TAG

[#Tee]

ya i wouldnt and didnt buy a tag for considering its resell value. you gota look into the old man rolex for that.

[gtron]

patek philippe will likely hold it's value but they're a bit delicate looking to me. i like them but couldn't pull it off. a bit above the tag price range too though lol

[tony20009]

Tag watches are quite well made and from a practical perspective, as a watch one will wear frequently, you should have no concerns about choosing one.

As goes build quality, it's on par with Longines or IWC or a great many other watches....After all, at a certain point, it's not all that difficult for any watch company to put together a solid watch. Rolex have a slightly higher build quality, but the increase in build quality results from the thing being "over engineered" or "over built." The sorts of extra steps Rolex take are irrelevant for most folk's daily wear needs. although it's nonetheless true that they are more solidly made than a great many other makes. The exception would be when it comes to dive watches where pretty much all of them are superbly well/strongly put together.

When you start speaking with casual and/or curatorial watch collectors, a variety of attributes that transcend the build quality come under discussion withing the guise of the term "quality." Those factors have to do with a bunch of what I'll call esoterica that the typical, non-collecting watch buyer need not consider. They include things like the movement's design, various dial treatments, complications, the demonstrated ability of the maker to produce various types of watches and watch movements, aesthetic design attributes, whether the watch has various certifications, the nature and extent of hand craftsmanship, and so on. By and large, while all that sort of stuff is nice and it will drive the price of the watch upwards, it won't make the watch perform any better. On most of these less practical factors, Tags aren't in the same league as IWC, but they are, outside of the movement itself, on par with Omega. (Tag's movements perform just fine, as well as anybody else's, but they aren't "special" in any regard.)

Occasionally, one'll encounter watches (mostly not from Tag, Longines or IWC) that have Geneva seals, Fleurier quality or chronometer (or the German equivalent) certifications. Some companies, like Patek and JLC do their own, in-house testing/validations that correspond to some or all of those third-party certifications.

It's true that a watch having any of those third-party certifications will be a very high quality watch. It's not so, however, that a watch lacking the certifications cannot be as high a quality of watch. For example, there are only four brands of watch that are even eligible for the Fleurier quality certification because they are the only ones in the geographic area that allows them to be submitted for that certification. More companies are eligible for the Geneva Seal, but still the limiting factor is geography. Chronometer certification is available to any Swiss made watch, but lots of very fine watch companies don't bother submitting their watches for that series of tests.

On the matter of value retention, I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy a Tag, Longines or IWC if that's among their top three criteria. Holding value over a long term is something very few watches do. If that sort of thing is paramount, there are really only two major brands worth considering: Rolex and Patek. Outside of that, one needs to be very knowledgeable about watch collecting -- informed on the level of an expert watch appraiser at an auction house -- to know what to buy and what not to buy so as to expect a gain in the price of the watch. Even with Rolex and Patek, the whole value retention thing is more about minimizing losses than it is about making gains on the resale.

In short, if you are buying the watch to wear and enjoy, forget about resale value. If you are buying a Tag to make money on the resale, get over it. It won't happen, at least not for 30+ years, and even then, only if you buy certain ones that have something very unique about them. The thing is that Tag isn't a maker who does much of anything that's particularly unique. They make watches to be worn and that the owner can trust will not give them "drama" over the course of their ownership experience. All in all, Tags are nice watches to wear but they aren't, for the most part, collectors' items.

All the best.

[tony20009]

Something I should have said in my post above: price is a very inaccurate gauge of how well made a watch is. It is an okay gauge of how much premium a watchmaker wants to charge for their brand name.

All the best.

[accce]

Tag makes a nice Automatic movement. If your buying a quartz movement your just paying for the name. Quartz movement watches I would pick up on ebay used for 1/2 the price. If you want one of their automatic movements buy it new and expect to get 20% off at a retail store. TAG will not holds its value like a Rolex or AP or IWC but it is a good everyday watch.

[RedlinePSI]

Originally Posted by tony20009

Tag watches are quite well made and from a practical perspective, as a watch one will wear frequently, you should have no concerns about choosing one.

