Seiko Champion

It’s been discussed over and over in the watch forums and blogs these past few weeks, but still deserves a mention. TAG Heuer announced this month their new “100% developed in-house” caliber, the 1887.

image from TimeZone Industry News

It seems nice – 39 jewels, column chrono, 50 hours reserve, +/- 4 sec/day. And in fact the movement itself is nice. The problem is with TAG Heuer’s marketing statements – the movement is actually a modified Seiko 6S37 that TAG Heue licensed for their internal modification and use.

Image from SCWF

Legally and technically it’s a modified movement that they have rights to. Truthfully and in social media terms, the marketing is a lie. If you don’t have Truthful Branding you will be found out. In the case of TAG Heue, it tarnishes their image and makes them of less interest to me as a watch purchase, which is sad I’ve always liked a lot of their watches.

• Branding , Brands: Seiko , Brands: Other
• Comments(6)

6 Responses

1. Seiko Watches Collections Says:
   December 28th, 2009 at 2:35 am

   Implicitly, it tells us that Seiko watches is better than TAG Heuer. CMIIW..

2. Seiko 6138-8039 » Seiko Champion Says:
   February 23rd, 2010 at 10:42 pm

   [...] These were the first column-wheel automatic chronos, a technology that is still valuable today, (witness TAG Heuer licensing similar stuff from Seiko for their own column wheel chrono recently) – a [...]

3. robert loomes Says:
   March 2nd, 2010 at 5:16 am

   I don’t think TAG were clever in their phrasing but I have stripped one of these in the workshop and it is a very different beast to the Seiko in many ways. It is, contrary to earlier posts, proof that Tag can re-engineer and improve in terms of performance and timekeeping.

   It’s also nice to see a watch that isn’t made with ever dominant Swatch Group bits.

   Best wishes – nice site,
   Robert Loomes, watchmaker
   (who uses other ebauches and makes them better, including +/-3s on a “cheap” chinese chrono),
   Stamford, England

4. Harry Bishop Says:
   March 2nd, 2010 at 8:18 pm

   Thanks Robert!
   Harry

5. Harry Bishop Says:
   March 2nd, 2010 at 8:18 pm

   Thanks Robert!

6. guillermo Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 11:53 am

   hola por experiencia eh tenido relojes swiss,y no eh tenido muy buena experiencia, pero ahora solo uso citizen y seiko , y voy bien.

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