Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver

TAG HEUER INTRODUCES THE AQUARACER PROFESSIONAL 1000 SUPERDIVER

THE ULTIMATE LUXURY DIVE WATCH

TAG Heuer unveils its new Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver at Watches and Wonders.

Watches & Wonders, Geneva - 30th March 2022 : One year after announcing the reimagining of the Aquaracer during the 2021 event, TAG Heuer is back with an even more extreme and robust edition: the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver, a timepiece with exceptional performance and born for the deep. The new model represents an important milestone for TAG Heuer, as it is the first timepiece from the brand utilising calibre TH30-00 produced by Kenissi Manufacture SA, one of the most highly regarded movement manufacturers in the world. The new calibre is manufactured exclusively for TAG Heuer and begins an important chapter for the history of the brand that will see significant improvements in terms of reliability and durability.

The spirit of the Aquaracer at one kilometre down

In the world of dive watches, the ultimate category is the one designed for professional divers. They can rise to any challenge, going beyond the edge of over 1,000 m. The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver belongs to this category, to the queens of the sea which do not crack under the pressure of extreme depths.

The CEO of TAG Heuer, Frédéric Arnault, said: “TAG Heuer has been developing bold and innovative luxury tool watches for over 40 years, and the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is the essence of our unique expertise in this area. This super dive watch joins the entirely reimagined Aquaracer Professional 300 collection launched last year, which now comprises 11 models. We are delighted to launch our latest TAG Heuer Aquaracer at the new edition of Watches and Wonders. It is a watch capable of overcoming all challenges.”

As the ultimate timepiece and dive watch, the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver displays TAG Heuer’s expertise in the field, a savoir faire that dates back over 40 years. The latest addition to the company’s lineage of ultra-water-resistant watches, the Superdiver picks up the mantle from such greats as the Heuer 1000m Diver and the Super Professional.

Launched in 1982, the 1000m Diver was a pioneer ahead of its time. With a larger 41.5 mm case and crown positioned at 4 o’clock to improve ergonomics, it was a strong entry from TAG Heuer into the world of professional dive watches, finding use with prestigious organisations, such as La Spirotechnique, the company founded by Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

The 1000m Diver was joined by the Super Professional in 1984, a watch that has become an icon among TAG Heuer dive watches. Designed specifically for professional divers, it featured a substantial matte-finished case and pronounced teeth on the bezel to make setting easier when wearing dive equipment. It was also fitted to a bracelet with an extension link to wear over a wet suit. Provided in a kit with an additional rubber strap and decompression tables, it was clearly intended for those doing the most demanding work below the waves.

With the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver, TAG Heuer continues this legacy and celebrates 40 years of its presence on the deep dive watch market, a heritage which brings together the brand’s legitimacy and expertise in the world of luxury dive watches.

Extreme performance and remarkable design

Extreme is the most fitting description for this new creation. With its 45 mm case, the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is made to resist the greatest underwater depths. The watch is extremely robust and sports a bold, but elegant, look and a thickness of just 15.75 mm, enabling the watch to resist the extreme pressure of the deep while continuing to be one of the slimmest in the deep dive watch category.

Its remarkable design owes much to the obsession for legibility among the designers creating the watch. While we may be familiar with Jack Heuer’s fixation on readability iwn the company’s chronographs, such as the TAG Heuer Carrera, the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver was not to be outdone. The watch’s designers have endeavored to follow in Jack Heuer’s footsteps to ensure optimal legibility for this maritime timepiece.

It all starts with the hands. The indicator for the hour is in the form of an arrow and is more imposing than in the classic Aquaracer Professional 300, with the aim of increasing underwater visibility thanks to its sizeable area for Super-LumiNova®. The minute and second hands are orange in colour highlight the most useful hands for diving purposes. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the colour orange dominates the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Superdiver 1000. It is the very colour of maritime safety and opposes the blue of the ocean on the colour wheel, meaning it can be quickly spotted at sea.

On the dial, the horizontal striped design that already features in the Aquaracer Professional 300 collection has also been included on this watch. For the Superdiver version, the lines are set further apart, again to improve visibility.

On the ceramic bezel, the first quarter is orange, highlighting the portion most often used for timing decompression stops, which is a key technical detail used extensively by divers when taking part in deep-water exercises. The bezel is forged with black ceramic and a unique composite made of a hybrid material incorporating ceramic with an orange colour specifically developed for TAG Heuer.

