Designed for optimal performance both in and out of the water, this handsome automatic watch blends sporty prestige styling with optimal readability. The 41 mm case is crafted from a solid block of stainless steel and showcases a black dial with bold luminous hands and markers and a red-tipped seconds hand. The dial also features a tonal TAG Heuer logo and a date display at the three o’clock hour. Framing the dial is a unidirectional rotating bezel, in matching black, with over [Read More...]
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October 14th, 2010 at 5:41 am
This watch is an automatic, meaning that it contains a mechanical movement powered by the action of the wearer’s wrist. Some mechanical movements must be wound manually by the user. Neither type require a battery as a quartz watch would. The payoff is that all mechanical watches, however much they might cost, are less accurate than any quartz watch one might buy for $20 from a local garage. The reason that one might pay upwards of $1000 for such a watch is that the movement is a precise, finely engineered example of the watchmaker’s craft, and not a simple piece of electronics produced by the millions as might be found in a cheap Casio (to take nothing away from Casio).
The highest quality automatic watches are known as ‘chronometers’, and must contain a movement that has passed a rigorous set of tests laid down by the Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (www.cosc.ch). Such a movement will have an accuracy of 99.99%, which is the maximum obtainable. Only 3% of all watches produced in Switzerland each year are certified as chronometers. Briefly, the COSC standard states that a certified movement must be accurate to within -4/+6 seconds per day. Most high-quality mechanical watches can be adjusted by a good watchmaker to meet that level of accuracy. As far as I am aware, this movement (a Tag-modified ETA 2824-2 for the technically inclined) is not COSC certified; however, this does not mean that it cannot meet the standard, but simply that Tag Heuer have not submitted it for testing.
Even chronometer-certified movements are still less accurate than a quartz watch. This is not a problem specific to Tag Heuer, but is common to any mechnical watch, whether it be from Rolex, Omega, Breitling or any other manufacturer. Even Omega’s new co-axial movement is not designed to increase accuracy, but rather stability over time. Stability is often considered to be a more desirable characteristic than pure accuracy in a mechanical timepiece (which is in any case impossible); that is, that it constantly gains 6 seconds a day, rather than gaining one day and losing time the next.
Many people (and websites) confuse chronometers with chronographs. A chronograph is a watch that has extra functions and displays allowing the timing of individual events, similar to a stopwatch. This watch is not a chronograph.
When buying an expensive watch, or any other valuable item, it pays to do a small amount of research and understand what exactly it is one is paying for.
I have always been very impressed with the build quality of Tag Heuers; their finishing and reliability is excellent and they are very reasonably priced when compared to other high-grade Swiss watches.
October 14th, 2010 at 5:53 am
I have the blue one and love. Been SCUBA diving with it, no problems. It is an automatic, so it’s not going to be as accurate as a quartz, but if you buy it from an authorized dealer, they will adjust to make it accurate, usually within a couple seconds a day. You can save a few bucks buying a TAG online, but you’re screwed if you don’t like it or have problems.