Thought please ! About the brand

Hi Guys ! ,

Recently i came across a youtuber (on youtube, not on real life) that made a video about Tag Heuer aquaracer ceramic bezel (with the cyclops. e.g: WAY218A and all the families). Now thats normal, considering lots of youtube video are already made about that. Then i started to read the comment section, some people asked whether its a good watch, this and that. Some people ask him what he will choose between aquaracer and planetocean. His answer was this aquaracer was really good but omega on different level.

Now i want to know honestly do you think omega is on different level ? if yes, please state why. Could it be because its in-house co axial movement ? or it is bigger diameter ?

What about longines,in comparison to tag heuer ? Anyone here think that Tag Heuer is miles better or vice versa ?

I am not trying to create divisions here (which by the way, already a lot in watch collectors world). But i just want to know what other people think of a brand and perception can be very different from one another which is interesting. Talking about watches for fun.

I am gonna tell first what i think:

I like Tag Heuer. There is no denying it. Carrera, monaco and aquaracer being my favorite range from the brand (in that particular order).
Apart from that, i like longines as well. In fact, i was just choosing between Longines pilot watch 49mm and heuer 01 45mm before (heuer 01 45mm the winner this time).
I might prefer longines over omega too. Though i know lots of people would disagree, but hey, personal choice speaks here. I love that omega dark side of the moon watch though. Every now and then i am thinking about owning co axial movement. just because. but every now and then i am thrown away by the price (and yes, it gets even more and more expensive recently. omega owner should be proud).
Everytime i choose to buy watch, i always look about the 3M (model, movement, and material) plus of course the price to sum all of that. For me personally, it's easy to make a watch using the best material, throw in decorated in house movement and charge customer super expensive price for that. For me, the challenge is more how to deliver the perfect value for money watch. In this sense, i think Tag Heuer delivers most of the time.
Moving on. What do i think about zenith and their elprimero ? I used to be elprimero fans. Well i might still one (who doesnt?). The current zenith elprimero 45mm is so cool. But their Night Vision Elprimero kills my lust for it. something about the sapphire glass placement that seems...popping-up and dominated the bezel...i dont know...i cant explain unless you see one yourself (yes i see one myself in the store, wanting to buy it before the epiphany came).
Now, what will i choose between elprimero and heuer 01 movement. it used to be elprimero all the way. but then if something i learned along the way, the movement high beat its not always the one and only measurement for accuracy. Yes, who can doubt elprimero accuracy and robustness. but patek movement beating only 3hz with small rotor is very very accurate too. i tried heuer 01 movement. so far i really like it. Too bad never really had chance to try elprimero.

I think overall tag heuer this year has been doing great. One of the things that caught the attention of everyone is the heuer 02 tourbillon. Now as a very cool tourbillon it is in my opinion, i feel like the movement from the backcase could have been be more..."decorated". From the technical point of view i am sure it might not have effect, But i am wishing more for tourbillon (yes its not the most expensive out there, but still....).

Panerai will launch their thinnest watch very soon. and what i like about it, is that they use the small rotor. I wish i wish, tag heuer have small rotor as a selection (or they had or have that i havent know about ?)

Between patek and alange...i might have chosen alange for now. but i dont see myself very classic dress watch any time soon. Well maybe, jaeger reverso. really love that one.

Between AP and hublot ? its hard. AP have some of the best looking AP ROO in my opinion. While hublot have the black cathedral that i used to like.

Favorite independent brand for watch ? i got to say FP Journe ! will choose them over rolex, i guess. rolex is a very cool watch but it just for me FP Journe is cooler unless rolex deepsea have transparent case back (i wish, i wish).

I am also a big fan of sistem 51 ! owns 2 of them !

Okay thats my thought for now. let me hear yours. thanks

Yea, I too have been hearing many say over the years that Omega is on a 'different level' than TAG Heuer and quite frankly, I think those who say it are the ones who have no idea what they are talking about! I took a look at the Omega Dark Side of something recently and....nice watch, nothing special (besides that co-axle movement I guess) but for the grand price of $14k (Canadian), no THANK YOU! Way over priced! To me, and this is my personal opinion, Omega is an overpriced Swatch. They can argue that their movements are in-house but you would you say the same thing if TAG uses a Zenith movement and saying it's their own? I think TAG has been unfairly bashed over the years for using third party movements while other brands who does the same are allowed to get away with it!

