As lovers of all watches TAG Heuer here in New York City, we at Ron Gordon Watch Repair watched with alacrity when TAG Heuer announced the exciting TAG Heuer Autavia. According to the brand, “Inspired by the aeroplane cockpit, the Autavia dial features a SuperLuminova® luminous index to ensure its three hands are legible day and night, whatever the conditions.” And then, “Combining groundbreaking know-how with scientific prowess, TAG Heuer has developed a revolutionary piece of technology, the ISOGRAPH: a proprietary state-of-the-art oscillator featuring a carbon composite hairspring and tailor-made balance wheel for high chronometer precision. All ISOGRAPH equipped timepieces are chronometer certified and offer improved accuracy despite disturbances such as shocks, temperature fluctuations, and magnetic fields.”
In other words, this is an amazing watch built with an eye to the heritage that TAG has with airplanes and automobiles. The name is a play on many things, first and foremost, the “AUTO” as in AUTOmobile and in AUTOMatic. The “avia” part comes from AVIAtion, as the watch harkens to the aviation industry and the types of controls used in airplanes. The introductory YouTube video (which you can watch, here), builds on the AUTOnomy concept, explaining how you make your own destiny and how this watch plays a part in your personal brand. The new TAG Heuer line has five basic options: one “Smokey Blue”, one “Smokey Black,” with the latter also available with a “Fine-brushed and polished steel” as opposed to “Brown calf skin” (and then variations of each to create five total options). Each variation of the watch is stunning, and all five variations harken back to the storied history of the TAG Heuer brand. You can browse the full line at the official TAG Heuer Autavia web page, and it’s just plain fun to browse and dream about owning one of these incredible timepieces.
Secondarily, the watches bear the term “Isograph,” which is another wordplay in the collection’s name. Isograph refers to TAG Heuer’s in-house carbon hairspring, a proprietary state-of-the-art oscillator featuring a carbon composite hairspring and tailor-made balance wheel for high chronometer precision. All ISOGRAPH equipped timepieces are chronometer certified and offer improved accuracy despite disturbances such as shocks, temperature fluctuations, and magnetic fields. The name comes from the Greek word iso, meaning “equal”, and refers to the stable and consistent movement of the component. Many other words use “ISO” to designation equal as in “Isotope,” which means, “each of two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, and hence differ in relative atomic mass but not in chemical properties.”
So the wordplay in this new TAG Heuer collection is fun and subtle. We have an “autonomous” sort of watch with an “iso” sort of oscillator, helping us to both be unique and yet stay on time.
Incredible Media Response to this New TAG Heuer
The media response has been incredible as well. GQ Magazine UK, for example, points out the hybridization of automobile and aeroplane technology in the name and the history. The watch won a 2017 competition among TAG Heuer brand lovers as the one watch they’d like to see revived, and was revealed when actor Patrick Dempsey wore a 1966 Autavia. Dempsey loved it so much and he even created a “visual poem” or video which you can watch on YouTube, here, as an homage to Jack Heuer, the legendary creator of the brand.
What’s in a Name? Wouldn’t This TAG Be Great No Matter What It’s Called?
But then again as William Shakepeare reminded us in Romeo and Juliet,
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.”
Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 1-2
Finding TAG Heuer Repair Here in New York NY
Whatever it might be called, the new TAG Heuer Autavia is visually stunning, historically accurate and a TAG that deserves to be admired, if you don’t actually have one on your wrist. And, of course, if you’re looking for the best TAG Heuer repair in New York City, well, we can help. Perhaps you have a vintage TAG Heuer, and so bring it in for an inspection or watch repair and we’ll help you to share the TAG love with those new admirers purchasing this latest reboot of the storied TAG Heuer brand.