Even though TAG Heuer has its share of showy, luxury-themed timepieces, a lot of people appreciate the Swiss brand for its practical tool watches, which is a field the brand has considerable history with. These days, the high-end watchmaker places comparatively less emphasis on more practical daily-wear tool watches, but that doesn’t mean the market doesn’t have a demand for such products. While the era of low-priced practical watches from most luxury Swiss brands is more or less over, if you can compromise on price (and are willing to pay a bit of a premium), you can enjoy a great tool watch experience in some unexpected places. This leads me to the still-fresh TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph family that debuted in 2022. First, TAG Heuer debuted a more lifestyle-focused artistic version with a carbon bezel, later to be followed up by more mainstream-focused Solargraphs including the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph in titanium, steel versions of the 40mm-wide watch, and most recently, smaller 34mm Solargraph variants.
The Solargraph watches begin with a relatively new quartz movement based on existing, proven technology. TAG Heuer works with Swiss La Joux-Perret to purchase the quartz movements with photovoltaic cell dials that charge via light. La Joux-Perret is owned by Japan’s Citizen Group, which is known for its more mainstream Eco-Drive light-powered watches. La Joux-Perret created a higher-performance and Swiss Made solar quartz movement that is used in the Solargraph family. Thus, we have a reassuring combination of totally proven technology and engineering with a bit more performance and Swiss prestige. How do the movements perform better? It isn’t that they are more accurate (same 10 seconds per month or so of accuracy), but rather that they employ larger photovoltaic cells for more efficient charging (20 hours in sunlight is enough to charge the battery entirely) and larger batteries which provide charge for up to six months without needing to be charged by light.
The dials themselves allow for light to pass through, but similar to Citizen watches, the dials are not merely transparent. Instead, they rely on a clever prism system to move the light around to where it is needed and offer an attractive visual design, which here has horizontal lines in a gray color. Other TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph watches have dials with other colors, but each functions the same way. Otherwise, the dials are very similar to other current generation TAG Heuer Aquaracer pieces in terms of style and legibility (currently, TAG Heuer has a different dial design for the automatic Aquaracer models, which also have ceramic bezel inserts). That means you have applied hour markers and decent amounts of Super-LumiNova on the hands and markers. There is a date window at the 3 o’clock position and the otherwise gray and white dial has an “ice blue” color accent in the form of the seconds hand and some of the coloring on the face. Over the face is a flat, AR-coated sapphire crystal.
As the name of the watch implies, the case is water-resistant to 200 meters. TAG Heuer makes versions of the Aquaracer with much more water resistance, but I don’t think that is necessary for most people, most of the time. An interesting thing to do is compare this titanium 40mm wide Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph with the 2020 titanium TAG Heuer Aquaracer x Bamford limited-edition watch. Both have more or less the same shape and are produced from sand-blasted titanium (though slightly different titanium texturing for each, even though they are both grade 2 titanium). The Bamford version is 43mm wide (and thicker), versus the smaller 40mm-wide Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph. Both are cool watches, but this thinner, 40mm wide Aquaracer in sand-blasted titanium is easily the most practical daily wear, which is exactly what TAG Heuer is going for. Of course, there is also the steel version of this watch that has more traditional polished and brushed contrast finishing.
While this watch is on the more expensive side, TAG Heuer really does make a quality tool watch that feels good. The bracelet in particular is much better than most titanium bracelets on simpler tool watches, and this is part of why you pay a big-brand premium for something like this. I think that the deployant clasp on the titanium bracelet could have been a bit more compact, but overall, this timepiece offers a very refined wearing experience for what you get. TAG Heuer does need to contend with the fact that there is cheaper competition out there. If you want a solar-powered watch or a titanium one (or both), you can spend much less (from both established names in horology to start-up brands). TAG Heuer offers a cohesive and worry-free package, however, with a timepiece in a style that is meant to look good years from now. This type of product is a perfect example of paying a premium for a desired brand name, but also getting a comparatively hassle-free experience with it. Wearing a solar-style quartz tool watch (especially in titanium) is a great thing for enthusiasts to enjoy. TAG Heuer didn’t invent this segment, but I think it is a great thing that it is continuing its “Professional” line by offering timepieces such as this. The steel version of the Aquaracer Solargraph currently costs $700 USD less than this titanium version. Price for the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph (reference WBP1180.BF0000) is $3,050 USD. For more information, please visit the TAG Heuer website.
Necessary Information:
>Brand: TAG Heuer
>Model: reference WBP1180.BF0000 TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph
>Price: $3,050 USD
>Size: 40mm wide, ~10mm thick, ~48mm long lug-to-lug distance
>When reviewer would personally wear it: When a reliable and compact diver’s style sports watch (on a bracelet) makes sense. That means a slight emphasis on social activities over sheer adventure, but this watch can more or less do all of that nicely.
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone who spends a good deal of time outdoors and likes the idea of having a luxury brand responsible for the design and manufacture of their beater watch.
>Best characteristic of watch: Practical and handsome daily wear sports watch suitable for a number of activities.
>Worst characteristic of watch: A bit expensive. Deployant on the bracelet is a bit chunky.
