FIRST IMPRESSIONS: KITH Heuer Formula 1 Quartz Re-Edition Watches

 

It's long been rumoured that TAG Heuer were going to release some kind of 'classic' Formula 1 piece this year and fair play to them they did an amazing job of keeping it under wraps until just a few days before release when it emerged that the new watch was going to be a collaboration with Ronnie Fieg's 'Kith' brand. Like most people on this side of the pond (I suspect), I'd never heard of them. But then as a 54 year old man living in the UK, who thinks £50 for a shirt is more than enough, I'm hardly their target customer!

In the wider watch community though the penny dropped and Hodinkee's recent 'Talking Watches' interview with Ronne Fieg was exposed as the thirty minute advertisment it surely was... and when you add in that LVMH has a stake in Hodinkee and Frederic Arnault and Ronnie are reportedly buddies, well... you can see exactly how all this came about; something that wasn't lost on the commentors on Hodinkee's Instagram post about the new watches incidentally.

Because of course this wasn't a 'watch' at all, but a series of ten watches inspired by (to varying degrees) the original Formula 1 watches which were produced between 1986 and 1996.

Ever since the Moonswatch arrived there's been talk that TAG Heuer should re-release their original Formula 1; the problem for TAG Heuer was that it represented everything the company no longer want to be - affordable and accessible. Plus no doubt while the opportunity was there it was also problematic for the brand, who surely wouldn't want to be seen as simply 'copying' the Moonswatch. Somehow they needed to find their own angle, and so the Kith Heuer Formula 1 was born.... and honestly I can't tell you how much I hate typing 'Kith Heuer'!

On the day before release the Insta-teasing started and it became clear that the rumours were true and TAG Heuer had indeed done the unthinkable and replaced the 'TAG' part of the TAG Heuer logo with Kith. Really? This is the first TAG Heuer watch ever made and you think the best way to celebrate that is to re-issue it WITHOUT the name TAG on it? 

ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME? 

Sure, put Kith on the backplate. Put Kith on the dial if you absolutely have to... but this was too much and honestly it felt like a slap in the face to all the TAG Heuer fans out there who have been waiting and hoping for the opportunity to buy a re-issue of the watch that started it all. But unfortunately this is TAG all over, a company who wilfully disrespect their (actually not so) recent history while eternally paying homage to the 'glory days' of Heuer. Not that they should disrespect the Heuer days either obviously, but for too long TAG Heuer seem to want to brush the last 40 years under the carpet like it's something to be ashamed of. 

As the population ages and time moves on I wonder how this will change. We've already seen a subtle shift from 60/70s revivalism to 70/80s as the watch industry realises it hasn't got anything left to re-issue (and God forbid it would make a new watch without taking 'inspiration from the past'). I wonder, in another ten years will people be nostalgically collecting S/ELs and 6000s, pushing the prices up to the point where TAG Heuer finally realise that these watches weren't the embarrassment they currently seem to regard them as. But I digress. Let's keep this on track or I'll be writing this for days...

So, like I said, for a long time it's been rumoured that TAG Heuer would be releasing a new version of the classic Formula 1 and of course plenty of people had a lot to say about what they wanted from it. While a few people wanted the watch to be exactly as it was originally, most of the comments I saw were along the lines of: 'Make it bigger, 35mm is too small for men in 2024'. 'Upgrade the materials' and 'Keep it affordable and I'll buy several'. 

Personally I agree about the size. I only have one of my original F1s left now, and one of the reasons for that is that the watch is just too damned small for me. But I think the size is part of the 'look' and making it too big might have ruined it. Honestly I would have settled for 38mm, just big enough to make it not look quite so dinky. 

As for upgrading the materials, well a sapphire crystal was an absolute no brainer and the old plastic straps were truly crap so upgrading them to rubber was also a must, but I didn't really think much else needed to change, especially if we wanted the price to stay 'reasonable'.

