Stallone and Tag Heuer, F1 and brands, iconic pandas

The Quartz Crisis, and Sly Stallone’s TAG in “Cobra”: What happened to Heuer since the 80s?

Sure, there is no connection between the decline of TAG Heuer and Sylvester Stallone wearing a (TAG) Heuer in Cobra (1986). We would not say that there is. But WHY was Marion Cobretti wearing a TAG in the first place? The story of this brand being cooler than a Swatch in the 1980s, and as stale as Drakkar Noir since then, is a miniature study of what was happening in the watch world at the time.

The rise of inexpensive electronic watches, aka the Quartz Crisis as a apocalyptic challenge to heritage Swiss watchmaking in the 1970s is well known. Quartz watches are more accurate than any fine mechanical watch. Many storied brands went out of business because of the competition. Others tried to embrace Quartz, make Quartz luxury, make Quartz fun. Heuer’s racing pedigree was not enough to shield it from this onslaught, and in the 1980s it was bought by Techniques d’Avant Garde and the current name TAG Heuer was born. TAG’s watches became a mainstay of mid-late 80s fashion, with their distinctive curved link bracelet and dive watch tooling. Basically any Chad with rolled cuffed Bugle Boy jeans and a popped collar at the suburban mall was wearing a TAG. At least if they could afford one. Enter Stallone.

The watch Stallone wears in Cobra is a ref. 962.206. Actually an early model Heuer that was rebranded as a TAG after the merger, Stallone’s Cobretti is like a purposefully stylish Dirty Harry. As Stallone was one of the top stars of the 80s, TAG Heuer was one of the top watch brands. But fashions change.

TAG’s immediate merger-induced influence was to flood the market with high-priced fashion watches that got a reputation for being low quality. With the new brand name, its strong association as a passing fashion fad, and changing customer tastes, the Heuer brand has taken almost 30 years to claw itself back to relevance. How? Largely through embracing its racing heritage, and re-connecting itself to Formula One.

Watches, luxury brands, and the re-birth of F1

We found it surprising that the incredibly celebrity-studded and commercial F1 circuit originally had only national colors and racing numbers on the cars. But with the rise of increasing stakes in the form of the winner’s pot (now valued at USD 2 Billion) the sport has had to monetize everything with sponsorships and advertising.

This interesting article tracks the history of brands and Formula One: From the spark of cigarette advertising and Heuer watches, to the 2008 financial crisis. The rise of luxury brand sponsorships including watches have kept Formula One in the black (and white) for 60 years.

Read about this fascinating history - beyond but including watches: F1 Has Never Been Hotter—and the Luxury World Is Fueling Its Meteoric Rise.

The piece is wide ranging, beyond just horology and racing, though we feel the breadth is worth the read. If you are the impatient type however, speed to about half way through to read just about Heuer and the watches.

Iconic pandas

Rounding the last curve of this week’s newsletter, we need to mention the most distinctive dial style of all racing watches. Regardless of the recent heat watch brands have in the racing world, there is no association stronger than the panda-dialed Rolex Daytona. Paul Newman received a Daytona from his wife, who engraved “Drive carefully, Me” on the back to remind him that he was not immortal. Newman wore the watch throughout his racing career, including during his second place finish in 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Rolex is not the only panda-dialed chronograph on the market. With standard Daytona’s on at least a 5 year waitlist, and “Paul Newman” vintage models fetching six figures, we think there is an opportunity to branch out with the style. If you love the panda like we do, there are tons of classic and iconic options in 13 expert-approved Panda dial watches to put on your grail radar.