Another thing that drives me kind of nuts with people who bashes TAG is how they say that TAG makes quartz watches. Although I sort of agreed that quartz watches does kind of 'cheapens' the image I would also like to point out that other brands also make quartz watches or did make them at one time.

Ok, enough with my ranting (sorry OttoWilliam), and since this is a good post about thoughts, I'm going to go a bit off topic and put my thoughts down on where I think TAG as a company should go.

Separate the brand

1. Heuer - since their heritage reissues has been extremely popular, it would be nice if TAG could create a separate a line just labeled 'Heuer'. This could be their so-called 'luxury line' with nothing but in-house movements catered to their heritage line ie Monaco, Carrera, Monza, Autavia,Camero etc. I think this could bring back some fans of the previous years as well could potential attract those watch snobs who always wanted a TAG but hate the name 'TAG' or those that couldn't justified buying a non in-house watch.
Price range: $5k plus

2. TAG Heuer - all non in-house movement watches, so F1, Aquraracer etc. This should keep TAG's commitment of primary being an entry level luxury watch company which should keep attracting new consumers to the brand.
Price range: $1k - $5k

3. TAG Heuer Special Editions - Haute Horlogerie, Tourbillon and Special Editions - name says it all. Charge whatever you want but please stop making everything special editions ie. David Guetta, Nissan Nismo etc!

I think by doing something like this, TAG's image as a whole could be a bit more respected and taken more seriously in the watch world. This could make people see that yes, we have DJs as brand ambassadors and they wear funky colourful quartz TAG Heuers (I was shaking my head when TAG did this) but hey, we also kept to our roots that made us so check out our more serious line 'Heuer'.

That's it from me.

Hi BPD,

You made interestings point there. Quartz. some company have it, some company don't. Everyone agree (well, almost everyone anyway) that it "cheapens" the image. But do you think that some companies benefit far TOO much from NOT having quartz at all ? its almost too easy nowadays, in my opinion, to promote your brand as non-quartz producer, making only mechanical watch since..., etc. I myself not a quartz fan by the way. Some produce quartz better than others too . Seiko and G-Shock for example produces lots and lots of quartz but never get the bashing (not saying they deserve it either). While i am might not buying quartz for my collection, i do like the dead-beat second (true second) of a quartz movement. JLC have one watch that the second-hand move like true second but its an automatic movement. i like that one !

Yes ! the reissues will be very cool too ! i agree. I cant wait to see both the reissues of autavia and camero (dont think they been even talking about the camero one)

@Aquagraph wrote in his blog about the david guetta watch. Thanks to him i know now its an automatic watch. Now at least if there is one on the store i will willing to see one for myself. Oh by the way, in most of my experience buying tag heuer watch. i found that the real thing is better than the photo (and vice versa for most of other brands). I don't know, maybe i am bit bias on this one. Anyone here feeling the same ?

Another thing is that, do you believe tag heuer is only as good as they said as entry level luxury watch. Once you have tag heuer after that you move on to omega then rolex then AP then patek, for example. because i heard that a lot too. anyone here have the same believe that tag heuer "is the first great watch and thats it". i find it hard to agree with this one.

I like tag heuer haute horlogerie as well. i kinda like the movement concept and the design of V4. But i dont agree the size of 42mm. I personally think that it will be better if the produce it on 46mm (again personal taste speaks here). At least, the mikrograph 2016 for me looks good and the price is fair too.

At this rate, i think even after reissuing the more "serious" line of heuer (monza, monaco, autavia and etc) it will take some time for watch snob to consider liking tag heuer again.

Have a nice weekends everyone !

Some great points here. I discussed the TAG Heuer name with JC Biver earlier this year...he agrees that there is a logic to go back to Heuer...but to paraphrase, it wouldn't make sense to do it now, almost 30 years after the name changed. Remember that only a small percentage of watch buyers would know about the Heuer/ TAG Heuer story, and there is no point making a dramatic change for the sake of the hard-core.

Bottom line, there has been too much investment in the TAG Heuer name to change it now...