Keeping the price reasonable was the problem though. Because the original Formula 1 was so 'cheap' back in the day that a lot of people had some very unrealistic ideas about where TAG Heuer was going to pitch their new model. Time and again I saw people claim the new watch should be under £300 as 'adjusted for inflation' that's what the price 'should be'.

Yeah right. If we know anything about the Swiss watch industry over the last few years, it's that they treat 'inflation' as a jumping off point for whatever they think they can get away with. So personally I NEVER thought that was anywhere even close to being realistic. However, I did think that they might want to slide the new 'classic' F1 right under the (now rather long in the tooth) entry level Formula 1s that have now crept up over the £1000 mark and maybe offer them around the £850-900 mark since it would re-serve it's original purpose of offering an 'affordable' entry point to TH ownership.. albeit adjusted for the nonsensical pricing structure of the 2020s*. 

Obviously what I failed to take into account was the simple fact that the classic F1 is an icon, and of course when you bring back an icon (even a cheap, plastic one) it needs to be priced accordingly. Oh silly me.  

(*On reflection, I've come to realise that this doesn't really make any sense because I don't think in this day and age the 'classic' F1 is really the ideal 'starter' watch. If somebody is buying their first seriously expensive watch they want it to look 'pukka' and these colourful throwbacks are really more for the collector who already has a few nice watches I think).

Unfortunately, by the time the watches were released, so many people had convinced themselves that TAG Heuer were about to drop a 'cheap' Moonswatch-type product that they were practically chomping at the bit to 'collect 'em all'. And of course, when they saw the actual price... well, lets just say the comments were 'predictable'.

A wise man once said 'If the price of a watch makes no sense to you, that probably means it's not aimed at you'. That wise man was Ariel Adams, and when you think about it what he said makes a lot of sense. Of course he wasn't talking about the Kith Heuer Formula 1s, he was probably talking about watches in the £20,000+ range, but the maxim still holds true. 

Clearly this release wasn't really aimed at the 'watch community', but at the Kith customers who seemingly will buy anything if it's hyped enough, and crucially who wouldn't see the product as overpriced, because they probably don't have a clue how much the watches originally cost, or indeed how much they could pick up an original for. Not that they would probably have any interest in a non Kith branded Formula 1...

And Kith did their best to hype these watches, even going so far as to organise a draw to see who the lucky people would be that got the honour of being allowed to buy one - a play straight from the pages of the HYPE playbook! Honestly, in a way you have to admire these people. I wish I was smart enough to figure out how to ream people's wallets like that...

But of course, the watch community felt slighted, cheated, insulted even... and within hours I started seeing comments like 'All the good work you have done lately, all that good-will wiped out with this garbage'. Oh dear. But honestly, what did they expect? The original TAG Heuer Formula 1 is one of the few TAG Heuers that almost everyone likes, because it's colourful, fun and a bit of nostalgia. So pimping it to Ronne Fieg as a hipsters trinket was never really going to go over well, was it? 

And as You-Tuber Britt Pierce commented in her video, her recently purchased original Formula 1 now feels a little less special; tainted as it has been by this hype-drop. 

It's a shame really because leaving aside the Godawful decision to brand these 'Kith Heuers' it's actually quite fun to see new variations on the classic Formula 1 theme. Unfortunately the watches are still 35mm in diameter and thus too small for me, but they have been upgraded to sapphire glass and rubber straps (which they absolutely bloody should at this price). 

And now here is where things get confusing...

There are, as I've already mentioned, ten pieces in total. Seven of which are named after cities where Kith have stores; these are only available in store or by entering the draw to be able to purchase online. Five of these, the ones on rubber straps, are limited to 250 pieces, while the other two which come on bracelets are limited to 350 pieces.

Of the other three, two are only available from TAG Heuer boutiques (the green/black and the blue/black, both limited to 825 pieces) and the one remaining watch (the eggshell dial/black bezel on a bracelet) is being shared between Kith and TAG Heuer, this one is limited to 1350 pieces.

Are you following? 

