MODERN HISTORY

Even though the TAG acquisition is ancient history, TAG Heuer’s Heritage Director Nicholas Biebuyck shares why Techniques d’Avant Garde” is still very much part of their DNA alongside its heritage

The brand became TAG Heuer only after you got acquired by TAG. Any chance we're going back to just Heuer"?

[Laughs] This is a very hot topic. I can give my professional answer and my personal answer. For nearly 20 years, I collected vintage Heuer chronographs. It’s easy for me to say, Oh, yes, of course, Heuer is such a powerful brand” but that is very much the mindset of a collector. It’s important to remember that whilst we are very vocal and very influential, and we are sort of tastemakers, enthusiast forums where we often reside are also echo chambers of this kind of commentary.

The important thing to remember is that during the vast growth of the brand which occurred post-1986 and throughout the 1990s, our three biggest markets and they still are today are the US, the UK and Australia. In those markets, a lot of people don’t even know how to pronounce Heuer”, so when they walk into a shop, they say, “I want a TAG” or I want an Aquaracer” or I want a Carrera”. So the power of the name TAG, and how it connects to TAG Heuer and how these three letters are emblematic of what we stand for as a brand: Technical

Avant Garde, you know, the futuristic, innovative aspect of us as a company. It’s become profoundly clear that this is the name of the company and this is what we stand for.

Given the tremendous heritage, how does TAG design and innovate while keeping faithful to its historical references?