Tag Heuer New Caliber 1887 Watch Movement SNAFU

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Dec 9th 2009 at 6:02AM

This was certainly a sticky situation for Tag Heuer, the details are a bit murky, but the situation is clear. Tag Heuer recently announced their "new, in-house made and designed" Caliber 1887 automatic chronograph movement. All seems well with the movement itself, but the problem is that Tag Heuer didn't design it. Nope, they sort of cosmetically altered an over 10 year old Japanese Seiko movement design (Seiko 6S37). So after 150 years, Tag Heuer's anniversary surprise was on loan from Japan. I do understand that this was arranged with Seiko, and that Tag Heuer will actually be building the movements in limited quantities themselves. At least Seiko isn't doing everything.

Tag Heuer got caught red handed by the watch lover community who noticed the similarities between the two movements. This qualifies us as true nerds, seeing details such as this. Tag Heuer would have gotten away with it to, if it wasn't for us meddling bloggers! That's right, thank the internet watch lover community, who is responsible for this situation being discovered. A powerful indication to the watch industry of what the internet can do for them, or against them. In good taste, as a response to the situation, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Christophe Babin himself went online to respond to the "accusations." He honorably admitted a "mistake" by Tag Heuer and that the movement was in fact "adopted" from Seiko.

The clear winner in this whole situation is first and foremost the power of the Internet watch lover community, second Seiko, and third Tag Heuer for responding to a sticky situation quickly and admirably. Seiko movements are pretty outstanding, and it is funny that here even the Europeans are rather tacitly suggesting that. Plus, Tag Heuer is a rather mainstream watch brand. Meaning that most people who buy their watches will never even know about this situation. Tag Heuer admitted wrong doing, hopefully a few heads will be caved in there in the marketing department, and they will go on their lives being good watch designers, not movement designers. Lastly, there are several watch forums and blogs that knew about this situation but refused to mention it even though they discussed the new Tag Heuer Caliber 1887movement. They lose the most in this situation for the destruction of valuable street cred among Internet watch lovers who simply expect more.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 1887, caliber, in-house, movement, Seiko, Tag Heuer, TagHeuer, watch

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

J Hard Dec 10th 2009 9:37AM

Tag Heuer makes junk, purchased a Tag Kirium, in 1999, four years later the hand markers fell off in two position ,three and seven, the click wheel around the watch stop clicking, Cost 260.00 to have repaired @ J.L Hudson, in Mich, they sent it out, Worthlees junk, Still have watch in 2009, it cost in '99 was 1300.00,

J Hard Dec 9th 2009 11:36PM

Tag Heuer makes junk, purchased a Tag Kirium, in 1999, four years
later the hand markers fell off in two position ,three and seven, the
click wheel around the watch stop clicking, Cost 260.00 to have
repaired @ J.L Hudson, in Mich, they sent it out, Worthlees junk,
Still have watch in 2009, it cost in '99 was 1300.00,

kdixon2711 Dec 16th 2009 11:42PM

So the marketing department screwed up. So what. They admitted it and the world moved on.
I have a Tag Heuer 1000 and a Tag Regatta and both have worked perfectly for over twenty years. This little faux pas won't stop me from buying another Tag.

WIS Dec 18th 2009 1:27AM

I'm not a big buyer of the brand, but they do NOT make junk. I've hard a Kirium, it was 10 years old when I sold it. I even took it on a dive and it was fine.I've had The F1s I've had re-edition Carreras, Carreras Chronos, the 2000 All were fine watches that gave me NO problems. I've moved on to other brands now, but I have no ill regards towards TH.

SF Dec 24th 2009 12:40PM

I think it's fairly sad to see an old and cherished brand reduced to borrowed movements for monumental anniversary editions. Nothing against Seiko, fine watches. But aside from the name on the dial and, perhaps, a nicer case - at its core beats a Seiko - which one could buy for considerably less than the TAG. I just think it's dishonest. I appreciate their "cleaning it up." However, this was once caught. Had no enterprising researcher caught them, they would be laughing and counting their Swiss Francs. If they really had/wanted to adopt the Seiko movement, they should have marketed it that way: as a Swiss reworked variant of a throwback, or something along those lines.

pologrounder Dec 26th 2009 10:34PM

TAG stands by their products. I had a Formula1 Chrono where the movement started losing time. I took it into a TAG dealer for service and TAG replaced it with a newer model at no charge. I also have 2 earlier model formula 1 watches that are still running since the mid-90's. I too have moved on to other modles but if you buy a TAG, rest assured, you can do a lot worse.

redtiger02 Dec 27th 2009 2:30AM

What kind of whack job has the time to sit and go over every little detail of a watch? Tag Heuer is just like every other company out there. They make some good stuff, they make some bad stuff. You either like it or you don't, but don't obsess over details like some kind of watch nazi. You aren't talking Rolex here. Tag Heuer can be found at all kinds of stores, there's nothing exclusive, and by that logic, nothing worth obsessing over. I actually feel extremely sorry for the so-called 'watch bloggers.' Where's the blog to help the 'watch bloggers" find a woman that doesn't require inflation? How sad is your life that you can obsess over something like this? The sharp knives are in the drawer on the right, don't mess up the carpet when you slit your wrists over your great watch discovery.