La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland – January 24th, 2022 – TAG Heuer returns to the reborn Aquaracer Professional Series with the Aquaracer Professional 200, a bold, stylish, all-terrain luxury tool watch that continues the rich legacy of the historic Swiss Manufacture’s high-functioning sports watch, which began four decades ago.
The Aquaracer Professional 200 will be available with either a 40mm or 30mm stainless steel case. Every model will have a uni-directional rotating bezel with twelve facets, water resistance to 200 metres, and either an automatic mechanical or quartz movement. The Aquaracer Professional 200 is a robust but sophisticated tool watch for life’s many challenges.
“The Aquaracer is every bit as much a TAG Heuer signature as Carrera or Monaco. Its codes and the philosophy behind it were defined decades ago and continue to be as relevant and exciting as ever, particularly in this season of new beginnings and new journeys. The Aquaracer Professional 200 is a companion for a fast-paced, unforgettable life full of adventure and achievement, a life lived beyond the edge.” – Frédéric Arnault, TAG Heuer CEO – Geneva, January 2022
PAGE-TURNER
The Aquaracer Professional Series story continues
Last year, TAG Heuer breathed new life into the Aquaracer story with the Aquaracer Professional 300, the brand’s ultimate luxury diver’s watch.
That story began in 1978 when Jack Heuer introduced the Heuer Reference 844. Designed for men and women who loved outdoor sports and adventures in nature – on land or in the water – the watch defined a new high-performance category of versatile wristwatches that could be relied on in extreme conditions.
The Aquaracer name was added in 2004 and continued the legacy of the family’s six design codes: a uni-directional rotating bezel; a screw-down crown; water resistance to at least 200 metres; luminous markings; a sapphire crystal; and a double safety clasp.
Hot on the heels of the Aquaracer Professional 300 comes the Aquaracer Professional 200, a sister model designed to be as comfortable speed flying or ice skiing as it is pounding the pavement. Like the larger 43mm Aquaracer Professional 300, it too picks up on those six design codes established more than forty years ago.
At every turn, the new watches are about refinement. The larger of the two models that debut today is 40mm across and 11mm thick, giving a sleeker silhouette and a slenderer profile compared to the outgoing model it replaces, which was 41mm in diameter and 12mm thick. TAG Heuer’s design and engineering teams have delivered a watch consistent with the Aquaracer’s fundamental principles, only with greater sophistication and even more durability.
“If you look at the Aquaracer Professional 200, you can see our intention to create an everyday watch that still has the tool watch look that TAG Heuer lovers came to expect from the icons of the past, such as the Reference 844, 1000 and 2000 Series models. It’s an evolution of all this history.” – Guy Bove, TAG Heuer’s Creative Director
DRAWING THE LINES
Comparing the Aquaracer Professional 200 and 300
The relationship between the Aquaracer Professional 200 and Aquaracer Professional 300 is easily defined. Both have the famous and now upgraded bezel with twelve facets first introduced in 1995; both feature a refined, repeating horizontal line dial decoration; both have sculpted, chamfered, shorter lugs with brushed and polished finishes; both are fitted with a three-link bracelet, and both have a screw-down crown with twelve facets and protection.
Closer inspection reveals a series of subtle, but definitive differences, all of which give the Aquaracer Professional 200 its unique character and versatility. For example, the Aquaracer Professional 200 is appreciably more compact at 40mm (compared to 43mm), with the further option of a smaller 30mm case. The bezel still features a diving scale, only now it’s engraved into a steel insert, rather than one in ceramic. The central bracelet link is polished rather than brushed, lending the Aquaracer Professional 200 its more formal feel, intended to help it cross codes, from sea to mountain, via the office and a weekend hangout.
“Our eyes can read shapes quite well when they have a matt finish. The contrast we created between the brushed vertical finishes and the polished finishes on the case means that your eye doesn’t see as much of it, with the effect that the watch appears to have a slimmer profile.”
Guy Bove, TAG Heuer’s Creative Director
The differences continue in the display geometry. Where the Aquaracer Professional 300 has octagonal hour markers, an oversized hour hand, and yellow detailing, the Aquaracer Professional 200 adopts more classic sports watch codes with straight-edged, trapezoidal hour markers, sleeker sword-shaped hands, and crisp white detailing. For dial legibility, the hour markers and hands are still coated with Super-LumiNova, but to create a more sartorial look, no luminescent material has been applied to the bezel.