On top of that there is also a boxed set of all ten watches, 25 of which will be sold by Kith, leaving 50 for distribution through the TAG Heuer network. 

As for pricing, again this is a little all over the place... the three watches available on the TAG Heuer website are all priced at £1350. While the watches on the Kith website appear to be £1550... though the prices have since disappeared and I'm hearing different figures from people who live in the US and are seeing the prices in dollars ($1500). No idea what TAG Heuer are charging for the box set as it isn't on the website, but Kith seem to be charging $18,600 or thereabouts.

Unfortunately the pricing is the one thing that TAG Heuer seem to be getting the most flack for and here I think the problem is that people are drawing (completely unjustifiable) comparisons with the Moonswatch. Yes, a lot of people wanted a 'cheap' TAG Heuer, but why on Earth did they think TAG Heuer would want to give them that? The whole Swiss watch industry is making a concerted effort to drive itself upmarket, with price hikes way over inflation... making a super affordable watch in no way assists that goal and besides, these watches are not 'bioceramic' crap that's going to fall apart in five minutes. 

What these people seemingly fail to realise is that in the mid-80s TAG Heuer wasn't a household name, it was a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy that tried to re-invent itself and compete with Swatch during the peak of the quartz crisis. TAG Heuer in 2024 is a luxury brand and as such it has a certain level of pricing it has to maintain. If anything a cheap, throwaway watch would do immeasurable harm to TAG Heuer's image and just makes no sense to a brand in its position. 

Let's not forget, the Moonswatch was an expensive Swatch, and emphatically NOT an Omega. 

A couple of other things to note, oddly the two black cased models on the TAG Heuer website are steel coated with PVD, however the black/coloured case models on the Kith website are actually made of Arnite (the material the original watches were made of). Quite why this is I have no idea, though I wonder if TAG Heuer baulked at trying to sell 'plastic' watches at £1350 'themselves'? Let's not forget that one of the things TAG haters have always thrown at the brand is their 'plastic' Formula 1s, but then why not make the 'cities' watches steel too? Maybe they couldn't get the colours to work in PVD? Or maybe it was too expensive for small volumes?

Also, and very disappointingly, the two watches that appear to have full-lume dials actually do not. The dial is described as 'eggshell', so unfortunately these are just mimicking the 'look' of the classic full-lume dial models. 

Oh dear. Could they not think of any more ways to annoy the watch community?

Oh yeah... there's also the absolutely cringeworthy 'Just Us' script at the bottom of the dial (where Kith should have been, frankly) and on the steel cased models there's also an extremely naff looking 'Kith & Kin' engraving. Jeeeesus.... NO!

To be fair, people who have seen these say they are much better made than the originals and I'm sure Ronnie's acolytes will lap this up and TAG Heuer will consider the release a tremendous success. But I wonder at what cost? It's been amazing to me how much positive press TAG Heuer have been receiving of late (something the brand has always struggled with) and it remains to be seen how this 'hype-release' affects that. Sure, the initial reaction seems pretty favourable, but the mainstream media never says anything negative about anything. Ever. I mean when was the last time you read a mainstream media review where the reviewer didn't like the watch. Or had anything approaching an 'opinion'?

Exactly. 

Comments on Instagram and You Tube videos tell a very different story, and sure some of them will be from people who just love to hate the brand, but there are many that clearly originate from long standing fans and customers of the brand who clearly feel aggrieved with what has been done to the original Formula 1. One comment I saw went as far as to congratulate the brand on 'destroying their reputation in 24hrs...' I mean I wouldn't go that far, but clearly some people are not at all happy. 

It remains to be seen whether this is a one off or whether as many people hope TAG Heuer will eventually release more proper 'TAG Heuer' branded 'classic' Formula 1s in the future. I kinda hope they do because at least then the people that wanted one will have a chance to pick one up. And I have to say, if this had been 38mm and branded properly then I probably would have bought one myself - even at £1350. But since I care not one jot about Kith, this is an easy pass - even though some of them look pretty cool at first glance. Before you notice all the 'Kith' nonsense basically....

