FEATURE: TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraphs - Pricing

Seems like everybody has an opinion about the pricing of these new Formula 1 Solargraph models, and frankly some of it is plain unrealistic. Unfortunately for TAG Heuer the MoonSwatch set a very low bar when it came to pricing, but at the same time the quality was pretty dismal and when people actually got hands on with them even they were deemed to be 'over-priced'.

Before the new Formula 1s were announced people were talking ridiculous figures, I saw £300 banded about which was a complete joke, no way was TAG Heuer ever going to be selling a Formula 1 of any description for £300. But, said the dolts, at £300 TAG Heuer will clear up, they will sell millions... 

I'm not so sure about that, honestly. The MoonSwatch was a phenomenon, the chances of repeating its success were slim and more likely TAG Heuer would be left with egg on their face and a lot of unsold stock, meanwhile the watches they did sell would likely make very little (if any - bearing in mind selling at scale would definitely involve selling through third parties) profit and that's hardly the business model the Swiss luxury brands aspire to, is it?  

Let's not forget, the MoonSwatch was not an Omega, it was a Swatch. It piggybacked on Omega's popularity sure, and that's what made it such a phenomenon. If TAG owned a 'Swatch' of their own they could pull the same stunt, although I doubt even that would have the same impact (just look at the Blancpain Swatch).

And besides, you may not have noticed but in recent times TAG Heuer have started hiding their 'cheaper' watches at the back of their boutiques, as if they are something to be ashamed of. I can't see them wanting to put £300 watches in their windows, but anyway £300 is completely ludicrous, so let's park that right now.

Adrian Barker recently made a video in which he said that TAG Heuer messed up the pricing and they should have been £600. I disagree. For sure if they were £600 I would already have bought one, but for TAG to achieve that kind of price they would likely have to sell 5 times as many just to make the same profit. Why would you do that? If you're not taking the MoonSwatch route and going so cheap that people would literally wear them for a year and throw them away when the pushers inevitably break off, then there's no point going half way.

 

Yes, I had hoped these would be a bit cheaper, but given that they have the Solargraph movements and therefore there's no need to worry about the battery for 15 years, I think they are priced just about acceptably. And yes, some of them do have polymer cases and bezels, but some of them have black DLC cases, and those are only £100 more, which is a bit of a bargain when you look at pretty much any other black DLC TAG Heuer versus the same model in plain stainless steel.

And look, how could TAG Heuer ever sell a Formula 1 that was less than £1000? In a way I'm amazed they even brought them back at all, given that WIS have been beating TAG Heuer up for making 'cheap plastic watches' for the last forty years... but bringing them back at a lowball price would have made all their other watches look ridiculously overpriced.

Honestly if you want a £300 Formula 1 then I suggest you head to Ebay, there are plenty of them available, but just know that you're buying a 30-35 year old watch and sooner or later it's probably going to need repairing, and if you can't do it yourself you'll probably find it cheaper to throw it away and buy another one. As for me, well I was thinking about buying one of the new red ones, but given I have to wait until September for it to come out I already feel like I've lost interest... so in a way I agree that they messed up the launch, not by pricing them too high, but by not having all nine models ready to go when the buzz hit.