New Post: TAG Heuer’s 2020 Vision

[OttoWilliam]

Remo

Maybe... but Guy Semon said , that they really want to bring back the Isograph later. So the scarcity might just be a matter of time.

If that the case, i hope the one that buy Autavia Chronometer later didn't bite the nail after Isograph reappear maybe they are different price

 

[dtf]

Anyone here work in sales? Is it normal to buy back all the stock and cancel the product, when you find out that more people than you expected want to buy it?

 

[Jim Dollares]

dtf

Anyone here work in sales? Is it normal to buy back all the stock and cancel the product, when you find out that more people than you expected want to buy it?

Sounds kinda obvious that they are not telling the full story

 

[Calibre11]

dtf

Anyone here work in sales? Is it normal to buy back all the stock and cancel the product, when you find out that more people than you expected want to buy it?

That's hardly what's happened here...you've left out the bit about not being able to supply those high volumes.

From what I can see, there is an issue in scaling up production; dealers have placed orders for watches that now won't be supplied; therefore a replacement reference has been put together to avoid cancelled sales; to avoid confusion in the channel the existing stock has been pulled.

I'd like to dig more into what the issues are with scaling up production, but once that happened, the rest of the steps seem totally logical.

 

[jdcdpm52]

Calibre11

That's hardly what's happened here...you've left out the bit about not being able to supply those high volumes.

From what I can see, there is an issue in scaling up production; dealers have placed orders for watches that now won't be supplied; therefore a replacement reference has been put together to avoid cancelled sales; to avoid confusion in the channel the existing stock has been pulled.

I'd like to dig more into what the issues are with scaling up production, but once that happened, the rest of the steps seem totally logical.

Do you think there will still be the demand without the carbon hairspring? Do you think the demand was more on style and less on technology? I honestly was drawn first by the design. Learned about the new technology after wanting the watch. That was just icing on the cake for me.

 

[Mspeedster]

Calibre11

That's hardly what's happened here...you've left out the bit about not being able to supply those high volumes.

From what I can see, there is an issue in scaling up production; dealers have placed orders for watches that now won't be supplied; therefore a replacement reference has been put together to avoid cancelled sales; to avoid confusion in the channel the existing stock has been pulled.

I'd like to dig more into what the issues are with scaling up production, but once that happened, the rest of the steps seem totally logical.

I'm sorry, but the not being able to supply high volume demand part still seems fishy. TH could simply supply what they can and have a long waiting list (ehem Rolex), no need to pull back the existing stock that was already at the ADs. My local AD had several in stock, just waiting there to be bought. Those watches were all sent back.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Mspeedster

I'm sorry, but the not being able to supply high volume demand part still seems fishy. TH could simply supply what they can and have a long waiting list (ehem Rolex), no need to pull back the existing stock that was already at the ADs. My local AD had several in stock, just waiting there to be bought. Those watches were all sent back.

It is a strange story, isn't it!

 

[Calibre11]

jdcdpm52

Do you think there will still be the demand without the carbon hairspring? Do you think the demand was more on style and less on technology? I honestly was drawn first by the design. Learned about the new technology after wanting the watch. That was just icing on the cake for me.

Good question. I guess for true collectors like us, yes, I expect demand to be impacted, because we know (?) that there is a more collectible and technically interesting watch around the corner. For the punter on the street I don’t think it will have much impact. It’s still a Chronometer grade Autavia...

 

[Remo]

If I look at this image of an automatic movement (it is not from the Isograph movement itself) I get an impression how many steps it might take to reassemble the isograph technology. It's probably much more expensive to do this than to just put on your name on an existing movement, or even than to assemble a whole movement inhouse.
Maybe the relationship between production cost and price of the watch is not scalable enough at higher production rates, so they have to finetune the production process in that regard.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Remo

If I look at this image of an automatic movement (it is not from the Isograph movement itself) I get an impression how many steps it might take to reassemble the isograph technology. It's probably much more expensive to do this than to just put on your name on an existing movement, or even than to assemble a whole movement inhouse.
Maybe the relationship between production cost and price of the watch is not scalable enough at higher production rates, so they have to finetune the production process in that regard.