Okay I think I've had my say, and now it's time to turn the mic over to the Council of Considered Opinion. Honestly, I knew the scores would be low, but I never dreamed they would be this low... TAG Heuer has really pissed some people off with these watches! 

Oh yeah, I guess I should remind you that these scores are in fact out of 10...!

AVERAGE SCORE 5.5/10: "I  love that they stayed true to original design, size and colours. Don't love the branding or the price."

AVERAGE SCORE 1/10: "Same here. 1/10 for all. It could have been a hit and that’s what bothers me most."

AVERAGE SCORE 4/10: "4/10 for all of them. This is a miss for me. It is disappointing TH didn’t take the opportunity to increase the size and while I appreciate the desire to cash in on the KITH demographic, changing the logo is a step too far and kills it for me. If they used the original logo, I would have tried to buy one."

AVERAGE SCORE 0/10: "Total shite. 0/10 for all of them."

AVERAGE SCORE 3.15/10: "For me, they’re too small, but I respect the reason why. I certainly do not respect the branding change on the dial and strap, with the script “Just Us” and the engraving “Kith & Kin” being just plain awful. Proper own goal in my opinion, by not having the balls to risk releasing these on their own. I could have lived with a single crossover special edition with Kith branding to go with TAG Heuer branded t-shirts and caps, but not the whole lot. Let’s not mention the £3k for the box either…"

AVERAGE SCORE 3.5/10: "It's a shame that they are a bit too small. And don't even get me started on the logo. Pity."

AVERAGE SCORE 7/10: "I am sure everyone would like to have watch that is "just between us" type of thing.."

AVERAGE SCORE 2/10: "Across the board 2. I find these too small, too expensive, and just shocking branding, which is purely egoistic for the KITH & shilling from the ‘dink."

AVERAGE SCORE 4.1/10: "Absolutely destroyed with this shambles of a Kith Heuer shield. So disappointed that this release was so anticipated and turned to shit."

AVERAGE SCORE 0/10: "I think they all look fine. It's nice that they're 35mm and slim like the originals, however this release is a 0/10 for me. This long-wished-for, highly desired release is instead a hype drop and overpriced to match. The first and probably most important watch of the TAG era being reissued with a different name on the shield just makes no sense either. And the only way to get them is to enter a lottery? Rather than being a proper reissue of one of the coolest watches TAG has ever put out, instead this is a love letter to flippers and a huge middle finger to the TAG faithful."

AVERAGE SCORE 6.3/10: "They look very fun. Almost identical to the originals. The logo, well... But TH stays true to the original size. I would have loved them a little bit bigger, but I ignored the size when scoring."

AVERAGE SCORE 1.5/10: "I absolutely love the original Formula 1's but these are not great. They look like a cheap copy of the originals with a copycat badge. Also why make a copy of a full-lume dial watch that looks like the dial is lumed and not lume the dial! Way too overpriced too, just buy an original version."

AVERAGE SCORE 5.6//10: "It bothers me that everyone's score is low, but the price is too high compared to the likes of Omega x Swatch. I think the right price for this watch is about $800~1000. Also, I am very dissatisfied with the sales method. I don't want the 1 person, 1 watch system, and the 10 piece set is a raffle among limited customers, which is not fair."

AVERAGE SCORE 1/10: "1/10 across the board for me, sorry. Not worth my words with how much a wasted opportunity this was."

AVERAGE SCORE 5.1/10: "Lose the Kith branding and sayings and they would have been the watches of the year. 5 out of 10 for them all except WA121J.BT0012 (6/10). That’s my favourite of the bunch. I hope these are just a taste of what a Tag offering might be in the future."

AVERAGE SCORE 1/10: "1/10 across the board, Kith Heuer badge makes them look like nasty fakes."