Lastly, to improve the vitally important visibility at such depths, the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Superdiver 1000 uses the highest grade of Super-LumiNova®, SLN Grade X1, which is extremely powerful and bright and allows for optimal legibility in the dark.

The date cyclops has been removed for technical reasons, as the technology for mounting under the sapphire crystal has become difficult to maintain at such depths. Yet, the move is beneficial to the design, as it provides the watch a cleaner aesthetic.

In the constant move toward greater durability and safety, TAG Heuer has also added a more substantial crown protector than is usually found on dive watches. The main role of the guard is to ensure the safe screwing and unscrewing of the crown and, as a result, protect the movement from any risk of water ingress.

The orange seal around the crown tube is a detail that not only recalls the orange running throughout the watch design, but also provides an important visual indicator that the screw-down crown is properly fixed. This visual detail has been passed down from the TAG Heuer Aquagraph, which integrated the system in 2003. Finally, the crown is coated in black DLC to provide a high contrast to the case and the touches of orange that bring the watch to life.

In addition to the ultra-visibility of this high-performing timepiece, the TAG Heuer teams have also worked on improving the ergonomics, notably by incorporating deeper recesses in the bezel to allow for better grip and to facilitate turning. Extensive work has also been carried out on the sound and sensory aspects of handling the bezel, which was initiated last year with the creation of the Aquaracer Professional 300 collection.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is made entirely from grade 5 titanium, an exceptional material allowing for a finish that is very similar to steel while offering outstanding ergonomics due to its reduced weight. In an exception to the rule, the caseback of the watch is made of steel to keep a good balance and reasonable weight for a professional instrument. It includes the iconic diving helmet motif, which is engraved on all watches in the Aquaracer collection and has been one of the enduring markers of the timepiece for almost 20 years.

Born to master the depths

Evidenced by its high technicality, the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver was conceived to work in saturation diving and to resist the most extreme pressures. Saturation diving is a practice reserved for professionals working in the deepest depths of the sea at between 200 and 500 m below the surface. This very specialised domain requires practising divers to acclimate themselves to the pressure, notably by spending several days in chambers to adapt to the incredibly hostile environment and the associated pressure.

Adaptation is achieved through helium, a gas which must be evacuated at the end of the mission, and which tends to increase the pressure in the dive watch and cause damage upon decompression. To remedy this, a helium valve has been inserted into the dive watch to enable the gas to escape and damage to be avoided. The helium valve takes a rectangular form on the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver and is finished in a black DLC coating, in harmony with the black-finished crown. It is also engraved with the letters “He”, which stand for helium in the periodic table.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver also meets the most demanding of diving standards. On top of the classic accreditations, the timepiece has received ISO 6425:2018 certification for saturation divers’ watches. ISO 6425:2018 has two levels of certification: a certification for dive watches, which few watches on the market can match, and a certification for saturation diving, which is even more difficult to obtain and is also extremely rare among dive watches.

Different criteria are verified, such as resistance to magnetism, shocks, and corrosion and photoluminescence. A magnetic shielding of the movement has also been achieved, which has a true positive impact for the wearer. Thanks to this innovation, the watch accuracyhas the power to better withstand magnetic fields that are present in electronic devices, such as cellular phones.

A partnership for excellence: the new calibre made with Kenissi

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver also represents another debut for the company in the form of the calibre TH30-00. A new manufacture movement certified COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) and produced to TAG Heuer’s exacting specifications by Kenissi Manufacture SA.

Kenissi is a Swiss Manufacture for high-performance mechanical movements, founded in 2016 and based at Le Locle. The company produces movements renowned for their durability and quality which are best in class in the Swiss watch industry, with standards that exceed expectations.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver will benefit from an extended international warranty up to five years. Approximately 70-hours power reserve allows for the watch to be left all weekend and remain in perfect working order without any loss of accuracy when used again.

This cooperation begins an important moment for the history of the brand that will see significant improvements in terms of reliability and durability. The arrival of the calibre TH30-00 within the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is also the start of a long-term collaboration between TAG Heuer and Kenissi, the two companies share the same values of quality and excellence, at the service of high-end watchmaking.

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver comes with a custom protective case, which is as resistant as the watch, and includes a rescue dive torch. This highly technical, waterproof and crash-proof case features orange details to remain in perfect harmony with the timepiece it accompanies.

Thanks to its expectational performance in terms of movement, design and technical innovations, the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver will undoubtedly be one of the landmark pieces at the 2022 edition of Watches and Wonders.