, water-resistant to 100 meters.

Dial: Silver sunray-brushed, black permanent seconds at 3 o’clock, black gold-plated applied indexes with white SuperLuminova, rhodium-plated hour and minute hands with white SuperLuminova, red central chrono hand, black ‘Heuer’ printed logo, angled date display, 
MONACO AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH printed.

Strap: Black alligator leather, grade 2 titanium folding clasp with double safety push buttons, Heuer logo.

Price: $7,900.

 

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The Watches

TAG Heuer’s Carrera Goes Green

TAG Heuer this week adds a teal-green-dialed beauty to its Carrera collection with the Carrera Green Special Edition, an eye-catching ode to the brand’s famed 1963 original.

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Green Special Edition.

While the shimmering, sunray-finished blue-green color is new for Carrera, the watch’s signature lugs, polished steel case and pushers recall the original with purist accuracy, though the case now measures 39mm in diameter rather than 36mm for the original.

The enviable dial retains the same Heuer tri-compax layout (minute chronograph at 3 o’clock, hour chronograph at 9 o’clock and permanent second indicator at 6 o’clock) found on the original.

The watch’s nicely faceted hands, domed glass box crystal and Heuer logo thoughtfully extend the commemoration. In fact, the vintage-hued SuperLuminova seems to amplify the apparent depth of the dial, a visual effect already strengthened by the crystal’s curves.

TAG Heuer extends the dial’s teal color to the movement, where thanks to the transparent caseback you’ll see the color on the movement’s column wheel and in the Calibre Heuer 02 and Swiss Made inscriptions on the rotor.

Inside the Carrera Green Special Edition TAG Heuer fits its superior Caliber Heuer 02 manufacture movement that utilizes a column wheel and vertical clutch and boasts an impressive 80-hour power reserve. Finally, TAG Heuer attaches the watch to your wrist with a black alligator leather strap with a folding clasp and two safety push buttons.

TAG Heuer now offers the 500-piece limited edition chronograph on its e-commerce websites and at TAG Heuer boutiques. Price: $6,650.

 

Specifications: TAG Heuer Carrera Green Special Edition

Reference: CBK221F.FC6479 (Limited Edition of 500)

Movement: TAG Heuer Calibre Heuer 02 Automatic manufacture movement. Chronograph with minute and hour hands, permanent second, hour and minute indicators, center seconds hand.

Case: 39mm polished stainless-steel case and fixed bezel, domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment, polished stainless-steel crown with push buttons at 2 and 4 o’clock. Water-resistant to 100 meters, SPECIAL EDITION engraved on the caseback

Dial: Teal sunray brushed dial and flange with three snailed subdials. Permanent seconds indicator, polished and rhodium-plated hour and minute hands coated with SuperlumiNova.

Strap: Black alligator leather strap featuring a polished stainless-steel folding clasp with two safety push buttons.

Price: $6,650.

 

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