TAG Heuer: Awesome or Average? Why TAG Watches Are Divisive

TAG Heuer is among the more popular luxury names for chronograph watches, and with a long and storied history of creating both classic and trendy timepieces, watch fans are perplexed about its identity and place in the world of watches. So, is it truly a luxury brand, or is it an overpriced novelty?

As you probably know, the world of luxury watches has quite a few heavy hitters; Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, and of course, Rolex. We’re certainly not the first and last people to group these watches together. The point being, that there’s a common thread with how watch fans and collectors view these brands and group them together, but TAG Heuer, on the other hand, is often seen as an anomaly. 

TAG Heuer’s History

The company was founded as Heuer AG in 1860 in Switzerland by Edouard Heuer. Many people don’t actually know what TAG Heuer stands for, and the “TAG” stands for Techniques D’avant Garde, which gives us the name TAG Heuer, but more on that later.

Twelve years into forming the company, Heuer created his first chronograph movement in 1882, and 1887 saw him create the “oscillating pinion.” The “oscillating pinion” is a form of horizontal clutch that greatly improves the engagement of the chronograph, and it’s still used by Major watchmakers of mechanical chronographs to this day. If you want to learn more about chronographs, you can consult our guide on that topic.

A few years later, in 1911, Heuer got the patent for the first Time of Trip chronograph on the dashboard of a car. This was a type of chronograph that was designed mostly for cars and airplanes. It would show the time of day, as well as the duration of the trip. If you needed to make any adjustments to the watch, that can be done through a vertically aligned crown.

With a penchant for chronographs, Heuer introduced his first wristwatch chronograph in 1914. Just like the Time of Trip chronograph in the car, the crown was aligned vertically, as most men’s wristwatches at this time were adaptations of pocket watches.

Taking on his father’s Legacy, Charles Heuer added the micro chronograph in 1916. This chronograph was accurate to 1/100th of a second, and in the future, Heuer even added one that was accurate to 1/50th of a second with a split-second function. This was very useful when you were timing two individuals at a race, which makes sense because these Innovations were used heavily in the 1920 Olympics.

In 1933, Heuer turned his attention back to automotives, as he introduced the “Autavia.” This is a dashboard timer, which the name comes from combining “automotive” and “aviation.” The Autavia had a dashboard companion also, which was a clock that could run for eight days without being wound.

During World War II, Heuer produced watches for the Luftwaffe, and these watches were also known as “Flieger” or pilot’s chronographs.

In the post-war 1940s, Heuer expanded their chronograph offerings to have ones with multiple sub-dials. Some of these offerings were full calendar options, and they came in various assortments of steel and gold.

In the early 1950s, Heuer actually created a line of watches for American clothier Abercrombie and Fitch, which is very different from the Abercrombie and Fitch of today.

The Seafarer and “Auto-Graph” models were the ones that were specifically made for Abercrombie and Fitch. The Seafarers had special dials with colors of green and blue, which were really exciting and interesting to youthful customers of that time. The “Auto-Graph” was made in 1953 and 1954, and featured a tachymeter on the bezel, which was useful for people in automotive sports.

Heuer At The Races

Heuer chronographs boomed in popularity from the 1950s to the 1970s, as they were a favorite by automotive professionals and automotive amateurs.

As an aside here, Heuer was actually the first watch worn by an American astronaut in space, as it was worn on the wrist of John Glenn as he piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 spacecraft. This was the first US crew to ever orbit the earth, and the Heuer was worn on Glenn’s wrist as a wrist-mounted pocket watch. And for the sake of avoiding confusion, this was not the first watch on the moon. That title belongs to the Omega Speedmaster.

Image Credit: Wind Vintage

In 1963, Heuer introduced what could be considered one of its most popular chronographs – the Carrera. This piece in particular was designed by Edouard Heuer’s great-grandson Jack Heuer. The Carrera watch was named after the Carrera Panamerican race, and it was a very simple watch with applied markers and simple sub-dials.

In the 1960s, the Carreras were available with a variety of elegant dials, including all white, all black, white registers on a black dial, and black registers on a white dial. A three-registered triple calendar version of the Carrera was introduced in 1968, but it was in 1969 that Heuer found an ambassador, none other than the king of cool himself, Steve McQueen.

The watch that McQueen wore in question was the Monaco, which featured a bold Square case and had either a blue or a gray dial. And this watch featured prominently alongside McQueen’s Heuer patch on his racing suit in the movie “Le Mans.” Steve McQueen wanted to wear a Heuer in order to pay homage to his hero of racing, Jo Siffert, who was an ambassador for TAG Heuer.

The fresh, edgy, and bold design of the Monaco brought worldwide attention to Heuer, and why not? The king of cool himself was wearing it. Due to this surge of popularity and attention, Heuer flooded the market with more chronograph models, such as the Daytona, the Montreal, the Silverstone, the Calculator, the Manza, and many more.

Filling The Market

One thing Heuer’s history shows us is that they’re very keen on innovation as they’ve been doing this since the 1860s. Following the introduction of the Monaco in 69, Heuer introduced the Chronosplit in 1975. This was a digital chronograph with dual LCD and LED displays.

A few years later, in 1977, Heuer decides to get rid of all the busyness of the 70s and go back to very simple designs.

