Targa Florio

My first Tag. Sorry Alan, I know you don't like chronos, but hopefully it is classic enough to hold its own!
Happy Birthday to me!

Nice Pick by you Christopher! Happy Birthday as well! The Tag is an easy read chrono that can be dress or a little laid back!

Northwestguy wrote:

Nice Pick by you Christopher! Happy Birthday as well! The Tag is an easy read chrono that can be dress or a little laid back!

Thanks John!

Holy Shit, Chris. Where did you find the "Florio?" An awesome piece.

porschefan wrote:

Holy Shit, Chris. Where did you find the "Florio?" An awesome piece.

Thanks. My jewler, Tom at Crown Jewlers.

Nice find. Congrats, again.

NOS?

amazing piece chris, you got quite a collection going on up there!

Nice looking watch Chris. I have'nt seen that model before, it has a vintage look to it. Is it new or NOS? Congratulations.

merichar wrote:

Nice looking watch Chris. I have'nt seen that model before, it has a vintage look to it. Is it new or NOS? Congratulations.

Thanks everyone! It is used, but in GREAT shape. Not a scratch on it. The clasp had a scratch, but Tom buffed it out like new!

Came with box and papers too.

First of all..HAPPY BIRTHDAY Chris !!! This is going to be a
Birthday to remember for you !..Looking at this watch, you can't
help but smile. It has a bezel that REALLY rocks ! Along
with a dial that is not only elegant , but also sporty with those
numbers, markers, and sub-dials. The strap is ultra nice too !
It doesn't get better than this !..Congrats, and of course Enjoy
this watch, as well as your day !

wow, another cool watch Chris! I don't think I've seen this one before.

A classic Tag! That one has been on my list....congrats!!

Chris you don't have to apologize to ME dude!

Happy Birthday to you !

Not being a TAG buff, can you give us some history behind the watch, where it got its name?

Since the sub-dials are the same color as the main dial, they do not OVER POWER the watch...

GREAT PICS, the case is VERY retro cool!

Congrats!

Congrats on that beautiful watch...Wear it well and happy B-day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!! Now that's one SUHWEEEEET LOOKIN TAG Brutha! Here some history on that beauty. No sense in you having to hunt it down today bein as it's your birthday and all! Congratz on a classic timepiece!

http://www.calibre11.com/targa-florio/


TAG
Heuer Targa Florio







The TAG Heuer Targa Florio was released in 2001 and marketed as tribute to the famous Italian road race, despite
actually drawing its inspiration from the Heuer Flieger (German for “Pilot”) watches of the 1930s.
The early 2000s were a renaissance period for lovers of the TAG Heuer re-edition series, with TAG releasing a steady stream of watches that drew their looks from the old Heuer catalogue. The Targa Florio was one of three new re-edition watches announced as part of the classics series. The highest profile of these 2001 releases
was the blue TAG Heuer Monaco in the Steve McQueen colours- up until that point, the Monaco that had been available from the late 1990s had only been available in black and silver. Alongside the new blue Monaco
was the Calibre 36 version of the TAG Heuer Monza (the El Primero movement) and the Targa Florio.

The official press release at the time described the Targa Florio as follows:

“In a complete revival of the timepiece worn by the F1 world champion Juan-Manuel Fangio, the new
generation Targa Florio is faithful to its predecessor in its contemporary feel. It’s clean, black dial and seconds and minute counters make for a subtle, yet striking timepiece. The Targa Florio chronograph is available with a brown or black leather strap for a sporty look or an alligator strap for sophisticated chic”


The Targa Florio Road Race


The Targa Florio was an endurance road race that was first held in the mountains of Southern Italy in 1906. Created by wealthy enthusiast Vincenzo Florio, the Targa (meaning “Plate” or”Shield”) was the most prestigious motor race in the world in its early years, pre-dating the F1 World Championship by almost 50 years. The race itself was held over a
course that varied in size, but was usually more than 70 kilometers long and wound its way through the villages of Palermo. Winners of the race included Stirling Moss, Nuvolari and in 1970, the Heuer-sponsored Jo Siffert. Ironically, while TAG Heuer promoted the Targa Florio with the image of Juan Manuel Fangio, he would never win the race, finishing second to his team-mate Moss in 1955.



Eventually the cars out-grew the circuit and safety concerns (led by
Austrian Helmut Marko who today is a prominent member of the Red Bull
Racing F1 team) led to the race losing its Sports Car World Championship
status in 1973 and its cancellation all-together in 1977.