INSIDER KNOWLEDGE
Movement options, diamond settings, and a new case back design
The new Aquaracer Professional 200 models offer a choice of movements. In the 40mm collection, there are two automatic and two quartz references, while at 30mm there are two automatics and five quartz options. This marks another departure from the Aquaracer Professional 300, which is only available with an automatic mechanical movement.
The choice of movement changes the watch’s layout and functionality. Automatics are distinguished by their fumé (smoky) gradient dials, date windows (but without a magnifier – to maintain the watch’s streamlined profile), Super-LumiNova sweeping seconds hands, and more detailed minute tracks. The quartz models have no date and a pared-back look by comparison, while otherwise retaining the same aesthetic and technical characteristics.
“With both the automatic and quartz versions, we’ve played on the theme of elegance, giving the watch a narrower bezel, longer indexes, and stronger markers at 3, 6, 9, and 12. It’s more of a street watch in the sense that it’s more elegant and refined, and something you might more readily consider wearing with a suit. That’s why we gave the automatics a fumé dial, for instance.” – Guy Bove, TAG Heuer’s Creative Director
In the 30mm range there are further playful, elegant options. There are three quartz models with a light silver colour, light blue or black sunray dials; a quartz model with a diamond- dot white mother-of-pearl dial; an additional quartz model that adds a diamond-set bezel to a diamond-dot white mother-of-pearl dial; and then two automatics with either a black or blue fumé diamond-dot dial. Again, the automatics feature date windows.
One attribute shared by every new Aquaracer Professional 200 reference is the case back design. Because these are watches designed to capture the go-anywhere spirit of exploration, the watch’s reverse is engraved with a compass, replacing the scaphander diving helmet that has featured on Aquaracer case backs (and its predecessors) since 2002. The backdrop to this remains the repeating engraved hexagonal motif seen on the Aquaracer Professional 300.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Shared engineering innovations across the collection
The new Aquaracer Professional 200 carries some further, albeit not immediately obvious engineering refinements first seen in the Aquaracer Professional 300. For example, the bezel improvements detailed in the Aquaracer Professional 300 are also present in its sister watch. The bezel’s rotating mechanism is almost fluid, and yet still has a reassuring click that signals its reliability under pressure, and also that it’s an exquisitely engineered object.
Both watches feature a slimmed-down, more elegant bracelet that continues TAG Heuer’s long tradition of producing ergonomic bracelet designs that follow the natural curvature of every wearer’s wrist. As well as being highly flexible and durable, the Aquaracer Professional 200’s bracelet comes with a comfort link with a 7mm extension that can be adjusted quickly using a beautifully engineered push-down-and-pull release mechanism.
Both pieces in the Aquaracer Professional Series also have intelligently designed fluting on the bezel’s facets so it can be easily gripped and adjusted. The riders from previous generation Aquaracer bezels have been removed, giving the Aquaracer Professional 200 its uninterrupted bezel profile.
As a result, both Aquaracer Professional Series models offer the same refined haptics and aesthetics, delivering an intensely rewarding user experience. These are tool watches, but they recognise the imperative behind any luxury product – to deliver a sensorial, human experience every time they’re brought into service. Delivering on this brief was the product of both decades of experience and a new season of design study.
“Removing the riders has helped give the new generation Aquaracer Professional watches a clear product identity.” – Guy Bove, TAG Heuer’s Creative Director
COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU
A special campaign for the Aquaracer Professional 200
To introduce the Aquaracer Professional 200 story to the world, TAG Heuer has collaborated once again with legendary filmmaker Thierry Donard, director of the celebrated extreme sport series of films Nuit de la Glisse. The visuals focus on the sports of speed flying, ice skiing, and ice climbing, showing athletes putting the Aquaracer Professional 200 through its paces in some of the world’s wildest and most awe-inspiring natural locations.
A SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE
The Aquaracer Professional 200, made for explorers
The new Aquaracer Professional 200 is the next step in the reworking of TAG Heuer’s iconic tool watch family. While it will sit in the Aquaracer Professional Series as a sister watch to the Aquaracer Professional 300, it is a singular design in its own right, with an extensive list of carefully considered aesthetic adaptions that lend it its sporty, versatile personality. This sophisticated, balanced, and yet commanding look has been achieved following years of research and development by TAG Heuer’s design and engineering teams.
