THE SAME, BUT BETTER
With its novel more-than-welcome characteristics and its enhanced chic-sporty look, the Swiss brand’s dive watch unveiled during Watches and Wonders is more up-to-date than ever before.
Although TAG Heuer is well-known for its ties to motor sports, the brand has also stood out since 1978 with its reliable, high-performance dive watches. This year, a contemporary development intended to optimize the wearer-friendliness of its previous models has just been revealed, the Aquaracer Professional 300. To achieve meaningful results, its design shrewdly blends the adornments of the first references with those of variations issued in 2004 and in 2015, as well as adding a handful of innovations. As such, on its dial, large, rounded indexes like those on the original model replace the previous baton-style ones. Every detail has been carefully thought over to provide optimal readability. The indexes and the sword-shaped hour hand are coated with green-emitting Super-LumiNova®, whilst the minute hand, the tip of the direct-drive and the triangle featured on the bezel diffuse a blue hue. The date now reigns at 6 o’clock. A magnifier, directly integrated in the sapphire crystal enhances its reading. The unidirectional rotating bezel, which was totally-rounded in the 20th century, went on to become somewhat angular. This time round, its sides have become much sharper to offer better grip.
The 43 mm-diameter steel case, waterproof to depths of 300 m, has been fine-tuned, as has the bracelet fashioned in the same metal, to make the timepiece lighter. The 2021 vintage references adorn a trio of hues – blue, black or grey. A titanium variation set off with green completes the collection.
All the time data of these Aquaracer Professional 300 watches are driven by the Caliber 5. This selfwinding movement delivers a power reserve of 38 hours.
Price: CHF2,950 (steel) – CHF4,100 (titanium) www.tagheuer.com
By Dan Diaconu