Archive

Interview — A Deep Dive into Sylvain Berneron’s Mirage

On October 5, 2023, Sylvain Berneron, Chief Product Officer of Breitling, introduced the Mirage, the flagship model for his new “Berneron” brand. There will be two versions of the Mirage — the Sienna (with a yellow gold case) and the Prussian Blue (with a white gold case) — with annual production limited to 12 samples of each version,

Read More

Sotheby’s Offering Five of the Heuer Grails — May 14, 2023

Back in May 2020, I published a posting, Vintage Heuer – Chasing the Grails, that offered a definition of the “grail watch”, at least for purposes of the community of vintage Heuer collectors. While any collector may have their own personal “grail” watches, I suggested that from the perspective of the community, a vintage Heuer chronograph is considered a “grail”,

Read More

“C” on Caseback of Heuer Chronographs — “Cuanillon”, Heuer’s Swiss Distributor

The “C” marked on the case-back of a vintage Heuer chronograph indicates that — after the watch was produced — Heuer sold it to its Swiss distributor, “Cuanillon & Co”.  Cuanillon & Co. was located in Biel-Bienne.

We are not aware of the purpose of the marking or the meaning of the letters and numbers marked on the cases.

Read More

Introducing Five New TAG Heuer Carrera Chronographs for 2023

In early January 2023, TAG Heuer marked the 60th Anniversary of its Carrera chronograph with the release of a Limited Edition model in “Panda” style.  This new “60th Anniversary” Carrera represented a near one-to-one copy of one of the collectors’ favorite models — the Carrera Reference 2447 SN, from the late 1960s.  The newest Carrera was very well received by both vintage and modern chronograph enthusiasts,

Read More

OnTheDash 20th Anniversary — Celebrating Our Community

OnTheDash.com went live exactly 20 years ago.  That’s right, on February 12, 2003, at around 9:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time), I sent an email message to around 80 enthusiasts, with the subject, “ATTENTION Heuer Enthusiasts: New Heuer Web Site.”  It was going to be a relatively simple site, presenting most of the Heuer dashboard timers in a simple “tree”,

Read More

Introducing the TAG Heuer Carrera 60th Anniversary Limited Edition

Today, TAG Heuer introduced the TAG Heuer Carrera 60th Anniversary Limited Edition (Reference CBK221H).  In this posting, we provide an introduction of the newest Carrera, including information about the heritage model from 1970 that provided the inspiration for the 60th Anniversary model.  We also show the 60th Anniversary Carrera alongside another Limited Edition Carrera that was introduced by Watches of Switzerland a few weeks ago. 

Read More

Scrapbook – TAG Heuer Hosts Vintage Collectors GTG in NYC

On December 8, 2022, in New York City, TAG Heuer hosted a dinner / get-together for the community of vintage collectors.  Held at Veronika Restaurant, this was the first gathering of U. S. collectors in over four years.  It was a wonderful evening for all those who attended, as collectors renewed acquaintances, met some new members of the community and – of course – shared some outstanding vintage Heuer chronographs.

Read More

Introducing the Watches of Switzerland Limited Edition 42 Millimeter Carrera

On November 21, Watches of Switzerland released a Limited Edition Carrera (Reference CBN2018) and earlier today I received the watch that I purchased.  We will be writing more about the newest Carrera, but this posting will include some photos released by Watches of Switzerland, as well as some live photos of my watch.

Key elements of the newest Carrera include:

  • a true “Panda” dial,
Read More

Benrus Type I — Photo Gallery

This Benrus Type I watch was issued to a member of a U. S. Navy, EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Team. EOD is part of USN Special Operations, with personnel who dismantle and render safe unexploded ordnance, including underwater mines, landmines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Team members are trained in diving, parachuting, combat and explosives.

Read More

TAG Heuer Carrera Red Dial Limited Edition — Photo Album

Today, TAG Heuer introduced the TAG Heuer Carrera Red Dial Limited Edition (Reference CBK221G).  In this album, we will show some “live” photos of the newest Carrera (which we will call the “Carrera Red Dial LE”), and also provide the  full specifications for the watch.

For the background on how Heuer has used the color red to capture the passion of racing,

Read More

Introducing TAG Heuer’s Black-Coated Monaco (Tribute to “Dark Lord”) . . . and a Special “1” for Max Verstappen

Ask any vintage Heuer collector for a ranking of the “grails”, and you can be sure that the black-coated Monaco, reference 74033 N (often called the “Dark Lord”) will be toward the top of the list.  Produced by Heuer in the late 1970s, the community of collectors has tracked approximately 30 of these watches.

As described in my posting on Hodinkee,

Read More

Five for the Dive – A History of Heuer’s Deep Dive Watches

With TAG Heuer today introducing its new Aquaracer “Superdiver” model (Reference WBP5A8A), waterproof to 1000 meters, it is interesting to look back through some of the brand’s previous deep dive watches and chronographs.  Prior to introducing this new Aquaracer, Heuer had produced only two watches with 1000 meter depth ratings, with these two watches being introduced in 1982 and 1984. 

Read More