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- TAG Heuer’s new 38mm Formula 1 Solargraph celebrates the final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
- The orange rubber-strap model is limited to 1,500 pieces and priced at AUD$3,200.
- Its light-powered TH50-00 movement delivers up to 10 months on a full charge.
TAG Heuer has built a Formula 1 Solargraph brighter than a tangerine, pairing a high-vis orange bezel and matching rubber strap with red detailing and a grey opaline dial that seems to be doing everything it can to calm the situation down.
The new 38mm limited edition has been created for Zandvoort’s final Dutch Grand Prix, where entire grandstands routinely disappear beneath an orchard of bright orange. TAG Heuer has even strapped one onto the wrist of four-time world champion Max Verstappen, which is about as close as you can get to putting the watch in its natural habitat.
So if TAG Heuer was ever going to turn the saturation slider all the way up, this was probably the race to do it. And considering Zandvoort packs 105,000 spectators into the circuit on race day, you’ll need to be among a much smaller crowd to snatch this one up: TAG Heuer is making just 1,500 pieces at AUD$3,200.
1/9A Lot of Orange, Even for the Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix
The orange TH-Polylight bezel and rubber strap do most of the shouting, while the sandblasted steel case, red-lacquered hands and eggshell Super-LumiNova keep enough of the old Formula 1 weirdness intact.
Inside is TAG Heuer’s TH50-00 Solargraph movement, which charges from natural or artificial light and can run for up to 10 months on a full charge. You still get a full 100 metres of water resistance, so despite looking like it was designed inside a bag of Allen’s Party Mix, it’s built to be truly worn rather than simply stared at.
But Zandvoort isn’t the only reason all that orange makes sense. Bright, slightly ridiculous colours were baked into the original TAG Heuer Formula 1 from the start. Original Formula 1 designer Eddy Burgener told Hodinkee the brief was actually to make something fun, colourful and young for surfers, divers and other people heading to the beach. Motorsport wasn’t even the starting point.
Getting those colours onto a proper 200-metre dive watch was also surprisingly complicated in 1986. Burgener’s team ended up wrapping a stainless-steel inner case in fibreglass-reinforced synthetic material, giving TAG Heuer the freedom to make the Formula 1 in colours the Swiss watch industry wasn’t exactly known for at the time.
It’s a colourful, playful streak TAG Heuer still considers a defining part of the Formula 1 today, and one the modern Solargraph range was specifically designed to carry forward.
TAG Heuer Formula 1 Solargraph – Key Specs
- Reference: WBY111H.FT8128
- Case: 38mm sandblasted steel
- Thickness: 9.9mm
- Movement: TH50-00 Solargraph quartz
- Power Reserve: Up to 10 months on a full charge
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Bezel: Bidirectional orange TH-Polylight
- Strap: Perforated orange rubber
- Dial: Grey opaline with red-lacquered hands and applied indices
- Limited Edition: 1,500 pieces
- Price: AUD$3,200
The Dutch Grand Prix runs from 21 to 23 August, bringing Zandvoort’s modern F1 run to an end. TAG Heuer has at least given the orange army something considerably smaller to take home with them.
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