TAG Heuer Silverstone re-edition launch

TAG Heuer celebrated the launch of the new Silverstone re-edition by holding a launch event last night at the Mclaren Technical Centre outside of London. The event also marked the 25th anniversary of the relationship between Mclaren and TAG Heuer, which was a good excuse to get Lewis Hamilton into Alain Prost’s 1986 Mclaren-TAG F1 car.


The relationship has been a great one for TAG Heuer to reinforce the links that it had with many of the great F1 drivers of the 1970s- just take a look at the roll-call of world champion drivers that have been part of McLaren over that 25 year period- Prost, Lauda, Senna, Hakkinen and Hamilton all winning world championships at McLaren.

However, as this is a watch blog, the real star of the show isn’t the F1 car or the world champion- its the new Heuer Silverstone re-edition, which TAG Heuer launched last night. The key points on the new watch are:

• Limited Edition of 3000 watches- 1500 in blue and 1500 in metallic brown
• Price: USD6500 (est)
• Alligator strap- no bracelet
• Calibre 11 movement (same as the movement in the 40th anniversary Monaco)
• Heuer branded crown and dial

TAG Heuer have done a great job with the new Silverstone- its certainly true to the original. For my eyes, its too true to the original, as I prefer more modern interpretations of old designs. However, one only has to look at the success of the first Carrera re-edition and the relative failure of the TAG Heuer Autavia to see that I appear to be in the minority.

The caseback is especially cool, with the red Heuer logo on the rotor and the Cotes de Geneve finishing- its great to see watch companies paying attention to the decoration of the movements- sure, its only aesthetics, but its a nice detailed touch.

Of the two colours I prefer the blue version, although I’m keen to see the brown version in the flesh to see whether the finish on the dial is similar to the Fume colour of the famous Calibre 12 Heuer Silverstone. No red Silverstone this time, which is a shame.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to the new Silverstone. To date, the re-edition series has focused on the very well-known Heuer models of the 1970s- Monaco, Autavia and Carrera. I expect that the watch will be loved by a niche segment of TAG Heuer and Heuer collectors, but it remains to be seen whether the watch will have broad appeal to buyers who may have never seen the original vintage Heuer Silverstone.

The watches will be in stores in Q1 2010 at a price which feels more reasonable than the Heuer Monaco 40th anniversary re-edition, which was almost 50% more than the proposed selling price of the Silverstone.

Some more photos below of the new watch and of the TAG Heuer boys with team McLaren.

**Heuer Silverstone Gallery Photos