TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 – The return of the Night Driver

TAG Heuer enthusiasts will recognise the name “Night Diver”, which was first introduced in the mid1980s. Loved by active, style-conscious watch buyers who push their limits, exploring nature and going beyond the edge, it became one of the most celebrated sports watches of its era.

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 collection picks up this story. TAG Heuer’s design, engineering and heritage teams worked together to deliver a faithful update to a much-loved watch,  retaining and improving signature details such as the famous 12-sided bezel and the dial’s horizontal  engraved linesto produce a refined, highly versatile modern classic.

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 drop adds three models to the eight announced in April, taking the collection to 11 references. All three new models are non-limited and go into the core collection, each with a 43 mm stainless steel case and rubber strap equipped with TAG Heuer’s innovative adjustable folding clasp.

The new black and blue versions pick up on the bracelet models introduced at Watches and Wonders: both are colour-themed with matching black or blue dials, ceramic bezel inserts and rubber straps.

The standout model of the release is the black DLC-coated Night Diver, joining the TAG Heuer AquaracerProfessional 300 Tribute to Ref. 844 as the collection’s hero pieces. Its stainless-steel case, bezel, crown, caseback and clasp are all coated in matt black diamond-like carbon, known as DLC, a high-performance, hard-wearing finish designed for use in extreme conditions. The bezel insert is highly resistant black ceramic.

The Night Diver’s other signature feature is its fully luminescent dial, which is coated in green SuperLumiNova® to deliver exceptional glow-in-the-dark performance. To ensure ultimate legibility in extreme low-light conditions, the watch’s minute and central seconds hands are filled with blue lume to contrast with the green of the dial. The hour hand and octagonal hour markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are filled with green lume, and the remaining octagonal hour markers are all edged with black lacquer. The triangle on the unidirectional rotating bezel at 12, which is crucial to accurately and safely measure dive times, is also filled with striking blue lume to match the blue of the minute and central seconds hands.

Sliding clasps come as standard

Each of the new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 references comes with a beautifully engineered integrated rubber strap equipped with TAG Heuer’s newly developed adjustable clasp system. These straps will be cut to length as part of a fitting process at a TAG Heuer boutique or by an authorised dealer. The wearer will then have the freedom to adjust their strap to accommodate a wetsuit, or simply to reflect changes in ambient conditions that make the wrist expand or contract.

The fine-tuning system developed by TAG Heuer’s engineers means this adjustment can be made to extremely small tolerances. This is done by pinching and sliding the button on the side of the clasp. The clasp also features double safety push-buttons that prevent it from being unlocked by accident. It’s this level of utility that underscores the Aquaracer Professional 300 series’ ultimate luxury tool watch status.

Fit for purpose: the detailing on the TAG Heuer

As with the eight pieces in the launch collection, the three new references pick up on the six signature features that have defined TAG Heuer dive watches since 1983: a unidirectional rotating bezel, a screw-down crown, water resistance to at least 200 metres, luminous markings, a scratch-resistant crystal and a double safety clasp. These real-world functions became the model’s design pillars and have been reassuring underwater explorers for almost four decades.

The form carries a number of further details that enhance its luxury feel and performance. The 12 sides of the bezel are all faceted for grip, the crown is protected to prevent accidental damage and there’s a magnifying glass over the date, which is integrated into the underside of the sapphire crystal, making it smooth to the touch.

All this is set against the backdrop of the TAG Heuer Aquaracer’s dial with its trademark horizontally engraved lines. These have also been refined for the new generation of watches and are now set slightly further apart than in previous TAG Heuer Aquaracer iterations, giving the watches their elegant, sophisticated look.

As with the launch collection, the three new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 references are powered by TAG Heuer’s Calibre 5 automatic movement. They all have solid casebacks stamped with the famous scaphander diving suit, complete with a 12-sided faceplate. All TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 models are water-resistant to 300 metres (30 bar, 1,000 feet).

The first 11: the TAG Heuer Aquaracer story continues

The three new TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 references round out this year’s collection of 11 high-performance watches. These are confident, high-performing pieces  designed for divers, adventurers and urban explorers who want to go beyond the edge and push their limits, and toget to the place where they find themselves. And they are the benchmark for what is to come …

Tribute to Ref. 844: diving back in time

In April, TAG Heuer also introduced a highly collectible limited-edition version of the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 at launch to both complement the core collection and salute the design’s wonderful heritage. It’s called the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Tribute to Ref. 844, and, as the name suggests, it picks up on the story of the fabled Ref. 844 divers’ watch introduced in 1978.

Only 844 examples of the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Tribute to Ref. 844 will be made and launched in September 2021.