FEATURE: TAG Heuer Enthusiast?

My name is Rob and I'm a TAG Heuer enthusiast, there I said it. An enthusiast yes, but crucially not a fanboy. Despite owning four TAG Heuers (and no other Swiss watches), and starting two blogs about the brand, my enthusiasm for TAG's products is still limited to just a portion of their output.

I think it's true to say that I am more than a little fussy about my watches, I'm yet to find a Breitling that I truly love (although their rubber straps are cool), and Omega and Rolex don't fare much better. Having now seen a Richard Mille in the flesh I'm kind of feeling a bit like James May when he finally got to drive a Lamborghini Countach and wished he hadn't, and most of the other watches that grab my attention are way out of my financial grasp (as indeed are the Richard Milles!).

James May - NOT impressed.

Longines, Patek Philippe, Zenith... none of them make a watch that interests me in the slightest. Same goes for Nomos and anything with a Bauhaus aesthetic. Truthfully, a 2mm thick movement doesn't really ring my bell, and moon phases are not my bag either... but for some reason I am drawn to TAG Heuer.

Sure, there is a Formula One connection, I've watched pretty much every race since 1994 and quite a few in the 80s as well, and so obviously I've been exposed to plenty of TAG Heuer advertising. And of course I remember seeing the original Formula Ones (or maybe the second generation) in the jewellers while I was in my late teens.

But it wasn't until 2004 that I finally bought my first TAG (my lovely F1 Kirium) and it would be another nine years until I bought a second. And while I don't like every TAG that comes out, overall TAG have a higher hit rate with me than any other company, and crucially, for the most part it's not an impossible dream to own them.

Sure I don't earn enough to buy them willy-nilly, but if I set my heart on one then I can pretty much save for it and get it eventually. Truthfully I am more interested in the look than the innards. Sure a tourbillon is cool, but if it's in a boring looking watch then I'm not really interested. In fact if TAG made every watch case identical with a choice of a quartz movement or mechanical (with the price tag to match) then I'd probably go for the quartz most of the time.

Don't get me wrong, I have the Carrera Heuer 01 and I love that it's mechanical and skeletonized with a glass case back. But I also love my everyday Formula One watch too. Can it really be a coincidence that all the very best looking watches are mechanical? I think not. The reality is, if you want the really cool looking TAGs then you have to pay for a mechanical movement, and that's just the way it is.

TAG Heuer is a strange company, on the one hand they are all about the avant garde and modern design, but at the same time they sell a huge number of retro watches, harking back to the days of Steve McQueen and the 'glory days' of motorsport. I have to say I'm not a fan of retro watches, and those straps with the holes in make me feel slightly nauseous. No, give me an F1 Kirium, an Aquaracer or a Monaco 24 anyday (although I have to say, skeleton version aside I'm really not sold on the new look Carreras).

The other part of the TAG range that leaves me cold is what I will (half jokingly) call the 'Old Man' Carreras. You know, this kind of thing...

Old Man Carrera 101

Classy it may be, but 1800 of my pounds will never be spent on anything with a brown leather strap, I'm sure TAG sell plenty of these kind of watches, but I can't for the life of me see why. Surely if you want a dull watch then you might as well buy one from a boring brand like Longines. No? It seems nuts to me to buy a watch like this from a company like TAG Heuer, but then I never believed anyone would want a Porsche Cayenne and now they seem to be the most common Porsche on the road (despite a ludicrous price tag and being hideously ugly).

To me a luxury watch should be something that looks different and stands out from the crowd. Colour is usually good, as long as it is deployed tastefully, the simple addition of a red second hand can often be enough to turn a nice looking timepiece into an object of desire, and TAG seems to understand this design philosophy quite well. They damn well charge a premium for it mind you, but they know as well as you do that these little details are enough to make you reach for another £500.

Of course they don't make it so blatant, the coloured highlight is merely a signal, a clue to the wise that this isn't just an ordinary Carrera. Often the coloured hands or strap liner goes hand in hand with a limited edition version or in some cases a higher spec movement. Of course, I'd be happy with an ETA, but that's not the way the game is played and we all sign up to be seduced and fall for it every time.

Having said all that, I'm not completely averse to a classy watch, the Twin Time with the white dial is very tasty, and if I had unlimited funds I'd probably buy one. No idea when I'd wear it, or to what purpose I'd put the second time zone hand, but I'm not a complete philistine and I can appreciate applied markers on a clean dial as much as the next man.

But since I don't have unlimited funds I have to save and not get distracted by watches I kind-of-like, otherwise I'll never get to where I really want to be, which is usually at the higher end of the TAG spectrum. Kind of round about here in fact...

The epitome of TAG Heuerness!

I suppose I should apologize to any Cayenne driving, 'Old Man Carrera' wearing readers... I really don't have enough readers to start alienating parts of my audience, but I guess the chances are you probably won't like my blog anyway, which is fair enough. After all, if you want a serious and professional TAG Heuer resource you have Calibre11, whereas this place is more like a glorified forum where everybody gets to listen to ME!

Comments are welcomed of course, and indeed encouraged, so please join in and let me know what you think.