As goes build quality, it's on par with Longines or IWC or a great many other watches....After all, at a certain point, it's not all that difficult for any watch company to put together a solid watch. Rolex have a slightly higher build quality, but the increase in build quality results from the thing being "over engineered" or "over built." The sorts of extra steps Rolex take are irrelevant for most folk's daily wear needs. although it's nonetheless true that they are more solidly made than a great many other makes. The exception would be when it comes to dive watches where pretty much all of them are superbly well/strongly put together.

When you start speaking with casual and/or curatorial watch collectors, a variety of attributes that transcend the build quality come under discussion withing the guise of the term "quality." Those factors have to do with a bunch of what I'll call esoterica that the typical, non-collecting watch buyer need not consider. They include things like the movement's design, various dial treatments, complications, the demonstrated ability of the maker to produce various types of watches and watch movements, aesthetic design attributes, whether the watch has various certifications, the nature and extent of hand craftsmanship, and so on. By and large, while all that sort of stuff is nice and it will drive the price of the watch upwards, it won't make the watch perform any better. On most of these less practical factors, Tags aren't in the same league as IWC, but they are, outside of the movement itself, on par with Omega. (Tag's movements perform just fine, as well as anybody else's, but they aren't "special" in any regard.)

Occasionally, one'll encounter watches (mostly not from Tag, Longines or IWC) that have Geneva seals, Fleurier quality or chronometer (or the German equivalent) certifications. Some companies, like Patek and JLC do their own, in-house testing/validations that correspond to some or all of those third-party certifications.

It's true that a watch having any of those third-party certifications will be a very high quality watch. It's not so, however, that a watch lacking the certifications cannot be as high a quality of watch. For example, there are only four brands of watch that are even eligible for the Fleurier quality certification because they are the only ones in the geographic area that allows them to be submitted for that certification. More companies are eligible for the Geneva Seal, but still the limiting factor is geography. Chronometer certification is available to any Swiss made watch, but lots of very fine watch companies don't bother submitting their watches for that series of tests.

On the matter of value retention, I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy a Tag, Longines or IWC if that's among their top three criteria. Holding value over a long term is something very few watches do. If that sort of thing is paramount, there are really only two major brands worth considering: Rolex and Patek. Outside of that, one needs to be very knowledgeable about watch collecting -- informed on the level of an expert watch appraiser at an auction house -- to know what to buy and what not to buy so as to expect a gain in the price of the watch. Even with Rolex and Patek, the whole value retention thing is more about minimizing losses than it is about making gains on the resale.

In short, if you are buying the watch to wear and enjoy, forget about resale value. If you are buying a Tag to make money on the resale, get over it. It won't happen, at least not for 30+ years, and even then, only if you buy certain ones that have something very unique about them. The thing is that Tag isn't a maker who does much of anything that's particularly unique. They make watches to be worn and that the owner can trust will not give them "drama" over the course of their ownership experience. All in all, Tags are nice watches to wear but they aren't, for the most part, collectors' items.

All the best.

Originally Posted by tony20009

Something I should have said in my post above: price is a very inaccurate gauge of how well made a watch is. It is an okay gauge of how much premium a watchmaker wants to charge for their brand name.

All the best.

Thanks a lot man. Great rundown of things. I wont be expecting any pieces I get to go up in value (if they do a bit over time then great), I'm just going to focus on buying something that is good overall quality and has the look I want.

To be honest, this is getting quite difficult. For the particular style I want, there seems to be a huge lack of options between 2500 and 9000. And I'm not looking for anything out of the ordinary I don't think. Black leather, stainless steel, white face, chrono, a hint of color thrown in is nice but not necessary. If Cartier's numerals were not so large I would probably be going with one of those. Anyway, pretty standard build I think, yet my choices are basically limited to be between a Longines around $2500, a JLC at about $10000, and an IWC in the middle which has a brown strap that I'll have to consider buying a black to supplement it.

Thanks again.

[RedlinePSI]

Originally Posted by accce

Tag makes a nice Automatic movement. If your buying a quartz movement your just paying for the name. Quartz movement watches I would pick up on ebay used for 1/2 the price. If you want one of their automatic movements buy it new and expect to get 20% off at a retail store. TAG will not holds its value like a Rolex or AP or IWC but it is a good everyday watch.