AVERAGE SCORE 1.7/10: "Disappointing! The hotly anticipated release of the updated classic F1s (the same character and cool factor but with better quality materials) has been completely ruined by the ill-advised collaboration with Kith. No. I'd never heard of them either!

I can't make up my mind which issue is the worst, the disgraceful decision to change the logo on the dial, the bewildering combinations of piece numbers and availability or the outrageous fact that you have to enter a lottery to possibly get one. As if! And don't get me started on the faux-lume dials!"

AVERAGE SCORE 6.5/10: "As a big fan of the originals, I feel all the watches look awesome and I would've given the series a 9/10. But the KITH-Heuer branding just kills it for me, it ruined what might've been my WOTY: the Box Set. I can't help but feel betrayed. Nevertheless, objectively speaking the watches still look great. My favourites are Tokyo, Hawaii, New York, Toronto and LA. But I still have to deduct points for that awful branding. The Ronnie Fieg childhood watch is my least favourite, as I blame him for messing up a classic. 

I think a lot of people are giving very low scores because of the KITH branding and high price, not because of how they look. I wonder what kind of scores they might have been given by people who gave 0 or 1, if branded TAG Heuer with KITH above 6 o'clock, same price and same limited numbers.

AVERAGE SCORE 2.35/10: "I've dreaded scoring these. While I would not have been interested in these even if they said TAG Heuer on the dial, I still would have appreciated their existence as I know it would have made many TAG Heuer fans happy. I enjoy seeing the OG Formula 1s, I've just never wanted one for myself. 

However, given this co-branding of "KITH Heuer" on the dial (not to mention the price of these pieces), I am completely apathetic toward them. It would have been acceptable to have TAG Heuer and KITH on the dial, but "KITH Heuer" is just wrong as a longtime fan of Heuer/TAG Heuer. Scores would have been higher, but the branding of "KITH Heuer" knocked them down some."

AVERAGE SCORE 2.95/10: "I would have liked a slightly larger size than the original model, and of course the TAG Heuer logo (I would see the current TH logo -and even in colour- as logical choice for this remake instead of the first version of the TH logo)... but keeping the same size and with that fake logo I don't see any sense in buying one of these Kith F1 instead of an original one, and at a fraction of the price. 

The fake logo is for me the biggest flaw, but I also don't like the 'Just Us' text at the bottom of the dial, and even less the 'Kith & Kin' on the case of the steel versions, which is why my score of 2/10 for the steel ones. It seems like a bad engraving of a watch to give to the couple, personalized for one person… but it should be not included in the entire series. 

A Hodinkee Dato or Skipper don’t have the Hodinkee logo attached to the Heuer logo, and not even on the dial. Kith and TAG Heuer should have been more respectful of the history of this model -and logo-, especially when it was the first watch ever to incorporate the TAG Heuer logo!Unless Kith has bought TAG Heuer from LVMH of course, then we would have to accept this logo.

- - -

Well, there you have it. Clearly the bulk of the Council is neither impressed nor at all happy with what TAG Heuer have done with this release and have chosen to display their displeasure here. For the record I didn't score them 0/10 or anything close (in fact now that the scoring has been finalised I can't help but think that I've been way too generous with my scores - I actually scored them and then forgot to take off some points for the Kith branding 🤣), but I totally understand why some members have chosen to do this.

A quick Google shows that Ebay currently has about 140 of these watches for sale, with 25 of them here in the UK. So it would seem that quite a high proportion of the watches sold here were bought with the express intention of flipping. Given there were only three sites where the watches were available (and from what I heard the stock availability was quite limited) that seems like quite a lot. Remember TAG Heuer only had 825 of the rubber strap version worldwide.

But then the whole purpose of this release was to play the hype-game, and flipping absolutely goes hand in hand with that... so what else can you expect, really? Amusingly I also saw some for sale on 'Stock-X' for truly ludicrous prices (£5000) but I would be very surprised if anybody was stupid enough to pay that.

Then again... if you're prepared to pay £900 for a linen shirt, then why not?