One of the great privileges of being a watch journalist is time. Not just the appreciation of it and the magnificent machines our more practical peers within the industry dedicate their lives to crafting, but also the time we get to spend studying brands, their history, their messaging, and, of course, their products. Being professionally engaged in a pursuit I would obsess over as a hobby were it not my livelihood means I don’t just have the opportunity and access to learn about every brand as deeply as possible (whether I like it or not), but also the responsibility to do exactly that.
Hidden between the lines of the previous sentence is the tacit admission that TAG Heuer is not my favourite brand. However, after decades of being up close and personal with these products, the chance to attend events put on or sponsored by the brand, and a pretty consistent exposure to the stories that have established it as one of the industry’s foremost makers, my admiration for it has grown immeasurably. So much so, that the name on the dial no longer turns me off (as it did for a period earlier in my career), and I am actively willing the brand to make a product that ticks enough of my boxes to pull the trigger.
Simply put, I feel I need a TAG Heuer in my collection despite not really wanting one. That’s a powerful admission. Wanting the latest and greatest watch is often a visceral sensation that doesn’t need as much explanation. But identifying a brand as so significant, so essential to the story of watchmaking that you are compelled to root for it despite not actively wanting to spend more money than you have on yet more timekeepers says a lot about it.
Outside of watchmaking, my other great love is American Football. In Canton, Ohio, stands the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and within its walls, the achievements and legacies of the best to ever do it are memorialised. What qualifies a player for the Hall of Fame? A long, stat-heavy career is normally a prerequisite, and winning championships certainly helps, but for quite some time, the somewhat spurious definition of a Hall of Famer is someone without whom, the story of football could not be told.
What Makes TAG Heuer So Special?
If we had a Hall of Fame for watchmaking, TAG Heuer would be one of the inaugural inductees. Its heritage stretches deep into the past and several of its models are so well known, they are referred to by the model name without the brand needing to be mentioned. Similar to the Datejust, the Speedmaster, the Nautilus, and countless others, the Autavia, Carrera, and Monaco need no introduction. They are icons for good reasons. The Carrera featured Heuer’s famous Calibre 11 — boasting one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements — and the Monaco was the first truly square water-resistant sports watch. Both are exercises in precision and both deserve to be mentioned alongside the most significant watches of the mid-twentieth century.
And when it comes to personal significance, the leadership and creative curation of Jack Heuer, who presided over the company between 1962 and 1982 cannot be overstated. As a familial heir to the company, there was never any guarantee he would actually be good at his job. Brands that are passed down from generation to generation are rolling the dice to a certain extent. While many of the major brands have been inherited by well-prepared, thoroughly capable individuals, those blessed with a particular kind of genius stand out in the annals of history. Jack Heuer was one such man, who had the ability to see gaps in the market and hit them before they had fully opened. For Heuer’s (and subsequently TAG Heuer’s) position in the market today, it’s impossible to give enough thanks to Jack Heuer and the team that surrounded him.
True innovation is difficult, but its pursuit is worthwhile on a short and long-term basis. In the short term, news and sales are easier to generate; over the years, however, a legacy and legend can be built on innovative foundations. Some brands are particularly good at creating innovative designs, while others focus more on technical innovations. Either is fine, but achieving both at once is something of a holy grail in our field. The Carrera was more of a technical innovation thanks to its groundbreaking automatic chronograph movement, but the Monaco was something else — it was both.
A striking, unapologetically angular case (a true square, no less), achieving sufficient water resistance with a non-round (and, crucially, cornered) crystal surprised many and wowed even more. It was a hit at the time and remains, to this day, the model for which the brand is perhaps most recognised.
However, perhaps the most significant of Jack Heuer’s contributions wasn’t the watches themselves but rather the way in which they were marketed. Heuer aggressively pursued high-exposure deals with many teams and drivers within the motorsports world, making his eponymous brand the go-to choice for petrolheads and those who adored their daredevil heroes’ antics on the track.
No ambassador did as much for the brand of Heuer (and subsequently TAG Heuer), however than legendary actor Steve McQueen, who strapped on the watch for his performance in the classic film Le Mans. This exposure and association have never ceased to pay dividends. Even now, TAG Heuer — a brand, in many ways, far removed from its roots — stays true to this practice and maintains numerous celebrity endorsement partnerships, ensuring it stays at the forefront of pop culture for the next generation of watch lovers to enjoy.
