TAG Heuer's Formula 1 Collection - A Pure TAG Heuer Design

TAG had a long association with Formula 1 racing; sponsoring the Williams team and financing the Porsche turbo engines that powered McLaren's cars in the mid 1980's (McLaren-TAG), and so it made sense to launch a new series that drew its inspiration from Motor Racing, where Heuer also had a strong history. The Formula 1 series was a real revolution when it was launched in 1986. It had brightly coloured Fibreglass cases, quartz movements and was mounted on brightly coloured plastic straps that you cut to size. Think of the Formula 1 as being TAG Heuer's 'Swatch', even though the Formula 1 always sold at a handsome premium to the Swatch watches.

The Formula 1 proved to be a huge success - more than 3 million of the watches were sold between 1986 and 2000 when the series was discontinued. Why? Because TAG Heuer wanted to move up-market, and the low-cost ethos of the original Formula 1 series wasn't consistent with that strategy.

But this proved to be a mistake, and so in 2004 the series was totally re-engineered and re-launched. The materials in the watch were significantly up-graded - moving from mineral crystal to Sapphire crystal, dropping the plastic bezel to replace it with a stainless steel bezel coated in titanium, and upgrading the case to a polished stainless steel. The Formula 1 series had grown up, but still kept the DNA of the first series -a sporting watch offering great value.

The Formula 1 range has expanded now to include several colourful Chronograph models - orange, red and black. While I love Chronographs, my pick of the range is the basic 3-hand watch, because this is the watch that carries through the spirit of the 1986 original - light, clear, good-looking and rugged.

There are two sizes available in the watch, either 41mm or 44mm if you want something a little larger. While the 41mm model uses a traditional sweeping seconds hand, the larger watch instead houses the seconds-hand in a small sub-dial that sits at the 6 o'clock position. Both watches come on a stainless steel bracelet, but again, I'd go for the rubber strap to keep with the sporting nature of the watch.

So while you'll hear a lot about the heritage of many of today's watches, few have the "realness" of the Formula 1 series. It was good enough to be worn by the whole McLaren Formula 1 team in the 1980s, including the pit-crew, so its links to the sport run a lot deeper than just the name. For a light, multi-purpose sports watch, its hard to go past today's Formula 1, which combines the spirit of the original with the quality demanded by buyers today.

See TAG Heuer Formula 1 to browse the collection now.