Reworking one of your brand’s icons is a perilous task. Get it wrong and you risk damaging one of the foundations of what makes your brand great, but get it right and you can breathe new life an exciting new future.
This certainly crossed the minds of the clever chaps at Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer ahead of them releasing a complete overhaul of its flagship dive watch, the Aquaracer.
First appeared in 2004, the Aquaracer hit the sweet spot between a professional sports watch and something that would also look good paired with clothes that weren’t a wetsuit. Its textured dial looked a bit like waves or ships’ decking. Its 12-sided bezel was a distinctive point of difference without being showy. It also made it easy to grip and turn. The brand already had form with water sports, with a tradition of producing excellent diving and sailing watches, but the Aquaracer was different, it was to be “the essential sport watch inspired by the aquatic world,” as TAG Heuer put it at the time.
Despite its persistent success, upgrades were necessary to the Aquaracer considering the evolving tastes of watch wearers.
Visually, the immediate attention grabber of the new Aquaracer models is the new position of the date window. Moved from the traditional 3 o’clock to 6 o’clock position – somewhere the brand says is easier to read from more angles – the piece’s sapphire crystal now integrates a magnifying glass over the date.
Available now, the 43mm collection all feature the brand’s latest Calibre 5 movement as well as upgrades to almost all the watch’s signature features. The case, unidirectional rotating bezel and metal bracelet have all been slimmed down, the whole watch is thinner and lighter. The hands have been remodelled – the hour hand is now wider, the minute hand is now slimmer – making them easier to distinguish in low-light conditions (ie: underwater). The bracelet features a new integrated design, allowing it to be easily lengthened or shortened by up to 1.5cm. Also, it goes without saying that the pieces are all water-resistant to 300m.
You can purchase it here through TAG’s website, which now ships across the GCC.
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