Tag Heuer Prices - have I missed something???

[Chris W]

Guys,
Went for a walk round at lunch time and had a look in Goldsmiths window.

I had to do a double take on the TAG display - £1000+ for the F1 and F1 Chrono!! (and it's still a quartz....)

Have I missed something? Are these now made of some rare metal cooled by the tears of Tigers and assembled by Amazonian goddesses???

The rest of the lineup seems to have crept up in price too.

[dustybottoms]

As you say, Tags have all been creeping up in price on a steady stealthy increase.

Mind you; Tag are no different to any other “premium Swiss” make, as they all jostle for position in their self-belief and self-worth opinions and recession free bubbles.

And whilst no doubt Quartz seems expensive and crazy at £1k in isolation, it's all kind of relative when you look across all the many Swiss brands and movements with the never ending price increases. Quartz still finds its natural position as the base model introduction to Swiss watches, with standard ETA fare at the £2 -£5k mark and in-house without a roof limit it would seem.

So as long as the price differentials remain between the various movements, in line with the prices increases across the brand(s) they will all find their expected and “increasingly unnatural” price point in the hierarchy of watches.
Questionable that any of them; regardless of movement offer anything close to value for money really.

[Chris W]

I think I'm now priced out of buying new from the 'main stream' brands.

I'll be looking at Japanese, pre-loved and micro brands from now on.

We were in Amsterdam last week and I was window shopping (the Seiko boutique was my favourite!) and my GF asked what the difference between £300 Seiko Automatic and a £5000 Paneria Automatic was. I couldn't really come up with a reasonable argument apart from brand perception and aspiration.

[mat]

The Tag Heuer F1 was about £500 in the early 90s, and £550 in 1997, which translates to £800 - £900 of today's money. That was for the quartz watch with a plastic bezel, mineral crystal, and no screw down crown.

[dustybottoms]

I think I'm now priced out of buying new from the 'main stream' brands.

I'll be looking at Japanese, pre-loved and micro brands from now on.

We were in Amsterdam last week and I was window shopping (the Seiko boutique was my favourite!) and my GF asked what the difference between £300 Seiko Automatic and a £5000 Paneria Automatic was. I couldn't really come up with a reasonable argument apart from brand perception and aspiration.

I'm in total agreement with you Chris.

[gorrie]

The Tag Heuer F1 was about £500 in the early 90s, and £550 in 1997, which translates to £800 - £900 of today's money. That was for the quartz watch with a plastic bezel, mineral crystal, and no screw down crown.

F1 was £175 in December 1991... rubber strap & plastic bezel (that's what I paid from WoS anyway). I also had WoS fit a 2000 series bracelet at the time for an additional £60.

[sheepsteeth]

i quite like tags, i get the impression that people think they are some kind of rip off or that they are some kind of lowly excuse for a swiss watch.

I think even though they are pricey, their prices are a reflection of the the price rises which have ocurred in every brand in every shop window.

Those price rises only annoy me when they affect second hand values, which they invariably have done over the last couple of years and even that is only really annoying for me in the subject of things like older planet oceans, seamasters and superoceans which seem to have become more expensive even though the same version is no longer produced.

[dougjim8]

I'm pretty sure they had a price increase on the first? or that might be in september? Can't remeber :)

[W44NNE]

Yep, the TAG F1 is £1000, an Omega quartz is much more than that, as are plenty of others. They're premium watches and very good ones at that! The quartz movment in a premium watch arent exactly what you'd find in a £10 Casio and theyre usually very robust and accurate.

There's so many anti-TAG Heuer threads on this forum but it's not just them; all of the main brands are constantly increasing prices... We're just going to have to live with it!

I agree that I wouldn't walk into a jeweller and pay full price, but that's the same with any brand. With TAG Heuer, I'm very friendly with a main dealer and I can therefore get great prices, and have indeed passed these prices on several times. I love the watches and will keep buying them.

[Mikee]

I think I'm now priced out of buying new from the 'main stream' brands.

