Deeply Mechanical

On the move again. Deeper. TAG Heuer has put something new forward for those with the need for depth and the love of the visually mechanical.

Many collectors are enamored by the timepieces of the deep, those that are not just dive watches but deep, deep dive watches. Watches that will keep on going long after your own mortal body will have been crushed if you happened to actually test the thing in the water. These watches are big, bulky and heavy in order to withstand the pressures you will see as you start reaching past where the light can go. Because of this need for strength and impregnability, they also almost always have metal backs. Usually engraved with the depth rating, or an image of an old metal diving helmet or such, they were a necessary tool for those that worked the deep. For the enthusiast though, it meant that you couldn’t see your movement.

The new Aquaracer 500M answers this issue. The new deep dive watch from TAG Heuer has a nice, clear sapphire crystal caseback that allows you to appreciate the mechanicals you normally wouldn’t see. A Calibre ETS 2836-2 stares back at you, a 26mm movement complete with engraved Côtes de Genève oscillating mass to mark the occasion.

TAG Heuer has been known largely for their history and ability in the world of motorsport and precision timing, but they actually have a long association with the sea and with ocean diving. In 1895, Heuer patented one of the first water-resistant pocket-watch cases. They launched a truly nautical piece, the Mareograph, in 1950 that combined tide and regatta indicators in a chronograph. The well-known 2000 Collection models, predecessor of the Aquaracer line, appeared in 1982. Even the modern TAG Heuer dive watches bring along something special. The most recent 500 meter Aquagraph had a highly readable oversized chronograph minute hand. It was meant to be an instrument for professional divers and to provide them with answers to very specific demands such as the needs for excellent visibility under water, easy handling and special safety features.

This new deep diver, the 500M, reinterprets these characteristics in a more sophisticated manner and finish, and with that all-important sapphire caseback. It also has what TAG Heuer considers the six components that represent their essence. They use a scratch-resistant domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on the interior surface and luminescent hands, hour markers and bezel scale for quick and easy reading. A screw-in crown with double safety gaskets helps prevent the intrusion of dust or water. For safety, the turning bezel is unidirectional so as not to show the diver more time than he actually has left when measuring dive time. This bezel is also coated with molded rubber for easy of handling. A double safety quick action bracelet strap makes sure that information stays on his wrist as he pushes through rock, wreck or coral. Also, water resistance is guaranteed to 500 meters for the 500M via the use of an automatic helium release valve, and 300 meters for the other Aquaracers.

With this new Aquaracer, TAG Heuer reminds us that they are going to be going forward, pushing the envelope, extending boundaries wherever they can. Not just with groundbreaking movements such as in the belt driven Monaco V4, but in the more approachable timepieces as well. Development and daring and change boundaries wherever they can. ” and increased value and attention to detail and demand occur not just in the showcase pieces but in the workhorses as well. A director of another illustrious watchmaker, one who collects deep dive wristwatches of any configuration or brand, once lamented that his own company didn’t even produce a piece for his collection. That most of the watchmaking world was not producing anything breathtakingly new, was not pushing the envelope, was not taking risks and putting their name behind those challenges. The same, thankfully, cannot be said of all of them.