Credits: Article and images by Wei Koh @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/in-conversation-with-frederic-arnault-ceo-of-tag-heuer/
A rattrapante?
I’m not saying if you are right. But this is an interesting observation, and I will say that TAG Heuer has never done a split seconds chronograph on a wristwatch. We did it on pocket watches 100 years ago. But incredibly, we have never done this on a wristwatch. Hypothetically, if we are going to approach this complication, we should absolutely revolutionize this. I’ll put it this way: whatever we do, we are going to be really serious about it. We have an absolutely great team. We have Carole Forestier, we have Edouard [Edouard Mignon] and we have Emmanuel [Dupas] who used to be a movement director at Rolex who is managing our innovation, so you can understand what I mean when I say we are in this for the long term.
Wow, what a team! I concur, your guys are bad asses. What is the innovation department about?
For me, the key thing is how do you take innovation, I mean, really cutting edge technology and make it really reliable? For example, the carbon nanotube spiral we were discussing earlier, we cannot create big volumes today. But we are investing in the capacity to be the leader in this technology and it is going to come. And when it comes, it is going to work perfectly.
I feel that you’ve very cleverly used the Only Watch Carbon Monaco “Dark Lord” to set the stage for the commercial titanium Dark Lord watch you launched during the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. Am I right?
As you know, TAG Heuer’s history and heritage is very important to me. We are one of the few brands where our heritage director plays a significant role in all our developments. When we started to look at revitalizing the Monaco, we quickly landed on the reference known to collectors as the “Dark Lord.” This is, from an auction performance perspective, a star watch. It is super collectible. Its look is amazing and at the same time it feels really fresh and contemporary. It’s crazy to me that this watch was created back in the mid-’70s. Today brands sell all-black watches like it’s something you can only make today. But we made this watch almost 50 years ago. So we said, “OK we need to bring back the Dark Lord, but always with this focus on quality and reliability.”
The engine power is the Heuer 02, which is a great movement. We put the crown on the right because, historically, the original also had the crown on the right. As opposed to the original Monaco, which used the very first modular chronograph movement, the Caliber 11, the Dark Lord was one of the very first watches at the time to use the Valjoux 7750, which explains its crown orientation. From a material perspective, ergonomics and comfort are very important. You are wearing your titanium Aquaracer and you told me it feels great on the wrist. This is very important to us. So, for the Dark Lord, it was important to make it light, balanced and a pleasure to wear.
Credits: Article and images by Wei Koh @ Revolution Watch Magazine. See the original article here - https://revolutionwatch.com/in-conversation-with-frederic-arnault-ceo-of-tag-heuer/
