How did TAG Heuer revamp its 1990s leader model, the iconic Link, for the 21st Century" Find out in this feature from WatchTime’s Design Special 2019.
As decades go, the 1980s and ?90s, an era in which quartz-powered and digital timekeepers were in ascendance while traditional Swiss mechanicals were largely in hibernation, are not nearly as rich in watch design milestones as are the 1960s and ?70s. However, there are always exceptions that prove the rule, one of which is the sporty model that TAG Heuer released in 1987: the TAG Heuer S/El, which evolved in 1999 into its more well-known and popular incarnation, the TAG Heuer Link.
TAG Heuer Link Calibre 17 Chronograph
Introduced just a few years after the venerable Heuer watch company, headquartered in the Swiss watchmaking hub of La Chaux-de-Fonds since 2001, was acquired by Luxembourg-based holding company Techniques d?Avant Garde (TAG), becoming the TAG Heuer firm that we all recognize today, the S/El ? shorthand for ?Sport Elegance? ? was the flagship of a new generation of timepieces launched under the Swiss watchmaker?s new ownership and was meant to embody a set of six sporty features that would define TAG Heuer?s products in the 1990s. These included 200-meter water resistance, a screw-down crown, double safety-clasp bracelets, unidirectional rotating bezels, sapphire crystals and luminous details. The S/El, in all of its various incarnations, which included mostly quartz models, some digital, along with a...