Your thoughts on Tag Heuer as a Brand?

[tagrolex]

I have a 2010 Aquaracer Day/Date and couldnt be happier. The bracelet is truly the most comfortable I have ever worn and the quality is great as well.

Agreed they should get rid of the quartz lineup and the new Aquaracer 500m isn't as nice as my version - they still do look nice.

Edited February 1, 2012 by tagrolex

[Adeodatus]

From a visual point of view, what I like about Tag is that their line and design is extremely distinguishable. You can spot Monaco / Grand Carrera / Aquaraces from a mile even if you don't know what model it is, you know It's Tag Heuer. I like that about this company. There are too many lookalikes in this industry and only a very small proportion of companies are trying to create uniquely designed pieces.

I absolutely agree with By-Tor about the quality. You don't have to understand watches to know that you're holding a piece of highly sophisticated and precisely crafted product in Tag. Just take the Grand Carrera for instance - the watch oozes quality. This is something, with all due respect, I can not say about Dayjust II. I know it's quality watch because it's Rolex, but it doesn't scream quality.

I do think that TagHeuer somehow destroyed their horological image in favor of "likability". Their promo campaigns have been extremely fashion oriented in the past few years, parading celebs and straight up pretty faces. Don't get me wrong, Sharapova is one of my favorite athletes and I respect DiCaprio's work as well, but having them present you brand leads to definition of the brand as fashion oriented.

Having said that I do see some billboards around lately that focus on the horological values of the brand. I like this direction, as with all due respect to Tag or LVMH, Heuer has always been one of the cornerstones of the watch industry.

[opti]

To me TAG is like the Apple mac of watches, they have a decent product, but market it like its the best thing ever made and are just come across as pretentious. Coupled with that, the people who have them (generalizing here) can also be quite pretentious. They tend to think TAG is the pinnacle of watches, usually cause the only other brands they know are seiko and citizen. That coupled with that their designs simply don't appeal to me much in general, I don't mind the aquaracer and like the carerra modes thou.

Still I'd take a TAG any day over a Panarai, now there is a thing I will never understand...

[dropbear2008]

I see way too many accountants wearing Tags. That alone would make me sway off the brand.

[Adeodatus]

Accept MacBook pro is the best focking lappy there is. Take it from a person who works 50% of the time on Windows and 40% on Linux based machines

[tyrantblade]

I personally don't like tag, its Just not for me.

[automatico]

Imho, it's all about pecking order...

Patek and A Lange owners look down on AP, Breguet and VC.

AP, Breguet, and VC owners look down on JLC, cartier, and rolex.

JLC and rolex owners look down on TAG/Heuer and omega.

...while snooty cartier owners look down on Maurice Lacroix and Raymond Weil.

TAG/H and omega owners look down on Seiko and Citizen (just a guess, who knows?).

...while Maurice L and Raymond W owners look down on Movado.

Movado owners look down on...well that's a hard one, Breguet maybe? After all, now it's just a $watch.

Seiko and Citizen owners look down on Fossil and Armitron.

Fossil and Armatron owners look down on...? Two dollar yard sale watches maybe?

Yard sale watch owners look own on...?

Got it! Down on the ground for a free! watch.

I remember when Seiko brought the snotty swiss brands to their knees in about 6 months with the Seiko Astron and what soon followed. Almost all of the swiss brands would be gone today if they had not decided to reinvent their obsolete, fragile, maintenence intensive mechanical malfunctions as 'handmade heirlooms', 'mechanical masterpieces' etc to a gullible, upwardly mobile clientele.

Out of all the names above, I probably have the most respect today for Timex, Seiko, and Citizen because they still offer fairly priced, no BS products and Seiko and Citizen sell parts.

No parts needed for Timex. Here's the fix...

I wore mechanical watches when that was all there was (except for A-trons and Ham Elecs) so I sorta have a soft spot for mechanical watches.

Now I usually wear a quartz watch. Today it's a steel Citizen RR Special.

[iceberg1459]

tag heuer is something between fashion and horologie, overpriced for its brand value and quality.even their so called "in-house movt" is based on seiko movt. typical lvmh brand. shallow.

cant expect much when they are being assembled by a hollywood actor without a loupe

joke aside having owned a cal 36 link el primero for few years i can say they are cool watches to wear (upper new models and vintage ones) but not like a "real" watch for keeps

[iceberg1459]

You don't have to understand watches to know that you're holding a piece of highly sophisticated and precisely crafted product in Tag. Just take the Grand Carrera for instance - the watch oozes quality. This is something, with all due respect, I can not say about Dayjust II. I know it's quality watch because it's Rolex, but it doesn't scream quality.

do you own both the grand carrera and datejust II? (genuines of course)

actually its rolex because its a quality watch and timeless design, not vice-versa, imho..