Definitely sticking with mechanical. As for a discount, so far I've been told from a very high end spot that he can do 15%. So i'll shop around and see how much I can improve that. I'm actually going to Korea tomorrow so i'll be checking the Duty Free prices as well over there. I'm just not sure if those will have full warranty. I shall see. There is a limit to their discount, but also no tax.

[gtron]

Originally Posted by tony20009

Tag watches are quite well made and from a practical perspective, as a watch one will wear frequently, you should have no concerns about choosing one.

As goes build quality, it's on par with Longines or IWC or a great many other watches....After all, at a certain point, it's not all that difficult for any watch company to put together a solid watch. Rolex have a slightly higher build quality, but the increase in build quality results from the thing being "over engineered" or "over built." The sorts of extra steps Rolex take are irrelevant for most folk's daily wear needs. although it's nonetheless true that they are more solidly made than a great many other makes. The exception would be when it comes to dive watches where pretty much all of them are superbly well/strongly put together.

When you start speaking with casual and/or curatorial watch collectors, a variety of attributes that transcend the build quality come under discussion withing the guise of the term "quality." Those factors have to do with a bunch of what I'll call esoterica that the typical, non-collecting watch buyer need not consider. They include things like the movement's design, various dial treatments, complications, the demonstrated ability of the maker to produce various types of watches and watch movements, aesthetic design attributes, whether the watch has various certifications, the nature and extent of hand craftsmanship, and so on. By and large, while all that sort of stuff is nice and it will drive the price of the watch upwards, it won't make the watch perform any better. On most of these less practical factors, Tags aren't in the same league as IWC, but they are, outside of the movement itself, on par with Omega. (Tag's movements perform just fine, as well as anybody else's, but they aren't "special" in any regard.)

Occasionally, one'll encounter watches (mostly not from Tag, Longines or IWC) that have Geneva seals, Fleurier quality or chronometer (or the German equivalent) certifications. Some companies, like Patek and JLC do their own, in-house testing/validations that correspond to some or all of those third-party certifications.

It's true that a watch having any of those third-party certifications will be a very high quality watch. It's not so, however, that a watch lacking the certifications cannot be as high a quality of watch. For example, there are only four brands of watch that are even eligible for the Fleurier quality certification because they are the only ones in the geographic area that allows them to be submitted for that certification. More companies are eligible for the Geneva Seal, but still the limiting factor is geography. Chronometer certification is available to any Swiss made watch, but lots of very fine watch companies don't bother submitting their watches for that series of tests.

On the matter of value retention, I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy a Tag, Longines or IWC if that's among their top three criteria. Holding value over a long term is something very few watches do. If that sort of thing is paramount, there are really only two major brands worth considering: Rolex and Patek. Outside of that, one needs to be very knowledgeable about watch collecting -- informed on the level of an expert watch appraiser at an auction house -- to know what to buy and what not to buy so as to expect a gain in the price of the watch. Even with Rolex and Patek, the whole value retention thing is more about minimizing losses than it is about making gains on the resale.

In short, if you are buying the watch to wear and enjoy, forget about resale value. If you are buying a Tag to make money on the resale, get over it. It won't happen, at least not for 30+ years, and even then, only if you buy certain ones that have something very unique about them. The thing is that Tag isn't a maker who does much of anything that's particularly unique. They make watches to be worn and that the owner can trust will not give them "drama" over the course of their ownership experience. All in all, Tags are nice watches to wear but they aren't, for the most part, collectors' items.

All the best.

very well said

[Nick the Greek]

Better than Longines, not as good as IWC.
I have ten TAGs amongst other watches.
What you will find is that some TAG models are better respected than others. So a Monaco or Monza will be seen as an enthusiasts choice (unless you buy a Monaco with the silly stripes), and a TAG F1 will be seen as a bit 'pikey'.

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by RedlinePSI

Thanks a lot man. Great rundown of things. I wont be expecting any pieces I get to go up in value (if they do a bit over time then great), I'm just going to focus on buying something that is good overall quality and has the look I want.