It is not as if TAG Heuer would not have known what they were taking on though!

 

[Remo]

Mr_Orange

It is not as if TAG Heuer would not have known what they were taking on though!

In respect to the technology this might be true, but Guy Semon said in the Interview, they did expect the demand to be lower: "We definitely under-estimated the orders of the Autavia Isograph and it is not an easy task to scale up production on such new technology, however we are working on that as we speak."

 

[Calibre11]

J Johan63

I am very curious what all this will mean for the new autavia chronograph. the leaked photos show that the following is written on the dail: autavia isograph chronometer flyback. This watch should therefore have the new carbon hairspring. so far I assume that this will also happen, assuming that the carbon hairspring will only come in the H02, so in the watches with more expensive in-house timepieces. If that will not happen, I will also start questioning the carbon hairspring project.

Agree- will be interesting to see what happens. Given that a) the Isograph has already been fitted to a Heuer 02 (Nanograph) and b) volumes for the more expensive Chrono would be lower, I hope we'll still see the Chronograph launched with the Isograph hairspring.

 

[Aquagraph]

Mspeedster

I'm sorry, but the not being able to supply high volume demand part still seems fishy. TH could simply supply what they can and have a long waiting list (ehem Rolex), no need to pull back the existing stock that was already at the ADs. My local AD had several in stock, just waiting there to be bought. Those watches were all sent back.

That was my thought too, but then again I guess if you have 'concerns' about reliability too that doesn't work so well... plus, do we know for sure that people will 'wait', TAG Heuer isn't Rolex after all. Part of the reason people are prepared to wait isn't just 'short supply' but also near guaranteed value retention and possible investment potential... of which TAG have neither.

 

[Jim Dollares]

Aquagraph

but then again I guess if you have 'concerns' about reliability too that doesn't work so well

Did Tag confirm that they are concerned about reliability? Think I need to read David's interview again, getting all confused between reality and rumors

 

[Yago]

Jim Dollares

Did Tag confirm that they are concerned about reliability? Think I need to read David's interview again, getting all confused between reality and rumors

No according to them there is no issue with these watches.

 

[Aquagraph]

Yago

No according to them there is no issue with these watches.

And we totally believe that.

 

[absolutemustard]

Remo

If I look at this image of an automatic movement (it is not from the Isograph movement itself) I get an impression how many steps it might take to reassemble the isograph technology. It's probably much more expensive to do this than to just put on your name on an existing movement, or even than to assemble a whole movement inhouse.
Maybe the relationship between production cost and price of the watch is not scalable enough at higher production rates, so they have to finetune the production process in that regard.

That looks like a hand winding chronograph.

The only thing in house on the cal 5 Isograph is this

 

[Calibre11]

J Johan63

The interview states:

2020 feels like the right time for the Carrera, Connected and Aquaracer lines to be upgraded.

Given that we have already seen photos of a mechanical carrera module ACBF2A80 in 2018 and 2019 (see the threat: 2018 TAG Heuer Mechanical Modules in the Tag Heuer Connected discussion) for the modular 45 series, I assume that both the Carrera and the Aquaracer will become modular for model year 2020. The ACBF2A80 is still for sale in a few places.

Now that the production of the H01 will be stopped, there will be Carreras with a closed dial in addition to the Carrera H02 skeletons. The design of case and dial will also be (slightly) adjusted I think.

The upgrade of the connected line will in my opinion be mainly technical.

What do you think about that?

To be clear, the comment about "2020 feels like the right time..." is my wrap up of the interview and my opinion, it is not a comment made by either of the Guys

 

[Hubert]

I, for one, am cautiously optimistic about seeing the new direction the team is taking. I think there is lots of room to grow the F1, Connected, Link, and Aquaracer lines, but on the flip-side, I also believe they have to exercise some caution with the Carrera and Autavia lines.

For those two, the heritage has to be respected, so I think evolutionary refinements would be far better, than another complete revolution, like the one we got during the Biver era.

 

[Remo]

Yesterday a huge swiss AD forwarded the following information from Tag Heuer to me:
- Autavia Cal. 5 chronometer: postponed to 2020 (without carboncomposite hairspring).
- New autavia chronograph Isograph: annulled.