So, perhaps, in order to capitalize on the market created by Rolex and the Submariner, TAG Heuer introduced some of their own dive watches. It started off as just a few, but over the following years, it ballooned into many models.

1986 saw the introduction of the Formula One line, which featured bright cases made of plastic and quartz movements, which really focused on fun being the main priority. But they would go and refine things again.

So, only a year after the introduction of the Formula One line, TAG Heuer decided to release a line of very formal watches, called the “S/el” and later rechristened the “Link,” that they claimed could be worn with a tuxedo or a suit. The watch in question featured a combination of gold and silver tones, and an Art-Nouveau style bracelet. But regardless of what anyone says, you really shouldn’t be wearing a dive watch or a sports watch with a tuxedo.

Although it’s not uncommon for wristwatch companies to go back and look at their roots, 1996 was the year that they relaunched their Monaco and their Carrera line.

The Digital Age

The dawn of readily available smart technology in the early 2000s panicked watchmakers. How would they remain relevant in an era of smart technology? After all, you can get the time from looking at your phone.

So always being on the move, TAG Heuer introduced their first smartwatch in 2015 called the TAG Heuer Connected. This watch runs on the Android Wear operating system, which is used by many smartwatch brands. It also offers its own app, which you can use to customize the face of your TAG Heuer smartwatch. You can have a GMT function, a chronograph, or many others. The app also has some features that call back to original Swiss watchmaking, such as an alarm, a timer, and a stopwatch.

In March of 2017, TAG Heuer decided to up their smartwatch game by introducing the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45. This actually allows you to switch between connected and mechanical modules. This watch later became the official watch of the Kingsman series, replacing the Bremont ones in previous movies.

What’s Up With the Name–Heuer? TAG Heuer?

At this point, you might have noticed a little bit of inconsistency in TAG Heuer’s name. So, is it TAG Heuer, is it TAG, or is it Heuer?

As companies grow, they are rarely consistently owned by one family, and TAG is no exception. In the early 60s, Heuer acquired the watch brand Leonidas, and started to make watches under the “Heuer-Leonidas” name. One of the designs that Heuer acquired from the Leonidas brand is actually the “Bundeswehr” chronograph. This was originally used by the German air force, and it was a departure from the slim and elegant chronographs that Heuer had produced.

For its first 125 years, the TAG Heuer brand was simply known as Heuer, but in 1985, the manufacturing company TAG and the British business owner who owned that company acquired Heuer, so TAG became part of the name. TAG, by the way, were manufacturers of high-end parts for sports cars, such as ceramic turbochargers. And if you consider Heuer’s racing history, it actually makes sense that TAG merged with Heuer.

Company ownership again changed in 1999, as Heuer was acquired by LVMH.

Is Heuer Just Forgotten, or Gone For Good?

So, when you look at TAG Heuer’s history, it’s very clear that this company has a passion for innovation. But also, innovation merely for innovation’s sake is not always a good thing.

Take the introduction of Heuer’s dive watches in 1978. It’s very clear that they’re trying to capitalize on the market that Rolex created. They’re nearly one to one identical. Even the modern TAG Heuer watches are heavily inspired by the Omega Seamaster, and TAG Heuer can offer these at cheaper prices than their higher-end competitors.

So, while we’re big fans of affordable alternatives, this could also have a damaging effect for a brand because, after all, consumers will look at the two watches and just say, “Am I buying a cheaper price knockoff?”

Another issue that TAG Heuer has today perhaps started with their Formula One watches in the 1980s, which is to say, they’re trying to be everything for everyone. After all, sticking a claim for every part of the market doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be good in every part of the market. This is like casting a super wide net, and trying to catch the best fish, rather than casting a very small net and focusing on the fish that you want to catch; as much as Rolex has a very small line of dress watches, which are really liked by fans of Rolex dress watches.

So, TAG Heuer has a long and celebrated history of chronographs, and they make really good ones. So, the argument can be made, “Why didn’t they just focus on that? Or did the world need another luxury brand to make another plastic watch?”

Ultimately, this ‘jack of all trades’ attitude has landed TAG Heuer in a space where they’re a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none.’ Customers expect a brand to be consistent in what they offer you.

For example, look Apple. They’ve been consistent to their core audience for years. TAG Heuer is just made somewhat forgettable by their uncertainty of who they want to be.

Conclusion

So, whether you’re a huge fan of TAG Heuer or you’re just being introduced to them today, there’s no denying they have an impressive company history.

So, what are your thoughts on TAG Heuer? Leave us a comment below.

Outfit Rundown

Today, I’m wearing an outfit that looks good in the summertime hot months. It consists of this brighter blue micro-houndstooth jacket, which is a lighter-weight wool. I’ve paired it with a white shirt with a button-down collar to keep the outfit on the more casual end of the spectrum, and a pair of cream higher-waisted linen trousers.

On my feet are a pair of my Carmina String tie loafers. This tie loafer mixed with not wearing any socks and the button-down collar shirt keep the outfit on the more casual end of the spectrum.

My tie is one of our yellow madder silk ties. I really like this because it adds a nice pop of color to a summertime outfit. And my pocket square is our white pocket square with the navy X-stitch. 

To check out my tie, my pocket square, or any other Fort Belvedere accessories, you check out the Fort Belvedere shop.