To be honest, this is getting quite difficult. For the particular style I want, there seems to be a huge lack of options between 2500 and 9000. And I'm not looking for anything out of the ordinary I don't think. Black leather, stainless steel, white face, chrono, a hint of color thrown in is nice but not necessary. If Cartier's numerals were not so large I would probably be going with one of those. Anyway, pretty standard build I think, yet my choices are basically limited to be between a Longines around $2500, a JLC at about $10000, and an IWC in the middle which has a brown strap that I'll have to consider buying a black to supplement it.

Thanks again.

Check out the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec. If you try that watch on with the white dial (there'll be a bit of color from the day/night indicator) you'll be very impressed. One push of the mono-pusher will be all you need to know, that is if you've ever pushed the pushers for any standard chronograph prior to having done so.

Frankly, I'm stunned that you are having trouble finding a white dialed chrono watch. I'm ignoring the black strap because one can put just about any strap on any watch, regardless of what strap comes with it, particularly when one has a budget up to $9000.

Have you considered Zenith's El Primero? Their white/silver dial 36,000 VPH should be available for well below $9K and it's one of the benchmark chronos made, the basic movement inside it is what Rolex put in their Daytona for years and years; Tag bought the right to use it in some of their chronos and Tag charges more for them than does Zenith.



Seiko's Grand Seiko (high beat or regular) is another watch well worth considering, although you'll have to check the price and dial color.

Of course, there's always Omega. The Alaska Project watch (below) seems to hit the nail on the head for what you want and it's well inside your price range. It should come with a white strap and a metal bracelet, but just buy a black strap, slap it on and that's that. The one thing is that you'll need to buy it pre-owned. Search for a seller on the WWW. Of course, Omega offer other chronograph watches new, just check their website. Some that come to mind are the Speedmaster Racing (multiple dial colors available), Speedmaster Broad Arrow, and several other models of Speedmaster. There's also, I think a Constellation Chronograph along with as Seamaster chrono, and probably a Deville one too. (Pics below are just for illustrative purposes; there are far too many versions to list a pic for them all.)



All the best.

[RedlinePSI]

Originally Posted by tony20009

Check out the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec. If you try that watch on with the white dial (there'll be a bit of color from the day/night indicator) you'll be very impressed. One push of the mono-pusher will be all you need to know, that is if you've ever pushed the pushers for any standard chronograph prior to having done so.

Frankly, I'm stunned that you are having trouble finding a white dialed chrono watch. I'm ignoring the black strap because one can put just about any strap on any watch, regardless of what strap comes with it, particularly when one has a budget up to $9000.

Have you considered Zenith's El Primero? Their white/silver dial 36,000 VPH should be available for well below $9K and it's one of the benchmark chronos made, the basic movement inside it is what Rolex put in their Daytona for years and years; Tag bought the right to use it in some of their chronos and Tag charges more for them than does Zenith.



Seiko's Grand Seiko (high beat or regular) is another watch well worth considering, although you'll have to check the price and dial color.

Of course, there's always Omega. The Alaska Project watch (below) seems to hit the nail on the head for what you want and it's well inside your price range. It should come with a white strap and a metal bracelet, but just buy a black strap, slap it on and that's that. The one thing is that you'll need to buy it pre-owned. Search for a seller on the WWW. Of course, Omega offer other chronograph watches new, just check their website. Some that come to mind are the Speedmaster Racing (multiple dial colors available), Speedmaster Broad Arrow, and several other models of Speedmaster. There's also, I think a Constellation Chronograph along with as Seamaster chrono, and probably a Deville one too. (Pics below are just for illustrative purposes; there are far too many versions to list a pic for them all.)



All the best.

Man you opened up a new world of options. Not very familiar with Montblanc but they have some nice options right in the core of my range, and I'm really digging them. Zenith and Omega are nice as well, I've perused them before but will double check. Lot of info here, i'll be getting to those others as well. Thanks a million!

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by RedlinePSI

Man you opened up a new world of options. Not very familiar with Montblanc but they have some nice options right in the core of my range, and I'm really digging them. Zenith and Omega are nice as well, I've perused them before but will double check. Lot of info here, i'll be getting to those others as well. Thanks a million!

