WBP1112.FT6199
The watch world is a leaky old place, but TAG Heuer managed to keep this one under wraps right up until the day before launch and even then all we got was the name, no pictures or specs (someone managed to download a bunch of text from the Watches & Wonders website and leaked it onto the internet). Solargraph.... that sounded exciting, particularly as watches with 'graph' in the name tend to be a little unusual or special: Micrograph, Multigraph, Aquagraph...
So, of course my first reaction was to Google 'solargraph' and it told me that 'solargraphy' is 'the art of long exposure photography that captures of the image of the sun moving across the sky. These exposures can last days, months, even years.' This was accompanied by some examples of such photography, which lead me to suspect that what was coming was probably a Calibre 5 Aquaracer with some kind of funky dial.
Well, not exactly. What we actually got was the first ever solar powered TAG Heuer watch... which is quite something and worthy of a special edition time piece. But at the same time, solar power is nothing new in the watch world and is well established, especially when you look at the Japanese brands. So, if the movement isn't perhaps as revolutionary as TAG Heuer would like us to believe, then the rest of the watch better excite us or this thing will be dead in the water.
On that score TAG Heuer have embraced the 'Solargraphy' theme and interpreted it with a lume infused carbon bezel, featuring patterns that represent the aforementioned photography. Alongside this they have created a black sunray dial which is partially transparent to allow the solar panel behind it to receive the necessary sunlight to charge.
TAG Heuer claim two minutes of sunlight will charge the watch for a whole day (handy in the UK) and I must admit the idea of a solar powered Aquaracer with no need for battery changes holds a lot of appeal for me. I am slightly confused about the case though... so far the TAG Heuer website doesn't say anything about the case, it says the bezel is DLC coated, but doesn't mention the case. On the other hand Chisolm Hunter's website claims the case is sandblasted steel... and yet in the video from Watches & Wonders it looks black.
The publicity shots definitely make it look like the surface is sandblasted but how would that make it look black without a coating, and if you coated it would that render the sandblasting pointless? Perhaps TAG Heuer have created some clever new sandblasted black finish, but if they have you would think they would be shouting about it.
I guess we'll have to wait and see until the watch hits the stores, in the meantime let's throw this into the lion's den that is the Council of Considered Opinion.
WBP1112.FT6199: 6.9 / 10
5/10. "Cannot understand the marketing. It’s an adventure watch which I thought the Autavia was heading part towards? Why Aquaracer? And the tech is old, great, but old so don’t pretend it’s new."
6/10. "Interesting but I'm not the target audience for this one."
8/10. "Very cool, love the concept, love the marketing images, a bit unsure as to how it would look in the flesh, but really love the solar angle."
6.5/10. "Nice idea, interesting."
8/10. "Not only does it look super cool with an intriguing bezel insert, also a promising sign of what's to come, I hope TAG will invest more in luxury high accuracy quartz."
7/10. "Interesting move for the movement and I guess better than just quartz."
7/10. "Renders make it look a bit mystical. Need to see this in the metal."
7.5/10. "Interesting twist on using solar technology. Let's see if it's as good and efficient as advertised."
4/10. "A Casio by any other name."
5/10. "TAG is finally getting with the program and providing a solar powered watch. The bezel might be an innovative mix of carbon and lume, but the swirly look of the bezel ruins the watch for me."
6/10. "Solar power battery charge in just two minutes sounds promising, but I don’t like the bezel…"
7/10. "I like the execution, but the price feels a little steep."
6/10. "Nice tech and overall design. Green bezel not my flavour but I understand why other might love it. Still a quartz and therefore expensive. Certainly if you compare to similar Japanese tech."
6/10. "The tech is nothing new. I have 3 solar powered G-Shocks! The bezel is pretty funky though, hence the slightly above average score."
For more on the TAG Heuer Solargraph please click the link below:
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