Why does it 'seem' that TAG is not as respected of a brand?

[watchman1]

I've been a TAG guy for a long time, especially because they're the timekeeper of Formula and I'm a big F1 fan. I wore a TAG daily for 12 years and it looks as good as new. I then upgraded to a gen Breitling, discovered reps and a whole bunch of other brands that I never knew much about. I then started to rationalize to myself, rightly or wrongly, that a $300 rep of a $15K watch is better value than a $300 rep of an Aquaracer that I can get almost brand new on eBay for $1K.

For others, there may be a perception that TAG is a low end brand because they're sold in department stores whereas IWCs or APs are sold at ADs. There could be some rep snobbery involved.

I would buy a gen TAG, but probably not a rep TAG.

A $15k price point does not mean any particular watch brand is better than another more "reasonably" priced brand; it just means that that particular brand has been able to establish, in the minds of the public, that their product is more coveted so therefore they can justify a bigger price tag.

I own a gen rolex and it gets less wrist time than many of my rep watches; not because it is not a wonderful watch, but because as a watch enthusiast I have evolved. I used to have a myopic view of what made a watch nice: price. Now that I have vowed that I will never pay thousands of dollars for another timepiece, I have been able to see that, before last year's newest models/updates, rolex has been TOO traditional and quite boring. Discovering reps, allowed me to explore other timepieces that appealed to my evolving sense of style and functionality without denting my cc or checking account. I soon discovered that I am a Tag and Omega lover.

...and by the way, you can just as easily buy rolex and panerai on ebay as well (though I wouldn't recommend it).

 

[fakemaster]

Ask any European kid the two luxury watch brand names, and you can be almost sure that he'll answer TAG and Rolex.

I guess that's where the perception thing comes in. Tag is ranked as a Pseudo luxury brand.

A $15k price point does not mean any particular watch brand is better than another more "reasonably" priced brand; it just means that that particular brand has been able to establish, in the minds of the public, that their product is more coveted so therefore they can justify a bigger price tag.

That was brilliant. Rings a few bells around here for sure.

 

[guru]

Ask any European kid the two luxury watch brand names, and you can be almost sure that he'll answer TAG and Rolex.

Well, beeing a EU guy I asked my 2 kids (23 & 20) and the answer was:
Rolex and Breitling! I asked them if they heard abput Tag and the answer was:
What is that? Both of them don't wear watches, sometimes they borrow my 111!

Thats for asking Eu kids!

 

[d4m.test]

I have 3 gen tags. Chrono, and 2 ladies 1 is a quartz the other an auto. They are nice and I have had them for a long time over 10 years now. With that said I will not buy another. They just don't have enough status in my opinion.

 

[BuckleTang]

IMO, any watch that is sold at a Costcos does not deserve to be a respected brand by watch collectors.

 

[volumecontrol2]

IMO, any watch that is sold at a Costcos does not deserve to be a respected brand by watch collectors.

They only sell the lowest model tags at costco. None of them appealed to me. I was going to buy the aquaracer but it was quartz and I'd rather have an auto.

My wife has 2 tags one is a quartz and the other is a link auto and they are very nice watches. They are very durable and have not needed any repairs. I really think their watches are made to be worn and not collected. Only real collector watches are vintage or ones that are 15k+ and ones that are made in very limited quantity. This is why I'd never buy a Rolex to collect unless it was a vintage model.

I do think Tag Heuer is a respectable brand but is classified as a more affordable luxury watch. Most of their watches are under 3k where as Rolex is pretty much 5k plus.

 

[mw1015]

just adding my 2 cents here

i don't know much about watches. The watches i normally wear have the words Timex, Adidas and Nike on them. The only swiss made watch i ever owned was a Swatch.

I'm 26 years old. i'm not a corporate exec type. i'm an average joe. i agree with the statement that people know 2 kinds of watch.. Rolex.. and the rest. I don't think i'd ever wear a Rolex. I'd never be able to pull it off. Tag also seems more acceptable with my peers (i.e. they wouldn't openly call it out as a fake based on the brand alone)

 

[gazumi]

IMO, any watch that is sold at a Costcos does not deserve to be a respected brand by watch collectors.

