Heuer - Tag Heuer passion?

Hi all, hope you are all well, just wondering, i know this is a heuer forum but i visit it daily to hear all you guys rave about the automatic heuers and how good they are..........

Hmmm, the Manual winds are pretty nice too, and I have a number of Quartz models I like a lot... and... truth be told, there are a lot of nifty brands out there.

i have learnt a lot about collecting watches from reading this forum and other like-minded folk, and realise what they mean to you guys.

They are fun!

I now have the bug maybe a poor mans bug at that but still it is becoming a passion, over the last 18mths i have collected numerous tag heuers and a few heuer 1000 series, all quartz movements...yes i can see you all wince with disgust but hey! we can't all be made with the same mould....

There is nothing wrong with having one's own tastes.

Anyhow the question i ask is why do Tag Heuer not cater for the poor man and his watch collection...haha, loads of laughs, Tag Heuer or Heuer is not a poor mans watch????, WELL IT IS IF YOU COLLECT ROLEX WATCHES!!!!.

I think TAG-Heuer is more interested in catering towards it's bottom line and short/long-term viability first. It probably goes without saying that TAG-Heuer makes more profit on higher dollar watches than "Poor-Man's" models.

The point i will come to later, the heuer company was successful prior to 'Techniques d' Avant-Garde'

At times it was, however it also was at or near the brink of bankrupcy several times as well

yet maybe did not sell as many watches prior to joining with 'Tag', a serious rethink and joining of two companies resulted in Tag Heuer,

Well, TAG essentially bought Heuer and choose to go with a different market plan, but...

thus the first model to be introduced being the introduction of the F1 watch which appealed to the poor man and his budget,

I'm not sure that the F1 was the first TAG-Heuer or not, The first TAG-Heuer I saw was an S/EL, but...

this i must stress boosted the company profits way above expectation, approx 66 million Swiss francs in 1988 as opposed to only 11 million francs in 1982. Yet some time later it was - GONE!!!!.

The question is how much of that profit is due to the F1, how much to other new models like the S/EL, how much is due to marketing, and how much is due to other market forces. Swatch was also phenominally popular along the same timeframe. It should also be pointed out that there was a pretty serious recession during the last part of the 1970's and into the early 1980's at least in the United States, and by the time the economy picked up again it was the mid-1980's...

I'm not saying that what seems to be your conclusion (the F1's were in main responsible), is wrong, just that there were probably other factors involved as well...

Now we have numerous re-issues Autavia, Carrera, Monza, you get the picture....yes all very good watches but very pricey, where has the poor mans watch gone???, a £500 pound sel is possibly the bottom line - quite possibly the most shocking watch i have seen to date, what basis does a watch have to expect a re-issue, 30 years old, 50 years????, availability or just pure interest from guys like yourselfs.

I really don't know, and in fact when I look at the Monza "Classic" I wonder how they see that as a Classic based on the original Monza when the original Monza looks nothing like the current model. The current model looks more like a Camaro or Silverstone than old Monza at least to me. It's a real mutation in my mind.

I am sure Tag Heuer could make absolutely millions from a re-issue of the F1 series,

I'm sure that's very attainable, but the question is that a direction that TAG-Heuer wants or needs to pursue?

Believe me, I've been as outspoken against the current trend of certain watch brands (TAG-Heuer, Omega, Zenith, etc.) marching upscale in some Quixotic quest to engage Rolex. I think it's foolish and shortsighted for firms to pull up roots, and abandon it's existing market niche leaving it's loyal customers in the lurch. I understand the need to "follow the money" the problem becomes when is the market that your walking towards too cluttered to support you and the others trying to fill that need, and who has just taken over your old niche and is dug in there like a tick?

yet had it not been for the poor mans F1 there may never have been a re-issue of any of these fine watches,

It's hard to say without marketing data that we will likely never be privvy to. Certainly it's possible that the F1 keep the doors open, afterall... Swatch's success was likely key to many of the brands under the "Swatch Group umbrella" to weather the trials and tribulations of the late 1970's through 1980's...

would the original Autavia's, Carrera's, Monza's been as collectable or worth a kings ransom had the Heuer brand gone to ground prior to the joining of Heuer & TAG

I would think that all of the original Heuer models would be even more collectable and worth even more if Heuer had died.

When viewed from the other (Heuer) end of the Magnifing Glass, the TAG-Heuer merger was nearly as bad as losing the Heuer brand. With the exception of the holdover models, there is a distinct separation between the Pre-TAG models (like the Autavia, Carrera, 510 chronographs, etc. and the S/EL, 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000 and F1's...

Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer that I would much rather have a healthy and profitable TAG-Heuer than a dead and largely forgotten Heuer. But there was (less the aforementioned holdover models) a distinct break pre and post merger.

and the succesful F1,

Again, I don't think anyone outside of someone privvy to all of Heuer's and TAG-Heuer's books in the timeframe (say 1978-1990) would be able to conclude that the F1 is the sole saviour of the merged firm. I'm sure it contributed though...

i would like a re-issue F1 and soon!!!!,

If you've read this far, you get some possibly good news... How about two weeks?

I don't know if it's a re-issue or not, but you can always contact TAG-Heuer and send them some feedback!

maybe you all have a lot of poor mens F1's to thank, warmest regards, James.

It's certainly a possibility. Maybe we do, maybe not.

I would like to see TAG (and Omega, Zenith, etc.) consider entry level models. While I am not particularly fond of them, many people are and they are a good way to bring customers into the fold. General Motors has thrived for decades by having entry level brands (Chevrolet) that pass the customer up through Pontiac (Performance), Oldsmobile (style), Buick (Luxury), Cadillac (Flagship) divisions throughout the customer's life. Perhaps such a philosophy would succeed in the watch industry.

-- Chuck