[mt666tm]

My 1st watch was a Tag given to me by my father over 20 years ago. My brother got the same one. As a child I pretty much destroyed it. It's had a crystal replacement, crown replacement, bracelet link, etc... I still have it and it still works perfectly (the only quartz I own). That's gotta say something

[statikman]

Tag Heuer = overpriced Swatch

I do like the old Heuers though...

I'm no fan of the brand and have never owned one but that's mostly because of the snob in me. They are too common and generally owned by people who know little about watches. But I have held several and they are nothing like a Swatch in any sense. They are a nicely designed and built watch.

You could name 100s of high-end brands that are owned by companies that also own low-end brands. It doesn't make them comparable.

[cougar1]

All maxi dial Rolexes have been downgrades visually, imho. I would never trade a 16610 to a 116610. The new Sub is a visual downgrade... they butchered it with the new trendy & fat design... it was perfect for over 40 years... and replacing the classic Dweller with that ugly thing DSSD was a blasphemy. That's an ugly big thing... built-in radio is the only thing missing from that monster. The new GMT Master II is simply boring... no Pepsi option. Yacht-Master II is absolutely hideous. DateJust size increase was nice though.

Lol, I enjoyed that, sums Rolex up to a tee for me, some people think they move too slow and are too conservative, I think as above that almost every design change they've made of late has been close to a disaster, couldn't have made things any worse imo.

Also agree regarding the finishing and build on Tags being easily up there with the main players, Omega, Rolex etc, some of the case finishing and build quality on tags have surprised me in the last few years....but then again that was probably because public perception always put them on a lower pegging than the above two and that gets into your head.

I think tag heuer did made some mistakes in the 90's outputting cheaper quartz designs to a more budget market which lowered peoples perception of them...watches such as the F1, early quartz aquaracers etc, while good beaters themselves, plenty of people bought them as as their first 'good' watch and that was a mistake...the build quality wasn't anywhere near as good as tag were capable of achieving. They got a bit of a bad rap for this, but they've come back with a vengeance.

[importr]

I've owned a few gen (aswell as rep) TAG's, and I always thought that they were nice watches. Mine were all the 2892-a2 or 7750 powered gens so were not the entry level cheap stuff that the majority of people buy as their forst foray into 'luxury' watch ownership.

I really don't understand all the negativity towards TAG from all the watch snobs, it's not like they only made F1's!! I bet those haters never even owned a TAG before. Its just a watch brand creating & selling products; even Breitling are guilty of marketing for the masses, as is now evident.

I have to respect TAG for having the stones to innovate and push the boundaries of haute-horology. Having said that, most of their radical designs don't appeal to me.

the TAGs on my wish-list are:

2011 Monza Chrono L/E

2011 Carrera Chrono 1887 - silver dial

I just need to lighten my Breitling obsessive collection first....

Oh yeah, whenever I see threads about TAG or Rolex opinion on mixed watch fora, guess which brand gets more negativity? It's not the brand we are discussing!!

[vandal.tbh]

Here's a funny story (and not necessarily one that illustrates my opinion of Tag):

I was in Bahrain with some friends and I stopped by the Gold Souk and picked up a few fairly cheap quartz reps. One was a very nice looking Tag Grand Carrera Calibre 17. Aside from having a quartz movement, this thing was spot-on. The fit and finish were extraordinary. After about 30 minutes of haggling (you have to haggle in Bahrain) I paid $80USD for it.

My buddy, on the other hand, decided he was going to splurge and invest in a gen. We went to an AD in the huge Bahrain mall and he threw down $3200 (on sale) on the Carrera calibre 16 chrono with the SS bracelet. It was very nice, but held up side to side with my $80 rep it was hard to distinguish between the build quality and fit & finish.

But here's the funny part: exactly one week later, he was looking at the movement through the exhibition back and saw a lose screw bouncing around in the case! He had to send the watch back for warranty repair and it took months for him to get his watch back.

The entire time, I was sure to tell him daily what time it was since he did not have a working watch and I did!

Edited February 7, 2012 by vandal.tbh

[jonnyboy7]

I cannot understand people comparing tag and rolex-2 completely different price brackets and target markets!

[panerai153]

Interesting how many folks here are so anti Tag. i really could care less, I'm not particularly fond of them, but that statement would probably be applicable to a hundred brands of watches, including some that are very expensive. .

