Up Close: TAG Heuer Monaco V4

TAG Heuer Monaco V4

The TAG Heuer Monaco V4 has featured a few times on Calibre 11- its a real landmark watch for TAG, both in terms of the technology driving the movement and in terms of the price point that the watch will be sold for.

At the Heuer Collectors summit in 2008, a group of us was able to hold  the advanced prototype- its an intriguing design watching as the Tungsten weight slides up and down to power the four barrels.

The case design in similar to that of the new TAG Heuer Monaco LS- a wrap-around glass design that is beautifully integrated into the case. Its a thick case- almost feels the same size as the Monaco 69.

Over at Watchprosite, a poster has been lucky enough to try out the watch (still a prototype) in person and has taken some fantastically  detailed photos. Take a look at the 48 (!) jewelled movement and the detail of the timing belts.

The estimated EUR70,000 will push this watch well outside the range of most Heuer and TAG Heuer collectors, but lets hope we see the V4 technology used in other more accessible watches in the future

See the post here:

Photo: Nicholas/ Amanico

October 28th, 2009 | DC | 2 Comments »

Calibre 11 on Your iPhone

Calibre 11 iPhoneThe iPhone is a fantastic way to access websites and blogs on the move, but many websites don’t look right when they are shrunk down in size or can take too long to load the large pages- especially when using GPRS or 3G networks rather than Wi-Fi.

Calibre 11 now has a special mobile format that is accessible from either an iPhone, iPod Touch,  or from any of the Android-powered devices.

Best of all there is no need to go to a different address or change any settings- just go straight to calibre11.com on your mobile handset and you’ll automatically be directed to the mobile version of Calibre 11.

Try it out when you get the chance

October 25th, 2009 | DC | No Comments »

The Ayrton Senna TAG Heuer Series

By the time that that Techniques d’Avant Garde (“TAG”) purchased Heuer in 1984/ 5 Sennait was already the 50% owner of McLaren International, the F1 team that had been revived by Ron Dennis and his Project 4 team and featuring the brains of John Barnard in 1981. TAG had been a sponsor of the Williams team, but not for the first time Frank lost his sponsor to McLaren- although TAG were much more than a just a sponsor.

In conjunction with Marlboro, Ron Dennis was able to force a merger between the McLaren team run by Teddy Mayer and his Project 4 team that was keen to step up to F1. Ever wondered why all McLaren race cars- and the new road car-  since 1981 have had the MP4 prefix? That stands for “Marlboro Project 4″- the name of Ron’s team.

TAG famously paid for the development of the 1.5 litre Porsche turbo engine, ensuring that the championship winning McLarens of 1984, 1985 and 1986 were known as “McLaren-TAG”. The “TAG” engine continued through to 1988 when a new era began.

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October 21st, 2009 | DC | 2 Comments »

New Arrival- Heuer Camaro 7220S

A while back, the Heuer Camaro was identified both as one my twelve “most wanted” as well as one of the models that I thought was under-appreciated by Heuer collectors (see “Crystal Ball- The big price movers for 2010″). Happily, I have been able to track one down.

This is the Camaro 7220S, powered by the manual Valjoux 72 movement (famous as being the movement in the Rolex Daytona) and without the the tachy rings that many watches had. The Camaro came on both a corfam strap and the Gay  Freres “Grains of Rice” bracelet. To my eyes, the 7220S is the simplest, least complicated and most classic of the Camaro range.


So why does the Camaro fall under the radar of many collectors? Perhaps partly because being launched in 1968 meant it was one of the last watches introduced before the “Calibre 11″ era- one of the most exciting and diverse periods in the company’s history.

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October 18th, 2009 | DC | 4 Comments »

Looking for a PVD Monaco Project?

Now here is something that you don’t see everyday-a

Heuer Monaco PVD

Vintage Heuer Monaco 73304 PVD- or at least parts of one. The dial looks to be correct for the model:

  • Unique hour markers, double markers at 12
  • Unique Orange hands
  • White date disc, black date
  • Slightly elevated “12″and “6″ on the left hand sub-dial and “0″ and “15″ on the right

Now the bad news:

  • The case has unfortunately been polished- was it a correct case with a no-grain finish, with the graining added later in the mistaken belief that this is what it should look like?
  • The owner claims that the movement is a Valjoux 7736, which wouldn’t be correct…but its not 100% clear that the owner realises what they have, and so they could be guessing

Interested?

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October 15th, 2009 | DC | 5 Comments »

Brand Extensions- What is Omega Doing?

Maybe Heuer collectors have been too hard on TAG Heuer for some of the brand extensions that the company have launched over the last few years.

Sunglasses and Eyeglasses were a bit of a stretch, even though they seem to have been quite successful.

The Meridiist? TAG contend that there are similarities in the design of the handset and watches.

Irrespective of whether you believe them or not, you can at least see the logic.

But what is Omega doing? I’ve checked this a few times, as I believed it had to be a hoax. Surely the company wouldn’t release a fragrance. Seems as though it has.

So what fragrances- – apologies, “notes”- can one expect from a bottle of Aqua Terra. Omega say that:

“notes include bergamot, grapefruit, mandarin, bitter orange, clary sage, aromatic grasses, jasmine, pink pepper, violet leaves, wood, oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver and musk.”

For your enjoyment, I think its worth re-printing the entire press release, including the hard-hitting interrogation of the scent-creator. Please try and take this seriously.

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October 14th, 2009 | DC | 5 Comments »

TAG Heuer Carrera Day/ Date- Carbon Fibre

Back to the world of modern TAG Heuer watches, below is a photo of the new TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Day/ Date “Carbon Fibre”- essentially this is the same as the Singapore Limited Edition, but with more tasteful red highlights instead of Green and a nicer looking strap.  The dial has a carbon-fibre finish, which is tough to see in the photo below, but looks pretty good.

