Reconsidering a 1990s Tag Heuer Diver

The watch collecting community has a troubled relationship with Tag Heuer.  With the exception of Hublot, no other brand seems to illicit such abundant scorn.  Yet at the same time, there are countless enthusiasts who really want to root for them.  They examine each new release wondering if this will be the moment that they finally find their way. I have developed a theory about this.  Many current collectors came of age in the 1980s and 1990s, and so we were surrounded by Tag.  These were not the iconic chronographs of the Heuer era.  Rather, it was the the versatile dive watch (almost always in a quartz configuration) that gripped the public imagination and saved the company.  They were the pieces that so many people lusted after.

It would be hard of think of a single watch that was more emblematic of the early 1990s than the two tone Tag Heuer 1500 Series diver.  Unfortunately, most of us are embarrassed when confronting the memory of our previous selves.  That is basic human nature.  Nostalgia is always a double edged sword, and it has to be carefully cultivated and directed. We hide some parts of the past so that others may shine. Tag’s marketing department just hasn’t figured out what to do with the 1990s.

Being a child of the 80s my initial experience with watches were the inexpensive digital Casios that also dominated that era.  When I got a little older I started to wear Citizen dive watches as I explored Asia and attended university.  But these were purely utilitarian objects and I never thought about luxury watches.  This changed a few minutes after earning by BA in the spring of 1998 when my parents presented me with a two tone Tag Heuer Professional 1500 (I believe it is reference WD1220.BB0611).  I don’t remember how much they paid for it at the time, but I do remember being scandalized at the thought that anything this expensive was being handed to me.  While I loved the watch, it was a solid year before I could bring myself to wear it.

I still have this piece today.  It’s not part of my regular rotation, but perhaps it should be.  The section of Tag’s webpage dedicated to their vintage creations notes that this line was discontinued in 1997.  As such, my example was part of the final run. According to the same webpage the full size 1500 cases were discontinued in 1994, so mine would appear to be the 38mm (rather than 40mm) variant.  I say “appear” as my calipers suggest that the case may be closer to 39mm. But with its thin lugs and black dial the whole package wears small.  The watch is a hair under 10mm thick.

The tritium markers no longer fluoresce and have started to turn off white.  The dial features only two lines of text and avoids the “sacred tomes” that seems so popular today. While I have done my best to care for this watch over the decades, the aluminum bezel is certainly starting to show its age.  I think that one of the interesting things about neo-vintage pieces  from the 1990s is that they were really among the last watches that would be allowed to “age gracefully,” prior to adoption of more modern types of luminescent material and ceramic, harder wearing, bezels or dials.

While the five link bracket is tired and not as tight as it once was, I am lucky in that its gold colored plating has held up remarkably well.  The clasp is stamped and lighter than what you would find on any modern luxury watch, but the bracelet is very comfortable and the whole package has always disappeared on my wrist.

Do I wish that this was a mechanical watch?  Yes and no. Like everything else, it is a product of its time and quartz dominated much of the 1980s and 1990s. It was called the "quartz crisis" for a reason and this is what most consumers at the time wanted (myself included).

Still, a gilt dialed vintage inspired diver with a 38mm case from a major Swiss house?  Doesn’t that sound exactly like what all of the cool kids are asking for?  This piece was doing what the BB58 is now before Tudor made it cool.  Interestingly, during the 1990s Tag Heuer did not market these as “vintage inspired” pieces.  Rather they were described in the catalog as a “basic sports watch” which emphasized contemporary technology and design. Its amazing that this watch sold as well as it did given the market copy that accompanied it.

In any case, my now humble 1500 series will never leave my collection.   While these models don’t have much residual value, I am genuinely surprised that more enthusiasts are not snapping them up as they were precisely the thing that inspired so many people to get into the world of watches in the first place. Yet they seem to illicit a sense of shame, an unease that we ever could have been unsophisticated enough to be enjoy quartz watches or wearing 90s fashion.  And the music? Don't get me started....

Fashion is cyclical, and perhaps as more people rediscover the 1990s in other parts of popular culture these watches will once again be appreciated for what they were.  Good looking, easy wearing and highly functional icons that kept Tag from slipping into oblivion in a decade when fewer people were enamored with the romance of a mechanical chronograph and cell phones had yet to emerge as society’s premier time keeping technology. Indeed, Tag built a degree of brand name recognition throughout the broader marketplace (not just among motor sport fans, or watch collectors) on the back of their dive watches that most CEO’s would kill for.

You can count me among those hoping that contemporary Tag Heuer regains its footing, not just with its vintage inspired chronographs, but across its catalog.  Sooner or later I am going to add a modern Tag to my rotation that I can wear it in memory of the watch that my parents originally gifted me.  And I am a little sad that nothing seems to fit the bill.  They make lots of heritage inspired chronos that I would love to own.  But that is not the decade I am trying to recapture. 

What I would really like to see is a dressy, somewhat vintage, two tone diver in a moderate case size that harkens back to the 1500 series, but with a modern mechanical movement.  Some of the three hand Carreras come close.  But I think that Tudor has shown exactly what sort of demand there is for this type of time piece with the BB58.  It is time for Tag to dive into their neo-vintage catalog, do some creative reimagining of the past, and make the 1990s cool again.