NP...glad to help. I really like the MB Nicky R watch. I believe currently there is one basic design of the NR and it has the bar with the two arms connecting tot he sub-dials. The new version will have a simple and thinner single bar that spans the centers of the two sub-dials. I saw the new version this past Spring, but I don't recall what the release date is for it. MB also make another model -- Timewalker Twin Fly -- that may well appeal to you if you are committed to buying a high end piece. Like the NR, it's an in-house piece. (http://www.ablogtowatch.com/montblan...-watch-review/)

Be sure to check out Hodinkee, Watch Time, A Blog to Watch, other watch bloggers as well as some of the big online grey market sellers like Jomashop, Prestige Time, and others. Master Horologer is a really good place to just peruse their alphabetical listing -- grouped by year -- of the new watches that come out each year.

There are literally hundreds of white dial chrono watches, and you certainly won't have to spend even $2500 to get a good watch if all you want is one that looks good, is well made and works well. Companies like Tissot and Hamilton quite likely make something that'll suit you. Ditto Baume & Mercier and Citizen. That's just considering mainstream brands that shouldn't be hard to find in a local mall. There are even more "micro brands" that you'll only come across if you look for them.

Ralph Lauren also has a very nice chrongraph. I'm not sure exactly who made the movement for it -- it is likely made by Piaget, JLC or IWC as they each have provided the movements for other watches carrying the Ralph Lauren brand name -- but that shouldn't be of much concern. Tourneau has them at full retail, but surely someone has them at a discount. FWIW, Ralph Lauren is one of the brands that would by the uninformed be thought a fashion watch, but nothing could be farther from the truth. They are more akin to being Richemont's own private label brand, using whatever movement and case/dial maker Richemont selects from its "stable" of very fine watch companies, which includes the three brands noted above, as well as at least two others. The watch pictured below is from the Sporting line and retails for about $5500. It's a large dial watch at just shy of 45mm.



All the best.

[tony20009]

Here's another white dial "with a bit of color" chrono watch from Chopard. Check them out at Chopard's online store here: http://us.chopard.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=gpmh .

The one with orange bits is the 2012 edition, yellow is the 2014 one.

All the best.

[///mawana]

Originally Posted by tony20009

Tag watches are quite well made and from a practical perspective, as a watch one will wear frequently, you should have no concerns about choosing one.

As goes build quality, it's on par with Longines or IWC or a great many other watches....After all, at a certain point, it's not all that difficult for any watch company to put together a solid watch. Rolex have a slightly higher build quality, but the increase in build quality results from the thing being "over engineered" or "over built." The sorts of extra steps Rolex take are irrelevant for most folk's daily wear needs. although it's nonetheless true that they are more solidly made than a great many other makes. The exception would be when it comes to dive watches where pretty much all of them are superbly well/strongly put together.

When you start speaking with casual and/or curatorial watch collectors, a variety of attributes that transcend the build quality come under discussion withing the guise of the term "quality." Those factors have to do with a bunch of what I'll call esoterica that the typical, non-collecting watch buyer need not consider. They include things like the movement's design, various dial treatments, complications, the demonstrated ability of the maker to produce various types of watches and watch movements, aesthetic design attributes, whether the watch has various certifications, the nature and extent of hand craftsmanship, and so on. By and large, while all that sort of stuff is nice and it will drive the price of the watch upwards, it won't make the watch perform any better. On most of these less practical factors, Tags aren't in the same league as IWC, but they are, outside of the movement itself, on par with Omega. (Tag's movements perform just fine, as well as anybody else's, but they aren't "special" in any regard.)

Occasionally, one'll encounter watches (mostly not from Tag, Longines or IWC) that have Geneva seals, Fleurier quality or chronometer (or the German equivalent) certifications. Some companies, like Patek and JLC do their own, in-house testing/validations that correspond to some or all of those third-party certifications.

It's true that a watch having any of those third-party certifications will be a very high quality watch. It's not so, however, that a watch lacking the certifications cannot be as high a quality of watch. For example, there are only four brands of watch that are even eligible for the Fleurier quality certification because they are the only ones in the geographic area that allows them to be submitted for that certification. More companies are eligible for the Geneva Seal, but still the limiting factor is geography. Chronometer certification is available to any Swiss made watch, but lots of very fine watch companies don't bother submitting their watches for that series of tests.

