TAG Heuer headquarters
Making His
CARRERA
Twenty-fifteen was the year
Jean-Claude Biver recast
TAG Heuer, a company
long associated with value
and motorsport
S
teve McQueen raised the Heuer Monaco to the level of
20th century design icon in the racing film LeMans. A
Heuer Autavia with a white dial, black registers and
blue chronograph hand means one thing: Swiss Formula
1 driver Jo Siffert. In the eyes of many a collector, TAG Heuer is
the quintessential racing watch. As a chronograph specialist that
hit its stride during the heyday of motor racing in the 1960s and
1970s, Heuer combined industry-leading technology, revolutionary
product design, and the preternatural marketing skills of a young
Jack Heuer to make its name in pit row as well as on the wrists of
countless racing enthusiasts and hobbyists.
Now another great marketer is taking his turn at the wheel of
TAG Heuer, and there’s little chance he will “crack under pressure.”
BIVER AT THE WHEEL
On taking over TAG Heuer last year, Jean Claude Biver told a
group of journalists that if he his ambitions for the brand proved
successful, it would be the greatest achievement of his career. It
was a particularly bold statement from a man not averse to making
them. Everyone assembled knew that Biver’s was already a singular career. The changes imminent at TAG Heuer were to be large
in scope.
Twenty-fifteen indeed proved a pivotal year in the history of
TAG Heuer. The watchmaking maven who relaunched Blancpain
and revamped Omega before orchestrating the well-publicized
turnaround at Hublot has realigned TAG Heuer’s products to target younger collectors while coming to market with Switzerland’s
best answer yet to Silicon Valley’s wave of smart watches.
More on that exciting news later. And be sure to look for an
in-depth, hands-on review of the aptly named Connected Watch
in the next issue of our sister publication, AboutTime. First, let’s
focus on exciting new developments—both inside and out—in
the Carrera line, a watch that has long been TAG Heuer’s bestselling model.
2016 | WRISTWATCH
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