Watches For Men

From A-list actors such as Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Leonardo Di Caprio, to elite sports stars like Tiger Woods and Lewis Hamilton, TAG Heuer is a watchmaker who clearly like to leverage some of the worlds biggest names to build their luxury brand.

The question is though, is there enough quality in a modern TAG Heuer watch to back up the elite TAG Heuer image? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?

That’s what we are going to look at in this review of one of TAGs most famous and enduring models, the Aquaracer 2000.

TAG Heuer the Company

TAG Heuer was founded around 150 years ago in Switzerland, have always targeted the luxury watch market and have been involved in their fair share of timepiece innovations.

They invented the first automatic chronograph (a chronograph is a watch that is also a stopwatch) and have been at the center of many innovative designs and breakthroughs, including for the military and auto racing.

That today they are the official timekeeper of many of the most prestigious sporting events speaks very well to them being a leader in sports watch technology and delivering on their quality promise.

TAG does go to great lengths to maintain very high quality standards, for example each TAG watch is benchmarked against over 60 precision and quality tests and is individually tested.

TAG Aquaracer

The TAG Aquaracer was first introduced in 1982, and has always been designed to be perfect for use by professional divers.

It features a clean, classic look that both looks modern and stylish. There are three advantages here for this kind of style

1. This kind of look tends to age very well (i.e. not go out of style), so you needn’t panic about fashion trends.
2. It looks equally good with a business suit as with a wetsuit.
3. One that you can consider handing down to a son or grandson one day.

The disadvantage with this look is that this isn’t a ‘showy’ watch. It won’t get you noticed immediately, the effect is more subtle.

From our research this is one of the models whose resale value holds up very well. Now before you get too excited be aware it’s unlikely you’ll make a profit from reselling one, only a very few watches do this and it’s almost impossible to predict which ones, but this is the kind of watch that’s a keeper and can last forever if you show it a little respect.

What It’s Made Of

As professional divers need a watch that can handle the extreme pressure that they encounter so the Aquaracer is built to be extremely sturdy. Pressure rated to a depth of 300m and made from stainless steel, it should be able to take plenty of knocks on land too. Note that stainless steel isn’t impervious to staining, just highly resistant.

Here we like that it comes with a scratch resistant Sapphire crystal window that is also anti-reflective. Nothing is more annoying than scratching the face of a watch you love, but at the same time you want to be able to do your sports or work without worrying about your watch. Sapphire crystal is the best quality watch crystal and usually worth the investment.

Overall the build quality and materials used are top notch. Some may prefer titanium to stainless steel however.

When Diving

The watch features a unidirectional bezel. The bezel is the dial on the outside of the watch that is turned to the current minute at the start of the dive and shows you how how many minutes you’ve been diving . By being unidirectional, if you accidentally knock or turn the bezel you’ll only finish your dive early, not late. Obviously a good thing.

Whether you are many feet below the surface or just in a dark room, another very useful feature here is luminous hands, markers, a dot at 12 o’clock and also a luminous crown for adjustments. The crown of a watch is the small knob or dial that sticks out at 3′oclock (old fashioned pocket watches had it sticking out at 12 o’clock).

It is water resistant to at least 300m which is what you want in a professional standard divers watch. In case you don’t know, watch water resistance depth ratings aren’t really accurate. A watch rated to 50m isn’t suitable for diving at all, it’s barely suitable for swimming. So 300m water resistance is first rate.

The stainless steel bracelet comes with a diving extension that can be extended to fit over a wetsuit.

The Insides

The TAG Aquaracer uses precision Swiss quartz movement to keep time. What this means is that instead of being wound mechanically time is kept by measuring the vibrations of a piece of quartz, the vibrations being powered by a battery. Note there is a handy battery warning feature in the Aquaracer where the second hand jumps ahead four seconds at once if the battery needs replacing.

There is an automatic calendar that is adjusted by the crown. Note the strap is a safety one too so your watch won’t fall off if you accidentally knock your wrist against a rock or a wall.

Warranty, Maintenance and Years down the line

The Aquaracer is covered by a warranty that , can be serviced by dealers in any one of 110 countries. The battery life is around 18 months so it should be pretty easy to find an authorized dealer to get it changed. As we said earlier the TAG Aquaracer is a fantastic watch to buy if you plan on keeping it for a long time (due to looks and quality), but be aware you do have to look after it a little by giving it a quick wash with soapy water every now and then. It is not maintenance free if you want it to last a very long time.

When there is a rapid change in pressure or temperature you may notice condensation on the inside of the watch. Don’t worry this is perfectly normal and healthy for a TAG watch and will dissipate quickly.

What Aquaracer Owners Think

• “I decided on this one and it has been flawless“
• “The watch is of impeccable quality and exhibits professionalism to my clients while not appearing too ostentatious.“
• “I highly recommend Tag and Amazon. I saved well over $500 on my new watch!“
• “This watch is extremely tough I’ve put mine trough everything and it still looks as good as the day I bought it“.
• “This watch is an absolute classic. Stylish, simple and attractive, it goes equally well with a suit or t-shirt and jeans. I can’t imagine this watch ever going out of style.“

Any Complaints?

Complaints about the Aquaracer seem pretty few and far between. There were one or two owners who did have a problem but got their exchange through Amazon with no problem and were happy with that.

Best place to buy a TAG Aquaracer

It’s hard to fault the Aquaracer as it is such a high quality, stylish and functional watch. The only real downside is a lot of retailers (especially offline ones) will leverage this quality to jack up the price and make it much more expensive than it needs to be.

The upside to this is you can find the TAG Aquaracerat a massive discount, which brings more of a smile to your face in future years as you know you got it for a steal.

By far the best place we know of to buy the Aquaracer is Amazon. They have the bulk power to almost always have huge price discounts on the TAG Aquaracer (often 40 or 60% off).