Spotlight: Under the Sea
TAG Heuer takes underwater exploration to greater depths with its ever-expanding and always-innovating Aquaracer collection, here represented by its four latest additions
Go deeper into the blue with TAG Heuer’s inventive Aquaracer collection
Agiant stride and an equalisation later, and off the divemaster goes under the turquoise tide to explore the marine kingdom. From the descent to the ascent and in between the picturesque diving spots, be it Phuket, Thailand, or Valparaíso, Chile, knowing the time spent and the amount of oxygen left are just a few crucial pieces of information that a watch can keep track of. Taking into account the extreme and tough conditions that experienced divers have to endure, TAG Heuer answers them all with the Aquaracer collection as it pushes the boundary to enable diving to depths of 300 metres.
Each watch is equipped with six defining diving features, starting with water resistance and a screw-in crown that works together to keep the watch dry even at the high pressures found in deeper waters—plus the double-safety clasp guarantees that no watch will come loose. Then there is the unidirectional rotating bezel to measure time spent admiring oceanic biota, which is equipped with six studs all around for a good grip underwater with gloved hands. Reading the time is made even easier with the hands and indices covered in glow-in-the-dark Superluminova material.
The Aquaracer 300M watch is one of many fine examples in the collection and comes
in 43mm, or 35mm for the ladies. While the 43mm version uses anodised aluminium in red, black, or blue for the bezel, the 35mm piece is made both from blue or black ceramic and also silver steel. To protect the quartz heart within, both cases are made from steel with scratchresistant and anti-reflective sapphire crystal on the front, a screwed-down caseback behind, and polished-steel crown on the side.
Especially for the Aquaracer Lady, TAG Heuer created another version with an Automatic Calibre 9 beating inside a 32mm steel casing, and the steel unidirectional rotating bezel comes with a 60-minute scale. Both have variations on which diamonds dot the indices, but the Automatic takes it further by setting the gems against a black or white and striated mother-of-pearl dial. Moreover, the date function gets a magnifier for optimum visibility and legibility, a small difference to the same function on the Aquaracer Lady and the 300M, and the second hand is an arrow.
Where these three watches sit on the classic side of TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer collection, the youngest addition, Carbon Aquaracer, rests more on the modern edge. The 41mm case made from black Pvd-coated titanium makes for a light yet durable and scratch-resistant watch coupled with a caseback made from the same grade-five titanium and the sapphire crystal. Its resin dial then takes the unique factor further by random injections of carbon
fibres at high temperature, resulting in a beautiful black-and-grey marbling with hints of rose gold, yellow, or blue.
Either one of these handsome hints extends to the faceted indices and central hand, plus hour and minute hands polished in rose gold, or plated with black gold, and are all coated with grey Superluminova, which makes them glow bright in the darkness of an underwater cave. The Carbon also possess a carbon-based unidirectional rotating bezel just like the Aquaracer Lady and its Calibre 9 Automatic, and the Aquaracer 300M, which makes the whole Aquaracer collection stand true to TAG Heuer’s diving codes and excellent craftsmanship—first envisioned by Edouard Heuer and the patented water-resistant cases for pocket watches in 1895.