On the matter of value retention, I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy a Tag, Longines or IWC if that's among their top three criteria. Holding value over a long term is something very few watches do. If that sort of thing is paramount, there are really only two major brands worth considering: Rolex and Patek. Outside of that, one needs to be very knowledgeable about watch collecting -- informed on the level of an expert watch appraiser at an auction house -- to know what to buy and what not to buy so as to expect a gain in the price of the watch. Even with Rolex and Patek, the whole value retention thing is more about minimizing losses than it is about making gains on the resale.

In short, if you are buying the watch to wear and enjoy, forget about resale value. If you are buying a Tag to make money on the resale, get over it. It won't happen, at least not for 30+ years, and even then, only if you buy certain ones that have something very unique about them. The thing is that Tag isn't a maker who does much of anything that's particularly unique. They make watches to be worn and that the owner can trust will not give them "drama" over the course of their ownership experience. All in all, Tags are nice watches to wear but they aren't, for the most part, collectors' items.

All the best.

Agreed - I've been wearing, daily, my Indy500 for a few years now with no issues, none whatsoever.t

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by ///mawana

Agreed - I've been wearing, daily, my Indy500 for a few years now with no issues, none whatsoever.t

+1

I have two Tag mechanical watches. I bought both in the 1990s. I had once of them serviced once and the other never. No problems at all with either.

I'll admit I don't ever advise folks to buy a Tag watch, but that has do with what Tags aren't more so than with what they are. Somewhere on here in one of the threads I created, I have a fairly lengthy post detailing specifically why I don't suggest Tags. That said, if someone specifically wants a given Tag watch, I don't have any reason to dissuade them from buying it. Tag make a very good, high quality product.

All the best.

Note: that post I referred to is about a year old or so and Tag's lineup could well have changed. I haven't looked at their full spectrum of offerings in over a year now.

[AlpineV8]

lol... guy's intense!

[RedlinePSI]

I was out of the country for the last week, shopped while abroad and was going to get something there but I decided not to even play with immigration like that. Was a little worried because I had one in my hand for a pretty good price but I got the Jaeger Master Chronograph today from a local shop for an almost identical price.



Only thing is they had to order it so it should be here in 3-6 weeks. I'm hoping they give customers the high end of ETA's. This thread was a huge help though, I'm sure it will continue to be a good reference as I get pulled deeper into this world.

[BEM-S4]

Infinitely better timepiece than where we started talking about Tags. Congrats and condolences, these things are like crack you'll be looking for your next fix soon!

[Harley Mc Slow]

Originally Posted by AlpineV8

lol... guy's intense!

The guy is an idiot, he does it for attention, I've given him some grief before on you tube, he hates Tag, so what, I hate the way he conducts himself ,we all have our own opinion.
Tag is a good everyday watch, I have a Citizen for work, keeps perfect time, to the second, I have a fake Tag grand Carrera 17 that is great loses 6 seconds in 72 hours, and a Breitling Seawolf that is my favourite .

[gtron]

Originally Posted by AlpineV8

lol... guy's intense!

and here we have a fat sweaty lump of shit trying to tell us what accessories are good and bad. there's some irony in there somewhere.

[fcman]

Originally Posted by RB2

My tag auto aqua racer keeps crap time, runs about 5mins slow per ten days. The likes of Rolex and omega will keep better time according to my local jeweller.

I like my tag for aesthetics but I wouldn't have another

That's nuts. My $500 Tissot auto gains about 6sec/day

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by RB2

My tag auto aqua racer keeps crap time, runs about 5mins slow per ten days. The likes of Rolex and omega will keep better time according to my local jeweller.

I like my tag for aesthetics but I wouldn't have another

If that's so, you need to send your watch back to Tag for servicing or take it to a local watchmaker for servicing. A watch can lose five to ten minutes a day, but when that's happening, something is wrong...worn parts or a buildup of foreign particles on moving parts is most often the cause.

All the best.