What is up w Tag line of products. Other than the Monaco, everything else looks and feels …rushed
Is it just me or is TH rapidly shooting toward contemporary designs, and shed away their HEUER half?
Why can’t they dipped into their vast archive and pull out a few classics to reinvigorate the brand, instead of releasing mediocre watches.

I’m in a Tags forum, I’m desperately want to buy more Tags, but nothing in the current catalog speaks to me. Based on the last few releases, many of you feel the same. What’s up with Tag?

With each new release, the brand alienates the HEUER bit. To me, the HEUER bit is the best bit of Tag HEUER. No way in hell, I’ll spend $5k on a Tag. I’ll happily shell out $10k for a HEUER.
and I did.

Between the H02 debacles and mediocre releases, going vintage is the only safe/logical way to collect TH.
these two made it to the finish line.

 

TH should split 3 ways:

Tag HEUER Connect
Tag HEUER
HEUER

We only care about the HEUER line. Let an old angry bitter man or woman helms HEUER. Bring back the solidly good classics.

where is the god damn “dark lord” Monaco? Release that!!!
What the heck happened to that tourbillon? Must it stay and die with the Hublot wanna be? Can’t fit it in a Monaco? Can’t use it on a classic Carrera?

Better yet, give us the “dark lord” Tourbillon Monaco for $15k.
What the hell?

(My Thursday rant. See you all next week.)

 

Just give me a classic panda Carrera and I'm done

 

That's a beautiful Mcqueen!
TAG Heuer is a frustration for anyone who cares about Heuer. The company is part of a luxury conglomerate, positioned between other watch brands. Very hard to be authentic in such a corporate environment.
Most releases are meh and pitched towards the ill informed who want to buy a first luxury watch. I would say these days Tudor and Longines are much better options for that.
On the upside at least Heuer is still top of mind and not a forgotten brand like UG or Gallet, which only collectors know about. Additionally it's not a bad thing it's now TAG Heuer and not Heuer. Can you imagine the reputational damage for vintage Heuer if all of those clutter watches had Heuer on the dial?
I always thought TAG Heuer was choosing the high road by not exactly reproducing classics in the way Omega does. But honestly this avant garde mentality isn't leading anywhere as the tourbillon, isograph and high beat calibres are not or hardly used and the bulk of the offering consists of quartz and calibre 5.
There are a few highs such as the 39mm Carreras and a LE Monaco left and right but they are few and far between. I don't think most people are even aware of these.

 

Amen.
I think the HEUER brand can be as successful as a stand-alone.
It can def compete w Longines, maybe even Tudor.

TH is too busy chasing social media crowd.
What the fuck is that Alec Monopoly bullshit? And why? Who buys that graffiti shit?
Remember the Monaco V4 in the 90s—w badass belts driven movement. I had a poster of it somewhere. That’s the stuff kids dreamt of owning, not the current line of mall watches.

TH deserves new leadership, and an experienced CEO. What a fucking mess.
And get off my lawn!!!

 

They have not decided to stop the releases of Heuer pieces, some juicy pieces coming in 2022.

We as in some of you in forums like this, yes. But we have seen in recent years how difficult it has been for TAG Heuer to sell the Heuer releases. Discontinued Monzas, Autavias (CBE), Ice Kings and Montreals available for a very long time at heavy discounts, a sign that the vintage loving Heuer nerds is a small crowd. Sure, when TAG do the dato 45, limited to an extremely small batch of 250 pieces (boosted by the Hodinkee hype) all pieces sell quickly but in other cases not so much. That one of the biggest watch brands in the world should change their strategy to focus heavily on watches that will only sell in editions of 250-500 pieces to a niche crowd sounds very stupid to me. The majority of the fans of the brand love the Aquaracers, the bigger cased Carreras and the sporty Formula 1 models.

If there is one thing LVMH know how to do, it is to make money, increase profits and be successful. If they had the data showing that the Heuer brand had value for more potential customers other than the small vintage nerd crowd I am sure they would have invested in growing that side of the business.

I loved the work TAG did with Alec and some of his paintings and statues/sculptures are mega cool. His pieces sell for quite a lot and he has a huge following crowd which indicates that many other than me likes his "graffiti shit".

 

I’m one of the minority that don’t see a difference between Heuer and Tag Heuer, they’re just badges on a watch, and I like old watches, new watches and retro inspired watches.

Despite this, I am very disappointed with the current TH/H releases and strategy, it’s been a long time since anything TH released anything that had me reaching for my credit card.

The retro inspired heritage releases like the ice king are disproportionately thick, the glass box has a milky ring, the 844 could have been a black bay competitor but is just a AR with a different colour way and a nonsensical lumed bezel, and the autavia line feels like retro for retro sake. The modern Carreras have morphed from avant garde carerra 01 to the mall watch elegant, and the new aquaracer is a shambolic mess of mismatched design elements.

