My view is that in the customer who pays $80k for the V4 would likely not be interested in vintage watches- but more someone who wants the latest technology and is wealthy enough to be able to afford it. Lets face it- if you had a watch budget of $100k, you could probably pick up every vintage Heuer of interest- and the rest!

But long term, I believe that the fortunes of TAG Heuer will have a huge impact on the vintage Heuer community. My view has always been that Heuer collecting will die out soon enough if it doesn't extend beyond talking about watches made over only a 15 year period (most of the watches we talk about here are say 1965-1980). A viable collecting community has to have at least some people interested in newer models as well as the vintage ones to keep refreshing- adding new models to the list of discussion topics, etc.

Ignoring the re-editions, I'd say that 10 years ago there were zero TAG Heuer models that I liked. If I looked at today's catalog (again, excluding re-editions), there are probably 4-5 models that catch my eye. If TAG succeed in selling an $80k watch with such interesting technology, then you'd like to think that this will inspire further innovation and hopefully allow the technology to find its way down to models that the non-hedge fund managers amongst us can actually afford.

So, in the short term, I don't think it will have any impact, but longer term it is hopefully another step in the rehabilitation of the TAG Heuer name- a proper watch company with its own in-house watch making capability, and not just a slick marketing machine.

Who knows? Maybe in 20 years time a TAG Heuer Super Professional will be worth more than a Heuer version, because it has "those famous three letters" in front of the Heuer!