Back in 1986, TAG Heuer’s Formula 1 ushered in a new chapter for the storied Swiss watchmaker. Then recently acquired by Techniques d’Avant Garde, a Luxembourish holding company, the brand took a chance on a colorful series of quartz-powered, steel and fiberglass timepieces — the first to bear the newly combined TAG Heuer name. (Period advertising still described the watch as a “Heuer Formula 1,” despite the name on the dial.) Among early collectors of the Formula 1 was Ronnie Fieg, founder of upscale sneaker-centric brand Kith, established in New York City in 2011. For him (and many others), this fun, automotive-inspired series kicked off a lifelong love of watch collecting.
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New GMT models, platinum dress watches, cool divers…it’s all here!Now, nearly 40 years after the Formula 1’s debut, Fieg has teamed up with TAG Heuer to relaunch the Formula 1 in a series of 1980s-esque, limited-edition pieces in 10 different colorways, on both rubber straps and steel bracelets. Made from Arnite — a high-performance plastic — and steel and upsized to 35mm, they slot in well with today’s middle-of-the-road sizing and unisex aesthetics, and their $1,500 price makes them a sort of higher-end competitor to the highly collectible and popular MoonSwatch and Scuba Fifty Fathoms collections. In order to replicate what made the 1980s watches special, TAG Heuer even tracked down the original case supplier and molds, though sapphire crystals (instead of acrylic) and rubber straps (instead of plastic) mean these newer versions should hold up much better over time.
Fieg, of course, put his unique spin on the watches: He collaborated with TAG Heuer to choose the different colorways, and the brand even merged Kith’s and their own logos into a new, seamless version that features on each dial below 12 o’clock. Meanwhile Kith’s motto, “Just Us,” is present above 6 o’clock, and Fieg’s own original black-and-red colorway is also present in the collection.
All in all, over three million of the original Formula 1 watches were produced; Fieg and TAG Heuer wanted to offer a similarly wide variety of references but limit the number of examples produced, which has resulted in 10 distinct watches: Seven of these, limited to 250 pieces each — black/yellow; green/yellow/red; sports-car red; cream; and matte black — are exclusive to Kith stores and pay tribute to different locations in the brand’s network. (You likely just counted five watches — two more, one with a blue bezel and one with a green bezel, are being offered on matching steel multi-link bracelets with folding clasps, and are limited to 350 pieces each.)
TAG Heuer is then launching its own two versions, one in green and the other in blue with matching rubber straps, that feature black PVD cases and black dials. Limited to 850 pieces each, they launched in-store in Miami on May 3 and globally on May 6. Finally, a model inspired by Fieg’s own watch with a black bezel and red accents is limited to 1,350 pieces and ships on a steel bracelet. Its eggshell-colored dial references a patinated white dial of a now-vintage TAG Heuer watch — a clever nod to the original Formula 1.
In tribute to the “Series 1” F1 watches, the dials on the Kith collabs similarly feature a Mercedes handset and alternating shield and dot indices. Lumed with Super-LumiNova rather than tritium, each has a date window at 3 o’clock; a unidirectional Arnite dive bezel; and a sandblasted, steel screw-down caseback ensuring 200m of water resistance. Measuring just 9.45mm, the case will easily disappear under a cuff, and wear nice and lightly during the stickier months of summer.
Following on the success of the colorful MoonSwatch and Scuba Fifty Fathoms — which saw even non-watch collectors lining up outside boutiques, in the rain, to plunk down their credit cards — there’s little doubt that these new Formula 1 Kith pieces will positively fly off the shelves. Seeing that total production is just 5,000 pieces across all references, they could conceivably be snapped up by just the diehard sneakerheads in Manhattan, alone — which is why it’s a relief that certain editions will be unique to specific boutiques, which both drives collectability and prevents those with deep pockets from snapping up every last watch in existence.
The only trouble will be in securing the particular model that you fancy…though TAG Heuer and Fieg have thought of that, too: For $18,000, a box set of all 10 watches is available. (I guess there’s a $3K premium for the brand(s) doing the collecting work for you?)
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