TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer Pushes New Limits
The celebrated collection is looking back to move forward.
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TAG Heuer’s new Aquaracer proves a rather worthy experience. A long-celebrated collection of dive watches—regarded for delivering a sense of style, durability and affordability—the Aquaracer has also stood firm as a differentiator to the brand’s enduring affinity with motorsport.
It’s a history that dates back to 1982 and the Heuer 2000 (the last model released under Jack Heuer’s stewardship), the Aquaracer remaining a favourite for those after a go-anywhere, reliable and accessible design-driven piece. And the incoming TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 only elevates things further.
“The Aquaracer Professional 300 picks up a much-loved story and moves it on with the most significant step we’ve taken to develop our Aquaracer collection in many years,” says TAG Heuer CEO Frédéric Arnault. “Pushing the limits, high functionality, a bold and unmistakable aesthetic, and the promise of going with you, even to the extremes—the Aquaracer Professional 300 is a watch that will take you beyond the edge. This is, after all, the place where we truly find ourselves.”
The 2021 Aquaracer line-up is categorised by 36mm and 43mm offerings—all seven models adorned with a range of colourways, simplified dial design, a newly designed ceramic bezel insert, 300-metre water resistance, screw-down crown and solid caseback with the same notable scaphander diving-suit motif that first appeared on the Aquaracer in 2004.
The Aquaracer has never been without its unidirectional, 12-sided rotating bezel—an iconic aesthetic of the collection. Know that the watch also comes loaded with functionality, notably an ability for the wearer to grip and rotate the bezel with ease; a godsend for the diving cohort and appealing for everyday use.
Under the hood, you’ll find the Aquaracer Professional 300 fitted with TAG Heuer’s Calibre 5, an automatic movement based on the ETA 2824-2. A reliable, well-regarded movement, expect 42 hours power reserve with an angled date display and magnifying lens at six o’clock—the integrated magnifier being a simple and effective way to see the date from a wide range of angles.
Alongside these seven new references sits a further standout in the Aquaracer Professional 300 Tribute to Ref. 844.
The new 43mm design boasts a Grade 5 titanium case, red 24-hour scale, vintage lume and octagonal perforated rubber strap—with slight tweaks made to reflect the look and feel of Heuer’s original Ref. 844, the company’s first diver, originally launched in 1978.
This was the piece that arguably set the production standard for a reliable watch that could be utilised by professional and recreational divers, and it has rightly become a collectors’ favourite among the prolific TAG Heuer portfolio.
Form and function aside, the 2021 iteration of the Aquaracer continues to exist as a timepiece very much of the people. It’s a bold watch—and here we speak of the 43mm—that wears powerfully on wrist, devoid of any unnecessary design details.
The contemporary Aquaracer doesn’t represent what dive watches used to be, rather what they could have always achieved—practicality with a modern sensibility. And it’s this that is central to the design appeal of the new collection.
Here watchmakers envisioned a piece as not only a reliable instrument, but one that can adapt to multiple environments. As a result, the new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 proves a successful nod to the past without ignoring its heady future.
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