by TAG Heuer’s legacy is one of the most influential of all the Swiss watch brands. Founded as Heuer in 1860, and renamed TAG Heuer in 1985, when the TAG Group bought a majority stake in the company, the Swiss brand has played a key role in taking watchmaking to new levels of efficiency and performance.
The history starts when Edouard Heuer (1840-1892) organized Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG in St-Imier, a municipality in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. In history, he was just 20 years old. The son of a shoemaker, he had begun his apprenticeship as a watchmaker at the age of 14.
Discovery as a profession of faith since 1860: from the first luxury Connected Watch in 2015 through growing the oscillating wing in 1887. From designing the first self-winding crown mechanism to the first-ever double magnetic tourbillon. Four production sites formed, TAG Heuer has remained to push the limits of watchmaking technology with modifications and savoir-faire. The brand has initiated innovations that have left their mark on history and still establish the support of the watchmaking industry today. Each of our Swiss-made watches emits our know-how and our high exactness standards. Following the legacy of more than 150 years, it encashes a strong tale of innovation and groundbreaking discoveries. Ruling the world of Swiss luxury watchmaking for more than a century, these masterpieces continue the choice of many watch aficionados due to their higher levels of accuracy and performance.
The Six Features
- Water Resistance to 200 Meters
- Screw-in Crown
- Double Safety Clasp
- Unidirectional Bezel
- Sapphire Crystal
- Luminous Markings
The certain aspect of the Six Features philosophy was that it founded TAG Heuer as a foremost modern sports watch brand, as each wristwatch had the full list of peculiarities that buyers required from wristwatches in this category. Just as in the Heuer days, the new philosophy was strengthened by sports sponsorship and by selecting brand ambassadors, nearly always from the sporting world. As a moving beyond features ironically, the first series to develop with the Six Features was the Classics Series released in 1996- it took going back to the Carrera and Monaco to recognize that the real feature of TAG Heuer was its capability to blend the heritage of iconic watches with an avant-garde flair for modern design.
Today, many TAG Heuer sports standards still have the six features, but they are no longer the individual foundations against which watches are designed. There was never anything wrong with the features themselves, just that they shouldn’t have designated a straight jacket to variation.
Of course, it’s always easy to look back at the 1980s- 1990s and judge loudly the watches from this era- not just those from TAG Heuer, but also Omega and others.
The truth is that at best, Swiss watch brands endured a near-death encounter in the 1980s, and it took a long time for the design-mojo to return and for the market to once again acknowledge high-end chronographs. So, the Six Features philosophy needs to be stared at in that context- gratitude both for the fact that it stored TAG Heuer alive as well as for the fact that it’s strongly in the past.
The Series 2000
In the early 1980s, Heuer published six unique functional features that would distinguish its new series of dive watches. Four features are particularly identified with diving – 200-meter water resistance, a screw-down crown, a unidirectional bezel, and a double clasp on the steel bracelet. Sapphire crystals and luminous stampings ensured maximum clarity. These features have been brought forward to today’s Aquaracer.
The Formula One
In 1983, the brand acknowledged the introduction of a new paradigm in the world of watches, with a revolutionary collection of its own: the TAG Heuer Formula 1. The TAG Heuer Formula 1 extended the same style of bright colors, plastic cases, simple quartz movements, and fun packaging. True to its dive watch heritage, the TAG Heuer Formula 1 had a 200-meter depth rating and bezel, marked in minutes.
Sport and Elegance
The brand soon shifted upmarket, from its usual dive watches to watches that would consolidate the most advanced designs. Sales materials maintained that the new S/el watches could be consumed with a diving suit or a dinner jacket. Formula One champion Ayrton Senna wore a S/el as his everyday wristwatch, adding with TAG Heuer on the idea of its unique bracelet. The plan of this wristwatch was made by Eddy Schöpfer. The series was renamed the Link in 1999, a fitting offering to this unique bracelet.
First Re-issues
With the dedication of many new models in the 1980s, middle of the 1990s, the brand would reconnect with the brand’s classic chronographs from the 1960s. The company launched the TAG Heuer Carrera, following the style of the original 1964 model in almost every detail. Monaco would be re-launch in 1998, with an all-black dial. The TAG Heuer Carrera and Monaco have continued vital models in the TAG Heuer catalog since these first re-issues.
LVMH Acquires Tag Heuer
In 1999, leading French leisure goods group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton acquired the iconic brand. Jack Heuer, who had been required to sell the family business in 1982, rebounded to TAG Heuer in 2001, as the company’s Honorary Chairman. He would make presentations all around the world, distributing the heritage of the brand to a new generation of enthusiasts.
In Conclusion
The legacy and the story behind all of the watches around the world are remarkable and forever be known by the history of watchmakers. Every brand has its logo in the market and its story itself. All of the watchmakers can establish unique collections of watches and exchange them for the market. In some parts, not all the watchmakers have been identified as a watchmaker but they also already have a family experience in the past that’s why some of them are easy to be recognized. To check more of our watches visit our website The Watch Company for more information.
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