OK, they also sell Zenith, Breitlings and even a Flying B at my Costco. This doesn't make them unrespectable. Costco is not an AD so they'll sell whatever they can get supply of.

 

[By-Tor]

I don't really care how some gen WIS dinosaurs see TAG. Actually I couldn't care less... I think they make killer watches with design that's hard to beat. If someone can't respect or doesn't find these amazing models attractive... well, I guess it's his problem then.

 

[unregistered]

Funny that this should come up. I've got a rep TAG Link Chrono (Navy blue) which was my first rep and almost my daily beater. However, I just saw the grey dial in the window of an AD the other day and now am obsessed with getting the new dial and making a dial switch.

The Link is one watch a lot of non-WIS can identify immediately its a TAG due to its unique bracelet design. And personally, I've always thought it was very classy yet sporty at the same time.That said, the Heuer roots definitely "appear" to have been betrayed with the current direction of TAG towards more quartz centric (though no-less impressive) watches.

I was in discussion with a watch salesman just yesterday about brands and he says, these days, its more about marketing and perception. The ultra high end, HNI will look at URwerks, APs, Pateks etc. The luxury guys, the Panerais, Rolexes and Cartiers. The mid-to high the TAGs, Breits and the like. So there are segments that cover it all. But that said, TAG does a lot for its advertising dollar and people here in Singapore tend to get a TAG as their first "luxury" watch.

 

[Time4Direct]

Think it may be recause the range is 90% quartz. They use quartz movements where you would expect to find automatic I know I was at a watch fair recently and was tempted to buy with the crescent sub dials and didn't because it was quartz

 

[davebs]

One of you guys said something along the lines of "any watch that's sold at costco doesn't deserve to be called a legit collectors high-end watch." Costco was selling Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin for a while a couple years ago, afik. All of this high end watch stuff is BS anyway. Ask an average joe what the best watches are in the world, they'd say rolex. But give them a couple grand and tell them to buy a watch, they might pick tag because it's ran a great marketing campaign. Nobody knows wtf patek, piguet, vacheron is. Just like someone rolls up in a kit car lamborghini, and nobody knows its fake because nobodies ever closely examined one in real life. It's the same with watches. It's all a status symbol, and yet there's a quality aspect too. So what's the quality to status symbol ratio? When it comes to fakes, a lot of people say "it's because i like watches". And maybe so. That might be the immediate motivator, but if it were the only motivator we wouldn't have a fetish with putting certain manufacturer's names on all our stuff. Anyway, moral of the story/rant is that if Tag wants to really improve their respect rating, they should up the prices of their watches and keep their marketing budget the same. It's all a matter of exclusivity, and price is a good way to guard against who is more exclusive/less exclusive.

 

[cc]

My 2 favorite Tags are the Monaco and Monza.

I believe that although Tags are great watches with an incredible line of history, in the gen world they are still somewhat affordable. Most Average Joes buy decent department store watches or brands like Tag because of it's marketing + affordability.

In the rep world, for $200-$300 you could buy something at 10% of the of the orginal brand price rather than paying full retail for a $300 Casio. Not that I'm bashing on Casio, it just fun with reps..... [smilie=thumbsup.gif]

 

[fakemaster]

When it comes to fakes, a lot of people say "it's because i like watches". And maybe so. That might be the immediate motivator, but if it were the only motivator we wouldn't have a fetish with putting certain manufacturer's names on all our stuff.

True true true true true...............

 

[hooligan]

I'll tell you one thing, if the Carrera Twin Time was 42mm instead of 39mm, I'd own the gen today. Love that watch as a dressy casual watch. Throw a brown gator with deployant on there and off you go. Perfect with kahkis and a button-down.

