TAG Heuer’s collaboration with watch customization maestro George Bamford, announced earlier this year at Baselworld, resulted in the launch of the much-discussed carbon-cased Monaco Bamford special edition. Now TAG Heuer’s sporty diving watch, the Aquaracer, gets a similar all-black carbon treatment, in a trio of new models available exclusively at brand boutiques and online.
The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Carbon draws the eye with its 41-mm-diameter, black PVD-coated titanium case and imitation carbon-printed dials, which are highlighted with hints of blue, yellow, or rose gold depending on the model. The carbon material used for the watch’s unidirectional divers’ bezel is created by a random injection of carbon fibers into a resin pressed at high temperatures to achieve the black-and-gray marbled motif that differs slightly on each finished component, essentially making each watch in this collection a unique piece. The use of grade 5 titanium, with matte black PVD coating, as the case material means that the timepieces are as durable and scratch-resistant as they are lightweight, in addition to being water-resistant to 300 meters.
The bezel combines carbon and matte black PVD-coated steel, and is inscribed with the 60-minute scale characteristic of the Aquaracer and most of its dive-watch brethren. The screw-down crown at 3 o’clock is also made of matte-black steel, while the screw-on caseback is in PVD-coated titanium. The faceted indices and hour and minute hands are are polished and lacquered in rose gold, on the model pictured above, or plated with black gold, on the yellow- and blue-highlighted models, below, and treated with gray Super-LumiNova. The date window at 3 o’clock features a magnifying lens for easy reading in the depths or in the other low light conditions.
The watches are equipped with TAG Heuer’s automatic Caliber 5, based on the ETA 2824-2 and possessing a 42-hour power reserve, and mounted on black nylon straps with contrast topstitching that matches the colored highlights of each model’s dial. A folding buckle in black PVD-coated grade 2 titanium, with a double safety push-button closure and a divers’ extension, completes the picture. Available as of September 1, 2018, the Aquaracer Carbon models (whose prices were not available at press time) will be sold exclusively at TAG Heuer boutiques and at www.tagheuer.com.
Can I have the price
Very attractive. I would buy one if the price is realistic.
Describing the dial as “imitation” carbon fibre seems a bit unfair. Not having the boutique’s name on the dial is good.
Nice enough, but if a Retail Partner supporting the Brand, my question is why not me, why can’t I have it to sell? TAG-Heuer, has become overly dependent on the ‘Homage’ Collections, Aquaracer is getting long in the tooth, F-1, gets confused messages with Collection Confusion, adding “Link” (formally S/EL) components that compromise other Collections, ‘Link’ specifically, that needs to return with the Uni-Directional Bezel that was S/EL as the iconic Design standard bearer that carried the Brand forward from 1988-1998, before their confused phase with ‘Fashion’ and Kirium and Alter-Ego. The ‘Architecture’ of the 6000, in a 42MM, re-capture a void in Diving with the Aquagraph. The Brand needs to be allowed to reach it’s new heights, not be the ‘cash-cow’ that underwrites Zenith, Christian Dior and the mono-designed Hublot.
Spot on, Randy. Very well said.