 

I can understand the WIS attitude toward Quartz watches, but guys, reality check, we comprise a micro miniscule part of the watch buying public. The vast majority of folks who buy watches especially those in the lower and mid range price brackets, don't care if its got a 48 jewel movement beating at 28800 or if its a got a 10 dollar quartz movement. they just want a watch that looks OK and is dependable. And the quartz movements are dependable. As long as the battery has juice, it runs, and it runs accurately. A case in point is my wife. When We got married she had a Quartz, watch. She sort of took a passing iterest in my watches, and from that she decided that she wanted a Rolex. Now my wife is definitely NOT into replicas! So for Christmas that year I gave here a nice gently used SS/18K lady Datejust with a Diamond bezel and MOP dial. She loves it, but she doesn't wear it often and she complains about having to reset the time and date. "I really want a nice Quartz",she told me. So I found here a nice SS/Gold Maurice Lacroix which she also likes, but it;s not "dressy" enough!! We were in a jewelry store in Destin Fl last summer, she spied a Tag mid size Lady Aquaracer, MOP dial, Diamond bezel. Love at first sight. First thing she asked the salesman is it Quartz? He told her it was and that pretty much sealed the deal. i talked her out of buying that one @ 3200.00 USD, but I promised her  I would get one by our Anniversary. I was able ot find one that was a store display watch with a few tiny handling scratches for about half the price at the jewelry store. She got it for our anniversary and I promise it's not been off her wrist for 3 months, except to sleep and when she gets really dressed up and wears a  old style Omega dress watch. So guys remember for most folks especially women who don't want to be bothered, the quartz is just the ticket. 

[frankt]

As a "charter member" of the TZ "WIS" society...Yeah...I'm an old fart....I still hang onto my dislike of the TAG label on watches...

I am still looking for a decent rep of the "Heuer Monaco" without TAG in the logo!!

Like this:

 

but alas, with the stem and chrono pushers on opposite sides, a rep movement to build one with is highly unlikely!!  

[indywatchguy]

Tags is lackluster and boring. It's 15mins was over in the 90's......

[Guest blutack]

They do some nice watches but some are way over priced especially for quartz movement

[Scarface]

Looking at the recent innovations from tag it surely is a cool brand for me they make some nice timepieces and they are also relatively cheap to service and spares are not too expensive , i have owned quite a few tags and never had any problems with any of my watches their service is also top notch Sent from my 

[Noel Fleischer]

Like many others, Tag was my first real Swiss watch. I still have 2 gens including a quartz Aquaracer and a Carrera 41mm Carrera Tachymeter Chrono. Like them or not - they are very reliable durable watches.

[Legend]

I agree with fxrandy.. the only thing wrong with TAG Heuer is the TAG.

[icoopernicus]

 Not sure how I missed this topic, I guess I have just been busy. I have always made it clear that I was a fan of TAG Heuer watches, not all, but some of them. The Carrera and Grand Carrera are very nice watches and I really like the new Aquaracer, very simple. Quite frankly they make some of the nicest looking watches on the market I recently purchased a Cal. 1887 Carrera in black and that is a beautiful watch, it really is stunning.

 

 I know where a lot of the TAG "hate" comes from but I also know that it's bunk, they're a watch company like any other. You think TAG's are over priced? $8000.00 for a Sub, <$2000.00 for an Aquaracer, right there you're paying $6000 for a 3135 movement in a watch that can't be distinguished from a $300 rep! These watches are all overpriced, IWC is better than TAG because it advertises less and charges more for it's watches that we all know are only worth a fraction of what they're charging for them. (I have a huge hard on for the Portuguese Chronograph) 

 

 TAG Heuer, as a brand, is just as relevant as all of the other mid range swiss brands, they produce some nice models and some ugly, ostentatious models. To me, every Breitling is ugly and way too flashy, the SMP is kind of ugly but I love the PO, Corum - barf, I don't get Hublot either, or AP for that matter, I just don't think they look particularly nice. This game truly is a matter of personal taste

 

 

 

 

 

 

WebRep

 

currentVote

 

 

noRating

noWeight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cougar1]

Nice one iCoop, the 1887 is a gorgeous watch.

 

Some of new releases are just sublime also, stunning watches!

 

 

 

[icoopernicus]

Black Carrera with rose gold markers, the black chrono hands on the first pic, who isn't currently drooling over that beautiful piece?

 

I would not pay what they are asking for any of their Quartz models but there is nothing substandard about any of the automatic line, say what you will about the styling on some. $1500 for an aquaracer or a CAL. 5, yes please and if I have the money I'll shell out triple that for an Aqua Terra (nice but not 3X nice)