In all, there are eleven references at launch, all in stainless steel. No matter the case size or detailing, these are bold, dynamic watches fit for ice-climbing and speed-flying, just as they are for life in the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. Each has been heavily tested at TAG Heuer’s La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture for accuracy, resistance to water and abrasion, and to ensure the bracelet can withstand accidental stresses. The primary guarantee of the Aquaracer Professional Series is performance under pressure.
The Aquaracer Professional 200 opens up a new chapter in the storied tale of TAG Heuer watches designed and engineered for life’s greatest adventures.
TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Technical Specifications
PROFESSIONAL 200 40mm Automatic
Movement
Calibre 5 Automatic
Functions
Hour-minutes-seconds-date
Dial
Black or blue slightly smoky, sunray brushed dial Indexes & hands filled with white Super-LumiNova®
Case
40 mm diameter
Steel polished, fine-brushed case
Steel 60-minute scale unidirectional turning bezel. Water resistance: 200 metres
Bracelet
Steel 3-row bracelet
Steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons Adjustment link extension
Availability
From January 2022
PROFESSIONAL 200 30mm Automatic
Movement
Calibre 9 Automatic
Functions
Hour-minutes-seconds-date
Dial
Black or blue mother of pearl, slightly smoky dial
Indexes & hands filled with white Super-LumiNova® 11 VS diamonds diameter 1.40 mm (0.107 ct)
Case
30 mm diameter
Steel polished, fine-brushed case
Steel 60-minute scale unidirectional turning bezel
Water resistance: 200 metres
Bracelet
Steel 3-row bracelet
Steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons Adjustment link extension
Availability
From January 2022
PROFESSIONAL 200 40mm Quartz
Movement
Quartz
Functions
Hour-minutes-seconds
Dial
Black or silver sunray brushed dial
Indexes and hands with white Super-LumiNova®
Case
40 mm diameter
Steel polished, fine-brushed case
Steel 60-minute scale unidirectional turning bezel
Water resistance: 200 metres
Bracelet
Steel 3-row bracelet
Steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons with adjustment link extension
Availability
From January 2022
PROFESSIONAL 200 30mm Quartz
Movement
Quartz
Functions
Hour-minutes-seconds-date
Dial
White mother of pearl dial
Indexes with white Super-LumiNova®
12 VS diamonds diameter 1.40 mm (0.117 ct)
Case – WBP1417.BA0622
30 mm diameter
Steel fine brushed, polished case
Steel 60-minute scale unidirectional turning bezel 13 VS diamonds diameter 1.60 mm
22 VS diamonds diameter 1.50 mm
11 VS diamonds diameter 1.40 mm (0.552 ct) Water resistance : 200 metres
Case – WBP1416.BA0622
30 mm diameter
Steel fine-brushed, polished case
Steel 60-minute scale unidirectional turning bezel Water resistance : 200 metres
Bracelet
Steel 3-row bracelet
Steel folding clasp with double safety push-buttons with adjustment link extension
Availability
From January 2022
About TAG Heuer
TAG Heuer, founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland, is a luxury watch brand that is part of LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton SE (“LVMH”), the world’s leading luxury group. Based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and with four production sites, TAG Heuer has 1470 employees and is active in 139 countries. TAG Heuer products are available online on www.tagheuer. com for select countries and in 160 boutiques and 3,000 points of sale worldwide. The company is headed up by Frédéric Arnault, CEO of TAG Heuer.
For 160 years, TAG Heuer has demonstrated pure avant-garde watchmaking spirit and a commitment to innovation with revolutionary technologies that have included the oscillating pinion for mechanical stopwatches in 1887, the Mikrograph in 1916, the first automatic-winding chronograph movement – Calibre 11 – in 1969 and the first luxury smartwatch in 2015. Today, the brand’s core collection consists of three iconic families designed by Jack Heuer – TAG Heuer Carrera, Monaco and Autavia – and is rounded out with the contemporary Link, Aquaracer, Formula 1 and Connected lines.
Capturing TAG Heuer’s motto, “Don’t Crack Under Pressure”, are prominent partnerships and brand ambassadors that express the brand’s passion for action and high performance.