TAG Heuer collaborates with Japanese Streetwear icon Hiroshi Fujiwara

In a bid to widen its customer base and appeal to millennials, TAG Heuer has probably done more than its peers have. By signing influential DJs (Martin Garrix) and supermodels (Bella Hadid) to launching the first Swiss smartwatch, the Swiss luxury brand hopes it will continue to stay relevant in an industry that has seen dwindling sales. The Le Locle brand now extends its tie-up with influential Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara to launch a new limited edition chronograph that takes its inspiration from vintage Autavia models.

Fujiwara, referred to as the Godfather of Streetwear, runs the fashion label Fragment Design and previously collaborated with the Swiss brand in 2018 to create a limited edition based on the classic Carrera. The new TAG Heuer x Fragment Design Heuer 02 chronograph retains the characteristic minimalism that is a hallmark of Fujiwara’s design, but riffs heavily on vintage Heuer Autavia models. The case is a reinterpretation of the C-case models used predominantly on the motorsport-inspired Autavia references in the late 1960s and 70s.

“I gave the design a modern and exceptional flair with the red caseback, which reflects one of the brand’s logo colours and also gives it a completely new and evolved character,” says Fujiwara. The 44 mm stainless case has a fixed bezel with polished black ceramic bezel with a tachymeter scale. The black opaline dial has a bicompax dial layout, it has two embossed registers – a 30-minute counter at 3 o’ clock and a 12 hour counter at 9 – for the chronograph function. There is no running seconds hand but a red lacquered central chronograph seconds needle complements the red indexes that stand out on the black dial.

The caseback has a red tinted sapphire crystal window that offers a peak into the business end of the watch - the in-house self-winding Heuer 02 Calibre, a 4 Hz column wheel chronograph movement with a power reserve of 80 hours. The sapphire caseback carries the Fragment Design logo and is engraved with the limited edition number from 1 to 500.

Fujiwara design also designed a new five-row polished steel bracelet with a butterfly-folding clasp. The watch will be available to pre-order on the watchmaker’s website and in select TAG Heuer boutiques before going on sale on July 27, 2020. Limited to just 500 pieces and priced at Dh22,000, this is a cracking example of a modern vintage watch and I won’t be surprised if all 500 are spoken for very quickly.