Isn’t the Alec Monopoly thing a few years old now? They stopped that about 3 years ago?

 

No brand can please everyone, and even my other favourite watch brands produce plenty of stuff that I think is absolutely awful.

Let’s look at the positives though - the current H02 Monaco and Carrera lines are, in my opinion, terrific modern interpretations of classic Heuer designs. Looking at the details of these pieces I think it’s clear that the design team is drawing more inspiration than ever from classic 60s and 70s pieces. They might not be direct replicas of the original watches, but they are great contemporary watches that keep the spirit of Heuer alive more than stuff like the Kirium ever did (and I like the Kirium!).

My gut instinct tells me that going forward we may see Heuer branded watches purely as very expensive, ultra limited edition pieces - a true Calibre 11 recreation along the lines of the Omega 321, for example.

 

I believe most of us in here are diehard TAG Heuer nuts, but we are a just a very small group. I’m just hoping TAG Heuer researchers and analysts, lurks here in Calibre11 to takes cues & inputs from our comments & suggestions. I hope But then again, Money talks. And TAG Heuer will invest to what the market dictates. The Heuer Heritage was part of JC Biver era. The Avant Garde movements etc was part of JC Babin era on the other hand. I’m not sure what will the Arnault era be like because it remains to be seen. I like the Porsche Carrera Collaboration so far. I’ve collected TAG Heuers & Heuers (Heritage) alike. I’m happy with all of them. Still waiting for new things to pop out in the future And I wish the people working behind TAG Heuer’s design, research and marketing a success

 

Yes unfortunately this partnership ended a long time ago

 

Ah, the good old Heuer Vs Tag Heuer conundrum. Where is our good friend Rob ?

As much as i support HEUER, i do think the recent Monaco release is quite good looking. Yes, we definitely need more HEUER release. But let's face it. It might not generate sales more than Connected (perhaps I am wrong, but that's what i heard from source). LVMH group already have the respected Zenith that might not be generating sales as the brand recognition itself (otherwise they be competing with Rolex, since they have arguably superior movement or so they say).

 

I thought the Connected sells well, have you heard it sells as badly as the Heuer watches?

 

You are indeed in a TAGs forum, but one which is largely populated by 'Heuer' fans. Which gives the 'impression' that TAG Heuer is getting everything wrong, because everyone here says so. Well guess what, 20 people here moaning about why everything doesn't look like it came out in the 1960s does not mean that TAG is failing.

Look at the supposedly 'perfect' silver 160th Anniversary Carrera. Only 1860 pieces made and yet it took over a year to sell them. Someone even got one in a sale (was it Imagwai?).

So maybe you wouldn't spend £5000 on a TAG, but other people do. I'm not saying TAG is perfect, far from it.... and lately they do seem to be f**king things up even more than usual, but the constant message that the answer is to make more 1960s looking Carreras with long lugs is misguided at best.

What you fail to understand is that TAG Heuer is aiming at a younger customer, it has long been the 'entry level' luxury watch, and guess what - most younger people want something that looks like it was designed this century. And some older people too. I'm 52, but the vintage stuff does jack sh*t for me.

Have you tried looking at Longines? They seem to make plenty of old man watches...

 

Here I am!

 

Still not sold out, available in Stockholm ad's as we speak

 

That’s why the best selling chronograph, the Speedmaster, still looks exactly like in the ‘60s. The Daytona has only slightly evolved. It’s about consistency of your classics. Make as many tourbillon skeleton carbon watches you want. Just don’t call em Carreras. It spoils the heritage brands like Omega capture so well and get rewarded for in sales.

 

Are there not two million versions of the Speedmaster released every year, in an extremely wide range of designs? I remember some article showing funky Speedmasters, each one more different and weird than the other. The only difference is that Omega has kept one version in the original design in their catalogue, while TAG only release the original look as limited editions.

 

Ah yes the Speedmaster, always exactly like it has always been

 

Rolex and Omega definitely played it smart with their 'consistency' or lack of innovation... which ever way you look at it. But unfortunately the Carrera was discontinued and I can't help thinking that was because the design wasn't as good as the Daytona or the Speedmaster, or as 'timeless' anyway. Look at the original reissue Carrera, it looks exactly like what it is, a watch from the 60s. The Speedy and the Daytona don't look like they are 'old' designs, so maybe actually the 'problem' is actually that the Carrera just doesn't stack up against the Speedy and the Daytona?

On the other hand I agree there was no need to call the Skeleton a Carrera. The people it was really aimed at couldn't care two hoots about the Carrera name. I fell in love with it's looks and they could have called it anything and I would still have bought it.

 

Maybe they should have called it the Great Carrera as follow up to the Grand one