TAG Heuer has always been known as a pioneer in watchmaking – something it proves regularly with its creations. Such is the case with the brand’s use of lab-grown diamonds in select timepieces. In fact, it wowed the world when it announced the TAG Heuer Carrera Diamant d’ Avant-Garde technology – wherein it grows and utilizes lab-grown diamonds. Now, the brand takes the concept a bold step forward – turning to lab-grown yellow diamonds, as well.
The new 36mm white gold TAG Heuer Carrera Date Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde watch is set with 4.8 carats of lab-grown diamonds including 1.4 carats of yellow Diamant d’Avant-Garde diamonds. Creating colored lab-grown diamonds is no easy feat, but that doesn’t stop this brand.
TAG Heuer pioneered in this field, unveiling a white diamond watch in 2022 and then turning to pink Diamant d’Avant-Garde diamonds in 2023.
The complex process to achieve the color in these stones requires incorporating atoms from other elements, or eliminating atoms (in this case, eliminating carbon atoms).
In a Chemical Vapor Deposition process that TAG Heuer refers to as Plasma technology, the diamond’s growth is controlled and the structure of the gem is uniform. For colored diamonds, this translates to a consistent hue throughout the entire stone.
Hence, the yellow is bright and bold like sunlight.
For the new watch, TAG Heuer uses 12 white gold indexes – each set with a half-carat white baguette-cut lab-grown diamonds. Additionally, a shield-shaped — TAG Heuer’s logo – yellow diamond resides at 12:00 on the dial.
But that isn’t, necessarily, the revolutionary thing here. This watch boasts a crown made of a single yellow lab-grown diamond cut and faceted in the shape of a metal crown.
A work of precision and mastery in gem-cutting, the yellow diamond crown weighs 1.3 carats.
For the dial, taking inspiration from its previous Diamant d’Avant-Garde watches, the dial is made of polycrystalline – a substance achieved by growing diamond crystals together to form one solid dial.
Instead of growing individual diamonds, the tiny seed crystals are put together and grown to form a single shimmering body. That structure is then cut into a dial shape, and further milled to inlay the markers and the shield.
For this watch, the Plasma technology ultimately yields a 2.9-carat polycrystalline dial. The watch is powered by TAG Heuer’s Caliber 7 automatic movement that is visible via a sapphire case back.
It is finished with a white alligator strap.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
