TAG HEUER Aquaracer Professional 1000 SUPERDIVER [super?]

Finally a TAG diver to sink your teeth into! 

TAG Heuer pulls out all the stops for a highly impressive new professional Aquaracer model but was it really worth all the effort? 

And were they (TAG’s design dept.) perhaps trying too hard or does it deliver just the right amount of diver-centricity to get our seal of approval.

If like me you’ve been obsessively counting the days until TAG Heuer’s Super Professional 1000M, the one that first drew breath in 1984 finally reaches its fortieth birthday in the hopes that it will see a reissue; 

then perhaps no matter what TAG’s design team serve up by way of a diver’s model mightn’t seem that palatable but this could be the tasty appetizer to stave off our ravenous Super Pro 1000M hunger for the next 724 days.

Meet the new Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver, the new diver’s model from TAG picking up the mantle from the legendary Super Professional 1000M, and one with the ambition of becoming the brands most accomplished and proficient aquatic tool watch in the four decades that they have been producing professional diver’s watches. Just a year on from the unveiling of the re-imagined Aquaracer, TAG Heuer is back with an even more extreme and robust edition: the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver, a diver’s watch with an exceptional level of specification and performance.

However diving credentials aside, this new model represents an important milestone for TAG Heuer, as it is the first timepiece from the brand to get the caliber TH30-00 manufactured by Kenissi Manufacture SA, one of the most highly regarded movement manufacturers in the world. 

The new TH30-00 caliber has been manufactured exclusively for TAG Heuer and opens a new evolutionary chapter for the brand that will see significant improvements in terms of reliability and durability which will most likely see some overall price hikes.

With its 45mm in diameter case and thickness of just 15.75mm, the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver was designed to resist depths of up to 1000 meters. 

However beyond its water-resistance, hailed as extreme by TAG but which is in reality not even entry-level for an extreme diver, this watch has been endowed with all it’ll ever need to enter the ‘professional’ diver’s watch category.

Starting with the hands, in particular the imposing paddle-sized hour hand which is in the form of an arrow (perhaps that should be anchor) this is way more extreme than anything previously seen on a diver with TAG on its dial thus greatly increasing underwater visibility thanks to its sizeable area for applying Super-LumiNova. Meanwhile the minute and second hands are in a maritime safety color, bright orange which stands out clearly against the blue of the sea and for the dial highlights the most useful hands necessary for diving; those being the minute hand which aligns with the bezel to indicate remaining dive-time and the seconds hand that shows us that the watch is indeed still running.

The familiar horizontal stripes on the dial are borrowed from the Aquaracer Professional 300 collection. However for the Superdiver version, the lines are set further apart, in order 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 color specifically developed for TAG Heuer. 

Lastly, to improve the critically important visibility required in the murky depths, the Aquaracer Superdiver 1000 uses the highest grade of Super-LumiNova®, SLN Grade X1, which is extremely powerful and bright and allowing for optimal legibility in the depths or indeed the darkness of your bedroom’s nightstand.

The loathed by so many of us, cyclops date magnifier lens has been extracted by TAG for technical reasons, as the technology for mounting under the Sapphire crystal has become difficult to maintain at depths. The main benefit of this is an overall cleaner dial aesthetic.

Striving toward greater durability and safety, TAG has also added a more substantial crown protector than is usually found on dive watches that aren’t Ploprofs or PAMs. 

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 inherited from the Aquagraph, which integrated the system in 2003. Finally, the crown is coated in black DLC providing a high contrast to the case and the touches of orange that further the watch’s toolish aesthetics.

In addition to the ultra-visibility of the Superdiver, TAG’s design 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. 

Sounds good? That’s because extensive work was also conducted 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 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. 

The case-back of the watch however is made of Stainless steel; TAG says it’s to keep a good balance and reasonable weight but this is utter rubbish because that hypoallergenic Titanium is wasted if it isn’t right up against your skin via the case-back.

If TAG wanted to save costs or add some weight then we all know that a Stainless steel bezel would have been a much better move. 

But it is what it is. The case-back btw 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.

The Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver was also conceived to work in SAT (saturation) diving environment. Saturation diving is a practice reserved for professionals working in the deepest depths of the sea at between 200 and 500m below the surface. 

This very specialized domain requires SAT diving practitioners 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.

Unusually the helium valve takes on a rectangular form on the 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 stands for helium on the periodic table. 

The 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 photo-luminescence.

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 accuracy has the power to better withstand magnetic fields that are present in electronic devices, such as cellular phones. 

The Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver also represents another debut for the company in the form of the calibre TH30-00. 

A manufacture movement certified COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) and produced to TAG Heuer’s exacting specifications by Kenissi Manufacture SA.

The 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.

Finally, the 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. The watches will be available from July of 2022.

Thoughts? In isolation this is a pretty fantastic diver offering from TAG. It exudes the type of confidence that only comes from being a consummate tool diver which it certainly appears to be - plus it comes with a snazy new movement. 

Rather than pushing the boundaries of water-resistance (perhaps, hopefully, TAG might explore that in 2024) it has instead focused on offering everything you could ever want or need in a professional diver’s watch. 

But is this the sort of diver, that today’s dive watch buying public really wants? If you’re in the camp that only digests meagerly sized, vintage-styled portions of 38mm or so then you likely won’t have the constitution for a watch like this. 

But if you’re in the camp (the real men’s camp) that appreciates something a little heartier, something with more substance, something intended to be worn over neoprene rather than under a cuff then you’ll lap this up. 

Naturally I fall into the second camp but I still think TAG should have given the Superdiver a Ti case-back. But what about you?