As I have mentioned in previous articles most meetings are conducted strictly on an appointment basis especially with the very large groups (located in Hall 1) as normally senior personnel have scheduled their diaries months in advance. On this visit I decided it was time to try and rectify this. This wasn’t a conscious decision because I absolutely love their watches. Prior to Baselworld I had never had any direct communication with Tag Heuer. Subsequently Tag Heuer was taken over by French luxury goods giant LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) in 1999. Originally the company was called Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG and later in 1985 changed its name to Tag Heuer. Amongst his many achievements he patented an ‘oscillating pinion’ for mechanical chronographs and many clocks for automobile dashboards. Edouard Heuer established the business over 150 years ago in St-Imier, Switzerland. Essentially the reason for that is because the company has such an interesting history. When it was unveiled, it commanded a retail price of 100,000 CHF, and even now, a quick peruse of everyone’s favourite global watch marketplace, Chrono24, shows that the V4 still hits heavily at the back pocket, with prices ranging from $70,000 to $100,000 AUD.Generally in conversation when I tell people I am a watch writer they normally mention Tag Heuer more than any other brand. And what’s even more interesting is that the first ever example of the timepiece was sold at the famed charity auction, Only Watch, back in 2009, where it achieved a price of 55,000 euros. Limited to just 150 pieces worldwide, the solid 950 platinum V4 is an exceedingly rare timepiece. It’s a truly inimitable movement, and one that TAG should be resoundingly proud of. Powered by a rectangle-shaped ingot that slides vertically up and down the case and sends its power via micro-thin belts to four barrels that surround the ingot in a “V” shape – hence the name. The Swiss marque again stunned everyone when in 2009 they unveiled the limited edition Monaco V4 in Platinum.Īnd here are three reasons why it still conjures astonishment and awe in the horological fraternity: The Calibre V movementĭesigned to mimic an automobile’s combustion engine, the Calibre V movement took no less than 14,200 days of collective research and development … or, put another way, a combined total of 38 years! And it was co-developed by watchmaking doyens Jean-François Ruchonnet and none other than Philippe Dufour. ![]() That’s why the TAG Heuer Monaco V4 was such a shock to the industry’s collective system when it was first unveiled in 2004. However, now it feels as though most of the mainstays are largely content with the fairly antiquated fundamentals of movements, and are instead focusing on perfecting them, rather than creating completely new concepts – evolution over revolution. In fact, throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries there were countless new and innovative movements being spawned on a regular basis. It’s not that the heavyweights of the industry have completely given up on the idea of innovation – far from it – but it does seem as though there’s been a shift, that priorities have changed.Ī timepiece’s movement was once the perennial final frontier for the majority of the watchmaking industry. Much as it pains me to admit it, these days, haute horology is usually reserved for the rarified and uber-expensive micro-brands of the Swiss watchmaking world. I/trending 36554 3 reasons why the TAG Heuer Monaco V4 Platinum is still amazing James Robinson
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