At Baselworld 2014, Tag Heuer announced the release of two new Carreras, featuring an updated version of the caliber 1969, now dubbed the caliber CH80. Frankly, the CH80 Carreras were stunning, and created a lot of buzz in the watch community. I can safely say these panda and reverse-panda dialed Carreras were the first two Tags that have intrigued me in some time.
Just two weeks ago, Tag released a statement about the future of the CH80, or lack thereof. David Chalmers, over at Calibre 11, put together a great breakdown of the statement, and what it could possibly mean for Tag and its new caliber. Without restating the entire article, I’ll do my best to sum it up.
Tag’s somewhat recent resurgence towards more serious watchmaking and traditional design has been received quite positively. And leading the charge is their automatic chronograph caliber 1887. Then, two years ago, Tag began development of a companion automatic chronograph movement, which eventually released late last year as the aforementioned caliber 1969. Closing the loop, the caliber 1969 was improved and changed to the CH80, a curiously quick adjustment, given the short timeframe since first release.
Tag Heuer Caliber 1887 — Photo courtesy of Tag Heuer
The statement of halting production of the CH80 outlined the decision as one of increasing production efficiencies and synergy of operations. Tag will be focusing its efforts towards the caliber 1887, taking advantage of the money invested so far in the associated production facilities. Apparently, early rumors pointed towards issues with the CH80, but Tag made sure to dispel such rumors in the statement. But, is it really just efficiencies? Is there anything else going on behind the scenes?
Calibre 11 also received insight from Tag’s CEO, Stephane Linder, that two other in-house movements are in the pipeline, a 3-hander and a more affordable version of their famous Mikrograph movement. To me, if true, this adds a lot more perspective to what’s happening with the CH80. Would it be awesome if Tag kept up with the CH80? Hell yes! But it makes sense if Tag wishes to expand the range of in-house movements, rather than use additional resources on a second, somewhat similar movement. Granted, a 3-hand movement doesn’t intrigue me much, since I feel Tag is best known for their chronographs, but any move towards in-house manufacture is positive. If nothing else, it shows their desire to be taken more seriously by folks like us.
The other interesting aspect here is the level of involvement of Jean-Claude Biver in this strategic decision, LVMH’s new head of watches. Biver is known in the watch industry as a genius marketer and reviver of struggling brands. It seems like each decade, Biver is bringing another brand to relevance. In the 80s, it was Blancpain; in the 90s, it was Omega; and in the 2000s, it was Hublot. Say what you want about his marketing tactics, but the man is magic (can he make a yacht disappear?!).
Jean-Claude Biver — Photo courtesy of Hublot
My hope is Biver is looking to employ some of these same tactics with Tag. His approach seems to be really hands-on with what his brand’s fans and enthusiasts want. For Blancpain, he chose to return to traditional watchmaking, a gamble considering the market strength of quartz watches at the time. But it paid off enough to eventually sell Blancpain to the Swatch Group in the early 90s. As the overseer of marketing for Omega, he brought on all sorts of brand ambassadors, including, my favorite, James Bond. Celebrity endorsements had already existed in the watch world to some extent, but Biver revolutionized it. OO7, Michael Schumacher, and Cindy Crawford helped rebuild the public image of Omega and put it on the path to where it is today. With Hublot, Biver once again utilized celebrity endorsements in combination with a revamped lineup. Biver responded well to consumer demands, and Hublot has since become a force in the luxury fashion watch market.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying that Biver knows how to positively change the course of a brand. Tag already has celebrity ambassadors galore, so maybe Biver goes the direction of traditional watchmaking and design. I feel that’s what Tag enthusiasts truly want. In fact, if they were to permanently drop Tag from the logo, I think a large contingent of the watch world would ask Biver to marry them. So, while the seemingly indefinitely halted CH80 is a big disappointment, I’m actually excited to see what Tag has in store for us in the next few years. It wasn’t that long ago Omega and Heuer were two of the most exciting brands out there, and I hope to see that return.
Let us know what you think about the CH80 news, and Tag’s future.
Featured photo courtesy of HODINKEE
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