Horological Meandering

From the product information, the total build for this automatic Belt-driven transmission watch is 150 pieces, to commemorate TAG Heuer 150th Anniversary (and Monaco 40th Anniversary too) and scheduled for delivery in two batches. First batch of 75 pieces...  

I've just for some reason never rated Tag but this v4 definitely does not look to be what I know as the run of the mill tag. I may just have to put this on the wrist. The belt is interesting (to me) and some parts look like an old cassette tape. Which tag... 

a piece at the TAG Heuer ION. Try it on and let us know your impression. Kong

hi Kong, i remember it correctly, i saw this V4 concept at one SWA talk in 2008. WOW which impressed me at the time, this V4 has finally been on production. would be good to see the real piece again. by the way, thanks for the nice photos again. stefan

I loved it for the first time back in 2000 or 2001 at the Basel fair, it was one of my fav pieces. The actual model is not as spectacular as that one but I guess it's all about reliability. I love different things and this watch is definitely different. T... 

Sorry, guys, I just don't get this one. The finish of the watch as shown in the photos is awful. Worse than second rate. I would not accept this finish in a $10K timepiece, much less a $100K watch. The balance wheel has a crude looking rackette. Ok so it ... 

I understand where you are coming from, Jeff. I'd be curious to read the replies to your points. Cheers, TM

Hi Jeff, Overall I like the industrial look to the watch and the design of the plates and bridges. Whether it is worth the money is another, more personal, issue and we have touched on perceived ‘value’ in many previous discussions. All I will say is that... 

Hi, Andrew, Kari now turns his own dials. Dufour helped "trouble shoot" the V-4. I know..ask me in private when we meet if you are curious how I know; I was put upon because of that... The original "concept" was a Jean-Francois Ruchonnet idea, like so man... 

... was another watch that kicked around for a long time. I won't pretend to know the whole history of the development of that watch, but the few tidbits that come out are interesting. Andrew

Mr. Vianney Halter... What are we going to do with all these useless little trivia notes?!?

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I couldn't resist. - SJX

And I'm sure the belts are worse than just different, I'm sure they're worse.

... I guess a new development has to be at least as good as existing 'technology'. We wouldn't want our mechanical watches performing chronometrically worse than they already do. But intrinsically we are not against doing things in different ways, are we?... 

Jeff, I'd take it further. I cannot see how belts are in any way even equivalent to gears. The friction involved on torque transmission has to be far far greater than gears, I can't see a way to get around this - compare the proto belts to the final produ... 

thank you for the great post with many quality photos! It really shows what a stunning and revolutionary achievement this timepiece represents. Best, Filip

i dont see 100k firstly then i would be concerned about how reliable this would be being new yes it looks good although the case back looks boring to me it has yet to be proven for reliabilty not worth the money for me but im sure someone will find a reas... 

When I think about long evolution I think of Opus 3 and this TAG V4. It seems like an age since the first prototypes were shown and until working watches were available. There are probably many watches, particularly from the large manufacturers, that do n... 

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Thanks. From my perspective the Concord Gravity caught me by surprise last year. I wasn't aware of a long development time. Granted, the watch hasn't come to market yet (?true?) and may not for several years. Do you have more information about the develop... 

it may never come to market. (sigh) TM

BNB model for me was interesting. They represented a path for a lot of companies that did not have the in-house talent to bring to market some high end technology. As such they were "commoditizing" high end technology. We can argue whether this is a good ... 

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the powering mechanism & those blue hands r my favor part of this concept piece! hope they make it into mainstream models another enticing patches of photos as always kong~ cheers, ed~

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eyes open and brain stimulated for a while longer. I must say that the V4 watch is much more engaging when seen in person. I think that the finishing is much better in real life. No it is not to the standards of KV or Dufour but I wouldn't want it to be. ... 

I really don't have strong feelings on this watch or the more abstract issue of frivolous developments and their psycho-dynamic justifications in the minds of aficionados (well, actually, I do, but that's another discussion...) but I do hope points made a... 

i love the watch, and also i agree some contrast in grey degrees on bridges would add desirable effects on the dial. Thanks. Faisal

...but for whatever reason I'm still not convinced by this watch. I love that Tag is choosing to present something out of the ordinary, but I can't seem to get overly excited about this timepiece. I'm not sure why. I generally do enjoy seeing concepts get... 

Very cool looking Tag.