It's a year since TAG Heuer launched their 'low-priced' tourbillon range and now there are several versions of the Carrera Heuer 02T available including a phantom and also a couple of rose gold pieces. Prices range from about £12,000 for the titanium model to about £18,000 for the rose gold/gold bezel version, which is a lot of money for a TAG Heuer, but not for a tourbillon. Considering that the cheapest model available before the Carrera Heuer 02T was a Raymond Weil costing nearly £30,000... you can see that TAG have really shocked the market and stolen huge market share in the process.
Indeed, TAG Heuer are now intending to increase production from 700 in 2016 up to 2000 in 2017, which is a statement of intent if nothing else. But this poses a couple of questions, a) what are they going to do with them all, and b) why have TAG done this in the first place?
Let's take the second question first...
Jean Claude Biver shocked the watch world when he announced that TAG would make a (relatively) affordable tourbillon, drawing outrage from some manufacturers who were appalled that their golden egg was being 'prostituted' by a high street brand. Of course no one is trying to suggest that a machine made TAG Heuer tourbillon is of the same quality as a hand crafted Patek Philippe, but if nothing else it has proven that there is a market for tourbillons among people who either don't want to or can't afford to pay the prices charged by the more rarefied manufactures.
But it is interesting that JCB chose to go this route only briefly after cancelling a lot of TAG Heuer's 'haute horlogerie' pieces, claiming that TAG Heuer should operate in the £1-5000 price bracket. Indeed, he gave the impression of a tiered system throughout the LVMH with TAG operating in the lower bands, Zenith taking the £9000+ price range and Hublot taking the higher end price bands.
So why not give the affordable tourbillon to Zenith, after all the TAG Heuer tourbillon is selling right in their price bracket?
I can see two reasons for this, firstly Zenith is not a well known brand. Sure people know the El Primero movement (as used in the TAG Heuer Monaco 24) but Zenith is not a brand at the forefront of most peoples mind. True the affordable tourbillon could have been used as a springboard to relaunch Zenith to the high street, but it was a gamble that could have backfired (and besides, Zenith already had a tourbillon in their range).
Secondly, as with any industrial process there must be an economy of scale at work and it's safe to assume that a TAG Heuer tourbillon would sell more pieces than a Zenith, simply because it's much more likely to get into the stores in the first place. Think how many shops stock TAG Heuer watches and think how many stock Zenith... so it's safe to assume that if the numbers had to be scaled back to what they thought Zenith could shift it would probably put the price up. Also you have to take into account that the 'affordable' tourbillon would still have to fit into Zenith's pricing structure, for instance it would be ridiculous to price a Zenith tourbillon less than £20,000 and besides, that wouldn't have had nearly the market impact of a £12,000 TAG Heuer tourbillon.
TAG Heuer Monaco V4 Tourbillon
As to why, well I guess JCB saw the affordable tourbillon as a better option than TAG making high end pieces (like the Monaco V4 and V4T) that would sell in very small quantities and really do very little to promote TAG's abilities except among serious watch fanatics. The beauty of the affordable tourbillon is that not only does it stick two fingers up at all those who question TAG Heuer's horological capabilities (and given their achievement over the years we really should be beyond this nonsense by now, but old habits die hard I suppose!) but it also produces a product that can actually be seen, touched and sold in significant numbers out in the marketplace. I mean have you ever actually seen a Monaco V4 or a Mikrograph?
So what will TAG Heuer do with all these additional tourbillons they are intending to certify? Well I suppose it's safe to assume TAG intend to ramp up production of their current range and perhaps add a few more variations on the familiar theme, but wouldn't it be nice to see some new ranges being announced?
I'm not sure of the technical challenges it would pose, but I would love to see TAG launch a tourbillon Monaco 24, like the one I've mocked up below.
Doesn't that look fantastic? It would certainly tick two of my boxes in one hit: Monaco and a Tourbillon, all in one watch. Also I can imagine they might eventually incorporate a tourbillon into a traditional Carrera watch, assuming they can make it fit with the sizing.
Well I guess we shall have to wait and see, for the moment I guess I'll just have to dream of a tourbillon Monaco and hope Mr Biver is on the same page...
READ MORE ABOUT THE HEUER O2T ON CALIBRE 11
http://www.calibre11.com/in-depth-review-tag-heuer-carrera-heuer-02t-tourbillon/
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