 

[polaris]

Tag is a great brand. Affordable well built and have just enough in the name to be considered a luxury name by the masses.

Prior to myself becoming interested in wristwatches, I saw the world as Seiko->tag->Rolex. And that was the procession of watch ownership. True 90% of Tags are quartz, but for 99% of the peeps thats all they need and want. A reliable, durable movment in a sexy case.

 

[babola]

I personally think that the TAG Heuer Grand Carrera is an awesome looking watch...

I own over 15 ultimate Pam reps, 2 Breitling reps...

...and only one gen now - Tag Grand Carrera Chrono Calibre 17 ! :shock:

You hit the nail on the head for me on this one G. So WTF would a hard-core Pam guy own a gen Tag Heuer?!?!

Here's why, and you can shoot me for saying this, I don't care :wink: I fell in love with the model from the first day I saw it on the web after being displayed on Geneva watch show, and started saving hard, really hard. Some time ago managed to scrub enough funds to pull it off (that was long before my family financial conditions changed for worse that made me sell off some of my top Pam reps), and was one of the first 50 people World-wide that received the watch after being 4 months on AD waiting list.

Some would say, so what, a nice watch with ETA2894-2 modular chrono, Tag and other makers have been using the mov't for a long time now, nothing revolutionary there, but for me it was the whole watch, the look and feel, perfect thickness, size, width, the quality of manufacture which would give Omega, Rolex, Breitling and Panerai run for the money, attention to the slightest details which had blown away even the great nit-picker and detail obsessed person like myself, the whole watch oozes quality and simply "sings" back to you every time you look at it. Not to mention that good old evocation of classic Carrera styling.
These (Grand Carreras) aren't your standard run-of-the-mill Tag Heuer guys, these belong to luxury watches domain, check it out at your local AD and you'll know where I'm coming from.
And yes, totaliser at 3 and 9 o'clock with rotating discs instead of hands are something special.
Rep makers will never get this model right as they use modified A7750 which is too thick for the original case thickness, so the rep ended up being 1.2mm thicker then the gen.

Also, got it for much less than the price of an ordinary Joe's gen PAM111...crazy!

cheers,
babola

 

[By-Tor]

@davebs: Good post.

TAG's ratio to automatic / quartz just 10% - 90%? No way in hell... I'd say it's more like 50% - 50%... if not more towards automatic... at least in Europe. I see lots and lots of classic Monacos and Carreras here.

Some of the quartz models can be attractive too... Aquaracer Calibre S and the Aquaracer quartz chrono... I wouldn't mind wearing either of these beauties:

 

[watchman1]

Pictures of my Link and Carrera. Can't share pictures of my Grand Carrera because my brother borrowed it so he could wear it while he is vacationing in Spain!

 

[Importr]

I do sort of agree with the subject, maybe its because TAG produce some very affordable entry-level Swiss watches. The brand is aimed at the young and the aspiring, they are very well marketed and you could say "common". Obviously anyone who wants an entry level Swiss watch will go for a gen TAG, sacrificing its looks just for the badge - when there are better Swiss watches in the same price range.
The affordable price also means that some less than respectable characters in society would also wear them, if they weren't wearing reps! :lol:
So therefore the image of TAG Heuer is somewhat tarnished. Everyone knows that Rollies are very expensive so automatically most people assume that the Rollie you've got on is fake. Then if one wears an IWC, JLC, Cartier or Panerai- then you're something of a connoisseur.

Thankfully TH are producing some very technical looking and exciting timepieces - which others have mentioned. Also, their Classics collection continues to be popular without having to evolve too much.

Anyway, I regularly use all of my TAGs, gen and rep. So I like the brand...in fact, the TAG Heuer and Breitling are the most prevailent and used brands in my collections. In this case, TAG suits me better than Rolex or the more traditional watches such as Cartier or G.Perregaux.....back to the "common" and "affordable" labelling.

I think that the super-rep TAGs are made a lot better than some of the other brands though, and don't get the credit they deserve.