Watches The story of TAG Heuer's legendary collections

With 164 years of creating and developing new technologies, shapes and sizes, TAG Heuer today offers 7 exciting collections. So let’s get started, in chronological order.

Autavia –  As a stopwatch specialist, TAG Heuer introduced a 12-hour dashboard model in 1933. From that first Dashboard AUTAVIA (a contraction of AUTomotive and AVIation) for racers, pilots and gentlemen drivers, models progressed from a single to a second pusher, and from two to three register chronographs, the latter also being used on wrist chronographs from the late 1950s to the 1970s for a second time zone on the Twin-Time, a triple calendar, moon phase, or even tidal indications with a rotating disc added  to the “Seafarer” version made for Abercombie & Fitch and the colourful “Solunagraph” for Orvis, models prized by vintage collectors today. 

With precision and robustness Heuer became THE dashboard counter of airplanes, racing and rally cars, and while focus shifted away from stopwatches when the founder’s great-grandson Jack Heuer arrived in the company in 1958, it was nevertheless a Heuer stopwatch that US astronaut John Glenn strapped to his wrist to time his 4 hour 56 minute flight around the earth in 1962; in July 1969 a second Heuer stopwatch timed the landing of The Eagle to the surface of the moon. Both are now on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Passionate about motorsports, Jack Heuer concentrated on wristwatches, and chronographs in particular. In 1962 he decided to give names to the models, starting with the Autavia, a tool for automobiles and aviation with a rotating bezel to track minutes or hours, and a tachymeter scale to indicate speed or a second time zone.  Heuer later sponsored, in 1969, Swiss Formula One driver Jo Siffert who wore the Heuer Autavia Ref. 1163 with its iconic ‘panda’ face, Heuer then became the first non-automative logo to appear on a Formula One car.

In 1963, the TAG Heuer Carrera was introduced, named after the Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico from 1950 to 1954, particularly admired by Jack Heuer. With a pure racing design, strong angular lugs, and dials with scales for tachymeter, decimal minutes or pulsometer, it became even more versatile with triple calendar models and cases in steel or gold. Two years after sponsoring Siffert, Heuer proposed a newly developed electronic Centigraph track timing system to Ferrari, becoming a sponsor of a Formula One team, and what a team! Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Niki Lauda, Clay Regazzoni and Gilles Villeneuve all wore Heuer chronographs; Jack Heuer presented each of them with an 18K gold TAG Heuer Carrera.

The Camaro “muscle car” watch and yachting watch Skipper joined the collections in 1968, and in 1969 Heuer introduced the world’s first automatic chronographs with the TAG Heuer Autavia, TAG Heuer Carrera, and just released TAG Heuer Monaco model created to commemorate the Monaco Grand Prix. New shapes, new colours, and all equipped with the new chronomatic movement (for chronograph and automatic) , also known as Calibre 11.

Ah! the TAG Heuer Monaco, with its innovative 100 meters water-resistant 38 mm square case – a first! Revealed in Geneva and New York, it was Steve McQueen who really gave it international fame when he chose to wear it in the 1971 movie Le Mans, with blue dial, white subdials, pushers on the right, and … crown on the left for this first version, to show it required no winding, since automatic.

In 1975, the Ferrari team won the constructor and driver’s Formula One championships, for the first time since 1964, a victory largely attributed to the Centigraph timing equipment supplied by Heuer. To celebrate, the TAG Heuer Monza collection was launched in 1976, with the brand’s first use of a black-coated case, capturing the spirit of the legendary Italian circuit amplified by a dashboard-inspired dial.

The 1980s through to 2004 marked a new era, with a transition from mostly mechanical chronographs to modern design watches. Most models are in today’s catalogue.

Dive Watches were introduced in 1979, with automatic or quartz movements, black or brightly coloured dials, in unisex sizes ranging from 28 to 42 mm. Their unique functional features of -200 meter water resistance, screw-down crown, unidirectional bezel and a double clasp on the steel bracelet, along with sapphire crystals and luminous markings are featured on today’s Aquaracer introduced in 2004.

The TAG Heuer Formula 1 collection introduced in 1986 offers bright colours, plastic cases, quartz movements and fun packaging. It also has a -200 meter depth rating, and bezel marked in minutes.

In 1987, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna contributed to the design of a unique bracelet for a sporty, elegant watch: the S/el designed by Eddy Schôpfer. In 1999, it was renamed Link, due to its distinctive integrated S-shaped bracelet.

1996 saw the brand’s first re-issues of classic chronographs from the 1960s; the TAG Heuer Carrera and Monaco models are still in the catalogue today, along with the Autavia that returned in 2017, all with Limited, often Anniversary, Editions.

Technical advancements continue, with notably the Heuer 02 movement that equips the iconic collection of Carrera, Monaco, and the new Monza or Autavia Chronometer Flyback models.

And in keeping with its origins of Techniques d’Avant Garde the introduction in 2015 of the first Swiss luxury smartwatch: the TAG Heuer Connected Watch with the latest technology from partners Intel and Google, and the Connected Modular series in 2017 allowing wearers to switch the smartwatch module to an automatic, using the same strap and lugs, are proof that legendary collections and icons will always be a part of the TAG Heuer family.