With Baselworld now only six weeks away, it is time to look into the crystal ball and put together some predictions on what TAG Heuer might be showing us in Basel. Baselworld is the annual major trade show for watches and jewellery and is held every March in Basel, Switzerland.
While TAG Heuer do release new models throughout the year, the major launches are always at Baselworld…and given that this year is TAG Heuer’s 150th anniversary, it’s not unreasonable to expect that we should be seeing some special watches from TAG Heuer this year.
So, here are a few predictions on what we might-and might not- see in six weeks time. And good news is that there is something revolutionary on the way.
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TAG Heuer and the McLaren F1 team have had a long association, not just through common ownership (TAG formerly owning both TAG Heuer and 50% of what was called McLaren International; Ron Dennis of McLaren owning part of TAG Heuer), but also through TAG Heuer’s sponsorship of the McLaren F1 team.
In the mid-late 1990s McLaren was undergoing a period of change- it had split from engine partner Honda in 1993 and from long-time sponsor Marlboro at the end of 1996.
At the start of the 1997 season McLaren was in the second year of a new partnership with Mercedes-Benz and for the first time since the 1970s needed to come up with a new colour scheme to replace the iconic white with red flags of Marlboro.
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One of the more interesting chapters in Heuers history is its relationship with Lemania in the 1980s. Heuer watches with Lemania automatic movements first appeared in the 1983 Heuer catalogue alongside what was to be the last appearance of the Chronomatic watches. Featured in the 1983 Heuer catalogue are the following watches, all powered the Lemania 5100 movement.
- 510.50X series- “Lemania 1000″ series
- 510.511/523- “Lemania Carrera”
- 510.513- “Lemania Cortina”
- 510.403- “Lemania Silverstone”
- 510.508- “Gold Lemania Carrera”
Heuer would later add two other limited production Lemania models- The Heuer AudiSport (seen right with its Lemania branded counterpart) and the Heuer A.M.I.
And yet by 1986, almost all of these Lemania watches are gone.
So how can this all be explained? Why did Heuer and Lemania form such a close relationship? Why did it all come to an end so abruptly? And why do these Heuer watches look the same as designs offered by other companies?
In this two-part story, each of these questions will be examined as the Heuer and Lemania relationship is explored. Part One will focus on the corporate relationship between the two companies and Part Two on watches produced during the union.
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It can be said that there are three types of watch collectors- the “traders”, the “flippers” and the “accumulators”. Accumulators will never sell a watch, even if it only gets worn once every leap-year. A flipper will buy today with the aim of wearing for a week, keeping the sticker on the back and then selling on at a profit. The trader, which describes how I collect watches, sits somewhere in the middle.
I never buy a watch with the sole intention of making a turn on it (which is just as well as I’d be very disappointed!), but I do sell watches that I don’t often wear- partly to stop the collection getting too large, but mainly to help fund something new.
Trading may be the most sensible way of managing a collection, but the downside of being a trader is the regret that comes with selling a watch that you still like. Often a few months pass and you see the same model up for sale and your mind starts to drift towards buying it back.
I’ve succumbed to this temptation only once- buying back the same model I had owned and sold…and sure enough a few months later I sold it again. Which watch? It might surprise you: a TAG Heuer Microtimer.
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TAG Heuer and Zenith- both owned by luxury good conglomerate LVMH, have announced the merger of the two houses under a new holding company. TAG Heuer and Zenith are now part of LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA, along with Cortech (the TAG Heuer-owned case manufacturer). TAG Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin will head the new group.
The news comes in the same week that Bulgari announced that the Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta brands will cease to exist as independent brands and will instead be co-branded on Bulgari watches.
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Over the last few weeks TAG Heuer has released a Monaco V4 iPhone application- the first TAG Heuer mobile application, or app, which offers some great video and photos of the new V4 Monaco. Far from being just a novelty download, the use of a dedicated mobile app- whether it be for the iPhone, Nexus One, Palm or other platform, is perhaps the most exciting new marketing channel for watch companies since the development of the internet itself. Before explaining why, here is a brief overview of the app itself.
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My first watch of 2010 arrived this week and its something a little different from the usual 1970s Heuer Chronographs- a 1990 TAG Heuer F1 quartz Chronograph (ref. CA 1211-RO). I’m planning a more detailed look at the TAG Heuer F1 series shortly, so today only a brief overview of this watch.
This is the second series F1 watch, and the first to come with a chronograph function, via an ETA 251.262 quartz movement. While its tempting to think of the F1 as TAG’s “Swatch”, this was no cut-price special- the original price tag on this one shows that it cost USD795 in the early 1990s- well over 10X the cost of a comparable Swatch.
Wearing the watch today the first thing that you notice is the size- at 36mm it feels very, very small. The first two series of the F1 only came in what TAG called mid-size, and with tastes today pushing well into the +40mm size range, this one feels light and small. In fact the small size is really the only aspect that dates this watch to being from an earlier time. The rest of the design is very clean, functional and crisp- just how I like my watches.
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Normally when I take photographs of watches I spend most of the time on the head-on shots of the dial- after all, this is the view that you have when you look at your watch. This angle offers the best view of the hands, the sub-dials and any pattern on the dial (oh, and you can also tell the time).
However today I want to focus on the Heuer Montreal- and ignore its dial and hands and instead focus on its amazing case finishing. That is not to say that the dial of the Montreal is not something special: this white example (ref. 110.503W) is one of the most colourful Heuer dials- white, blue, red, black and orange/ yellow all making an appearance. But its the case of the Montreal that really sets it out from other Heuer models and makes it unique.
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Cheers Arno
