TAG Heuer Hosts Collectors & VIPS At Their New Chermside Boutique

Last week, TAG Heuer hosted an intimate group of watch collectors and TAG Heuer clients to showcase the latest pieces that the brand has brought us in 2023.

TAG Heuer is a brand that is on the move and on a mission. This year, we’ve seen perhaps some of the best watches the brand has introduced us to in a while, and being the 60th anniversary of the Carrera, not surprisingly, the focus was on the TAG Heuer Carrera, and a little bit of racing in general with several Monacos being brought out. The brand is always up to showcase its pieces, both at large-scale events and small ones, and this is one of the aspects of TAG Heuer I find different from a lot of others, their willingness to get their watches into the hands of the customer.

They are also a brand that is expanding here in Australia. Their latest boutique, the TAG Heuer Boutique in Westfield Chermside on Brisbane’s north side is a prime example of this, which you can read our coverage of here. And whilst TAG Heuer did their grand opening just over a month ago, having an intimate showcase evening for collectors and clientele alike shows they are investing in hands-on experiences. Something that we here at Watch Advice are always advocating for as until you try on a watch, it’s hard to forge a connection with it, or even know what it feels and looks like on the wrist!

An event where you have only a small number of guests at any one time is always preferred in my mind if your goal is to allow people to try on and get a feel for the watches. Don’t get me wrong, big spectacles are always welcome, but you don’t get that one one-on-one and personal touch you do with smaller hands-on events. Not only do you get to try on and spend time with the pieces, but you can actually have a decent conversation with the staff and not feel like they’re selling you something. It’s more about the love of the watches and not a situation where they’re pressuring you to buy.

On show was, yes you guessed it, lots of Carrera’s and several of their new Monaco collection. At the end of the day, these are the pieces that TAG Heuer has become known for, and being the year of the Carrera, I’d expect nothing less. With a year that started strong with the new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph “Glassbox” and has ended with the full gold version of the same piece, It’s been a great year for the brand and I feel the collector community as well as the wider buying market has felt the same.

One of the standout pieces was the skeletonised Monaco Turquoise in titanium and black DLC. It was one watch that drew a lot of the collector’s eyes, and wrists for that matter. Pictures don’t do this watch justice, and when we covered the release ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year, it was the one that turned potentially the most heads of the three.

In TAG Heuer style, the staff were amazing and friendly, headed up by Cory Blackmore, the Boutique Manager, and all too happy to have a chat and help you get to know the brand and watches a bit better. Canapes and Champagne were on offer, which is always nice at an evening event and guests spent plenty of time with all the pieces and staff.

The new TAG Heuer Chronosprint x Porsche was of interest too, with many of the guests trying it on and getting to understand the story and design elements of the piece. The unique chronograph function whilst a bit of a novelty, it’s still a cool flex from the brand given the amount of time it took them to develop the mechanism for the chronograph hand to perform the way it does. If you’ve not seen it in action, then check out our video here.

Overall it was a great night, and thoroughly enjoyed by all, based on everyone I spoke to. The more brands that are able to do small-scale events like this, the better in my opinion as it helps people to understand the watches and the brand more. When I was a younger collector, had I had the opportunity to go to things like this, I would have jumped at the chance as for most people, one of the only ways to get up close and personal with pieces that may catch your eye is to go into a Boutique or retail store and try them on. But a lot of time this comes with added pressure from sales staff to buy the watch, and as a result, makes people hesitant to do so. I know I’ve had this feedback time and time again.

So from us at Watch Advice and on behalf of all the watch fans out there, we’d encourage more brands to do more of these events and showcase some of the great pieces you have on offer. Don’t be shy!