I'll be looking at Japanese, pre-loved and micro brands from now on.

We were in Amsterdam last week and I was window shopping (the Seiko boutique was my favourite!) and my GF asked what the difference between £300 Seiko Automatic and a £5000 Paneria Automatic was. I couldn't really come up with a reasonable argument apart from brand perception and aspiration.

Absolutely in agreement, I think that the "Brand" issue in watches has gone to the point of farce over time. With cars the profit margins are far slimmer than in watches and often the engineering integrity or at least real difference in performance is there for all to see and experience. Low volume costs can account for other cost differentials. With watches though, simply changing the name on the face can literally multiply the cost to the customer by large numbers. And then we seem to excuse it by looking for tiny differences in finish like some engraving which would cost peanuts to do.

I'm definitely of a mind to move away from major brands but I'm sure that's won't concern them one little bit! :)

[Captainhowdy]

They still make a good watch, the 1887 is a great chrono. and Tag are only asking the market price for this kind of watch, just look at the price of the Omega 9300 chrono, which is £2k more.

[Chris W]

I'm not 'anti-Tag' at all, have owned a few over the years and still have my year 2000 F1 chrono (my first Swiss watch) which I love to bits.
Just can't get my head around how much the prices seem to have shot up.

[adzman808]

i looked at the tag aquaracer 300m in an AD (for comparison purposes to the micro brands i keep buying) it was £1295rrp

it was ok... apart from excessive end link play on one side, date change at 11:50 (bit petty of me i know)

it depends what you compare it against, i think.... very steep compared to tissot/Hamilton, bit steep compared to longines hydroconquest, cheap compared to omega


remember the average punter walking into an AD doesn't really care what's under the bonnet when it comes to their watch

[BTW my micro brands were overall better watches]

[Dave+63]

I am a great fan of Tag Heuer, I currently own nine of them, six quartz and three autos. They are all fantastic watches and very robust.
I've only ever bought two new though and both at good discounts. The latest prices seem steep but you can get an 1887 chrono for about £2.5k with a bit of hard work so in that respect they are relatively inexpensive when compared to similar brands.
Having said that, the last three watches I've bought are a Deep Blue Blue Abyss, a Seiko quartz chronograph and a Steinhart Ocean1. Both the Deep Blue and the Steinhart have the same movement as the Tag autos (2824-2) and in my opinion are of a similar quality yet the rrp are £500 and £300 approx respectively. I am particularly impressed with the Steinhart.

Dave

[watchcollector1]

I'm constantly shocked by the RRPs of the major brands. A superquartz Breiting Colt is pushing towards £2.5k, an Aerospace £3k plus. Tag Monaco's are £4.5k, SS Rolex Subs moving towards £6k.

It's madness, the movements in many of these watches haven't changed for years so these price increases bear no relation to the cost or quality of the product.

[sheepsteeth]

the problem will always exist that if someone puts a high price tag on an object, someone will buy it as a "quality" object.

the art of selling watches seems to be pretty simple, put a big price tag on it then next year make it more expensive for no good reason and watch the chumps come rolling in.

the only easier sales job in the world must be in the sales department for petrol companies.

if we, sorry, YOU* all stop paying the prices, they will stop charging so much.


*Im too much of a gypo/pauper to pay new watch prices.

[RobDad]

The Tag Heuer F1 was about £500 in the early 90s, and £550 in 1997, which translates to £800 - £900 of today's money. That was for the quartz watch with a plastic bezel, mineral crystal, and no screw down crown.

Actually I beg to differ. I bought my wife an F1 on the bracelet in 1995 for list price - £199
She still wears it - I actually bought one for myself in 1990 for the then list price of £79 on rubber.
All Swiss watches now seem massively overpriced IMHO.

[TheDude]

my GF asked what the difference between £300 Seiko Automatic and a £5000 Paneria Automatic was.

The Seiko has an in-house movement.

[markrlondon]

The Seiko has an in-house movement.

Hehe......

[Mikee]

The Seiko has an in-house movement.

Oh dear...that was pretty funny :)