The Watch Journey – The watch brand tier list – Hamilton and Tag Heuer

Welcome to the 10th instalment of my watch journey. The Watch brand Tier list currently stands at Rolex Last, Tudor second last followed by the fashion brands, Swatch watches, Tissot and Citizen. The next on the list is an equal Hamilton and Tag Heuer. 

Hamilton and Tag Heuer brands are owned and operated by rivals the Swatch Group and LVMH respectively. Both brands have heritage from their past break out models, owners, brand ambassadors and technology innovation. 

Hamilton started off as an American watch maker known for making various mechanisms used in marine navigation in particular, the military issued watches during the wars, the first electric watch and the Elvis watch aka Ventura. They also supply watches for Hollywood movies, the recently notable examples include the Men in Black series, Dune, Indiana Jones and in particular Interstellar. Hamilton watches have compelling solid back story and watches back the brand. The Hamilton brand is strong enough to be able to sell mechanical movements, quartz and other novel tech without effecting brand image. Of note they do very low key marketing to the general public so this brand if not for those with a passing interest in horology unlike the over saturated Rolex branding. Yes Hamilton watches are worth buying. 

Tag Heuer is an interesting brand as it hasn’t made any landmark creations that roll of the tongue.  The brand’s historical claim to fame is it’s involvement in the development of the chronograph movement and usage in motor racing and the getting the Monaco model featured in the Steve McQueen movie Le Mans, which Heuer was an actual sponsor of the race. However what I remember is the saturation marketing of the various Carrera models by Golfer, Tiger Woods in the 90’s. 

Hamilton Vs Tag Heuer why I rate them the same: Hamilton has the edge in terms of history and models and pricing. On the other hand Tag Heuer rates the same in my books, if you ignore the marketing has pretty decent models that keep up with the times including a smart watch and various mechanical and quartz models. A Swiss watch company forward seeing enough to attempt to cover all tech is rated highly in my estimation. 

In the end each brand has a model or more that I like and over the course of this series you can see which ones I gravitate to.