Another reason to reconsider that Carrera Calibre 360 purchase…

Day Date

October 13th, 2009 | DC | 1 Comment »

Chronosplit Heuer- A Classic?

It must have been an interesting day in 1975 when the new Heuer catalogue arrived at the retailer. Take a look at the 1974 catalogue- all of the classics are there with a range of Calibre 12/ 14 and 15 movements: Monaco, Autavia, Carrera, Calculator, Silverstone and Montreal. Most of us would be happy to just collect the watches that appear in this single catalogue, as each of these models is coveted by collectors today.

Imagine the shock in 1975 when Heuer introduced the Chronosplit range- a combination LCD/ LED solid-state quartz watch that looked like nothing else the company had produced before. As the name implies, the watch had two displays, each powered by its own movement.

The Chronosplit is a pretty powerful reflection on the manner in which quartz movements were initially positioned by the Swiss houses- not as a cheap alternative to a mechanical movement, but as heralding a revolution in watch design. Heuer could have packaged the quartz movement in the Autavia case to show the world that quartz watches could look exactly like their mechanical cousins, but with the advantage of less servicing and greater accuracy. Instead, they chose the bold route- to showcase the new technology in a space-age design watch that looked like nothing else.

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October 12th, 2009 | DC | 13 Comments »

Watch Design 101

There is an interesting book about the history of design at General Motors that talks through the time with “designing” a new car turned into “styling” a new car- and when you think through the two words, there is a difference between them.

The designers will tell you that to design is to engineer the way that something works- to create a product with its primary intended function being the highest priority and the aesthetics coming second- form following function.

The term “stylist” tends to imply the opposite- create a nice looking shell first and then hand it over to the engineers to stuff the operating pieces inside. Somehow, styling seems to have less integrity than designing.

These rules- like so many others- apply to watches in a similar way as they do to cars. Chronograph watches by nature can have busy dials- perhaps a tachy scale, a 30 minute counter on the right and a 12-hour counter on the left.

What these simple designs have is a purity of purpose. They were designed to be used as a chronograph and so had to be easy to read, especially as one was racing through the Mexican countryside on the Carrera Pan Americana of the 1950s. This lends an air of authenticity to the design- form following function.

Many of the Vintage-era Heuer watches have this design integrity- whether it be the multi-coloured sub-dial of  the Skipper giving 5-minute countdowns or the complex bezel of the Calculator.

So, I think its fair to say that many of the Vintage Heuer designs can claim form over function (a stylist would have flipped out at the first viewing of the Calculator)- but what about modern TAG Heuer watches? There are certainly some innovative looks being gifted to many new models- but are these form over function, or vice-versa?

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October 7th, 2009 | DC | 3 Comments »

The Lemania Silverstone Debate

There has been some intense debate over the last few days about the Heuer Silverstone Lemania, and in particular the authenticity of one example. As was the case with many Heuer models in the early 1980s, there are some inconsistencies between different examples of the watch, which has led to questions over what characteristics a 100% genuine Silverstone Lemania should have.

You can read more about the points being debated here and here

The Lemania Silverstone is one of my favourite Heuer watches and you may recall this earlier post on Calibre 11 about the Lemania-powered Silverstone- http://www.calibre11.com/2009/08/22/the-other-silverstone/

Rather than add to the debate here, below are a couple of photos of my Silverstone, which have different markings than the watch under question over at Vetroplastica. A warning- to show these markings in detail, the images after the jump are large files that may take some time to load.

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October 3rd, 2009 | DC | No Comments »

Crystal Ball- Update 1

Since the original post on 18 September, there have been two examples of the predicted “big movers” that have sold on eBay. Given that these came up so soon after the initial post, I thought it would be worth tracking to see whether there were any signs of values heading north.

1) Heuer Montreal

  • Sold for USD1,525
  • 25 Bids
  • The white-dial Montreal is the rarest of the lot, so on the face of it this is a pretty disappointing price. However, look a little closer and note that the hands are not correct and that the case had been polished- two sure ways to reduce your selling price
  • The bracelet looks like it comes from a 5100-series/ Valjoux Montreal and is not correct for the Cal. 12 version of the Montreal
  • Its also worth noting that the seller of this watch always goes for “Private Auctions”-I always get a bit nervous about these (no insinuations about this seller- they are a well-known vendor on eBay) and wonder if that also reduced the final price
  • Verdict: A poor price for an average- below average example of a rare watch

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October 2nd, 2009 | DC | 2 Comments »

Watches for Sale- New Watch of the Week Page

A new feature on Calibre 11 to help readers find the best of Vintage Heuer and TAG Heuer watches for sale on the web. Each week this page will contain a an interesting Heuer or TAG Heuer watch taken from one of the many watch sale websites on the web- let Calibre 11 sift through the rubbish and highlight some of the more interesting watches out there.

The “Watch of the Week” page is accessible from the menu bar at the top of the Calibre11.com homepage, or directly via this link: http://www.calibre11.com/watch-of-the-week/

A couple of points to note:

  • These links are provided for information only- I have no commercial relationship with any of the vendors
  • Likewise, I don’t warrant the originality or otherwise of the watches- Buyer beware
  • If you are a Heuer or TAG Heuer dealer or a private seller and would like to send me a link to your website or highlight an interesting watch that you have for sale, please do so, but no promises that it will be featured. Of course, if you are prepared to offer a discount to readers of Calibre 11, then the chances of it being featured increase!
  • It should be obvious but its worth stating again: I don’t verify the watch itself, the quality of the seller, that the price is reasonable, that the watch works, etc

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October 1st, 2009 | DC | No Comments »