The Inspiration




The inspiration for the design of the TAG Heuer Targa Florio were the Heuer Flieger chronographs of the 1930s, such as the watch pictured on the left which shows the later model featuring two chronograph buttons. There are many similarities between the Flieger and the Targa Florio-the coin-edge bezel, the bold white numerals at each hour (including the chrono sub-dial overlapping the “10″ and the “2″), the over-sized crown and the shape of the two chrono re-set buttons are all a close match. Despite this, there was no connection between the original Heuer
Flieger and motor racing. An interesting side-story to the Flieger watches was the mysterious appearance of the over-sized Heuer Flieger watches beginning around the time that the Targa Florio was released. These fakes first emerged from Eastern Europe and took on several design cues from the TAG Heuer re-edition. You can read more about these fake over-sized watches here at OnTheDash.

Targa Florio Re-edition

The first Targa Florio (Ref. CX2110), pictured at the top of this page, was powered by a Calibre 17 (ETA 2894-2) movement and featured a plexi-glass crystal. Later in the model-life, this plexi-glass was replaced by sapphire crystal, as it would also be on the 1957 Limited edition model. The standard model with the sapphire crystal model has
the reference CX2112.

Limited Edition Targa Florio




Around 2003 TAG Heuer released a limited edition Juan Manuel Fangio Targa Florio that was limited to 1957 watches- the year that Fangio won the last of his five F1 World Championships, this time driving for Maserati. The 1957 watch (Ref. Cx2113) is shown on the left and is mostly the same as the standard CX2110 edition, except for the following:
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>

• Sapphire crystal instead of plexi-glass
  
• Fangio’s signature below the TAG Heuer shield
  
• Number of each watch engraved on the back
  

</blockquote>Argentina Special Targa Florio
</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>

Not to be confused with the limited edition of 1957 watches, TAG Heuer also released a second Juan Manuel Fangio limited edition- this time of just 200 watches that were available only in Argentina (Ref. CX2111). Perhaps confusingly, this Fangio edition did not have his signature on the front of the watch, and so is basically identical to the original
CX2110. It did come with a specially engraved case-back and a special tribute book. The price? USD20,000. I’ve seen two of these sets offered second-hand- one where the seller was seeking USD16,000 (not sure if it ever sold) and the second that did sell for almost USD8000- which still seems like a large premium over the standard model for a nice book and a personal letter from TAG Heuer.






The Targa Florio disappeared from the TAG Heuer catalogue around 2005, and I suspect that it was never a huge seller. However, it was a well-executed niche watch that is distinct from any other watch that TAG Heuer offer then- or now. Both the standard version of the watch and the 1957 limited edition are reasonably easy to find today and some
retailers still have new stock watches. The Targa Florio is a worthy part of the TAG Heuer re-edition series and one hopes that TAG Heuer will continue to produce niche watches like this that pay homage to the designs of some of the lesser known Heuer’s of the past.

Photos:


1) The Old Watch Shop
2) Mercedes Benz
3) OnTheDash
4) TAG Heuer

5)
http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-64760769-excepcional-tag-heuer-targa-florio-edicion-limitada-200-unid-_JM

I seen one of these on the bay and its going for 7k.....

GREAT information DUFF...thanks man!

Some film from the Targa Florio, a bit of what was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wnZq9KBBfc&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ssGQLoC_4&feature=related

BTW, this was such an important road race, Porsche built cars specifically for the Florio. It was the only place they raced. For the Mille Miglia (yep, Chopard has that name on a line of watches) another open road race of 1000 miles around Italy, "regular" cars were used. A truly awesome time in racing history.

And Jack, you may recognize some of the above photos from that $8000 piece going on ebay.

Tag also did a Carrera LE with the "JM Fangio" autograph on the dial, as well.

. . . Now THAT, is a watch!!!!!!

. . . A hearty "way to go" on that one Chris . . . Absolutely top shelf!

Thanks alot for the extra information on the history of this watch, as well
as the race Duff ! I'm just learning about this watch for the first time
actually. It's something how both the watch, and race were so cool, yet
both of them were discontinued. Thanks again for the link !

Outstanding videos, and info as well Tim ! The watch is a classic, and so
was the race of the same name I guess. I liked seeing the behind the wheel
view on the race track ! WOW !!! You really had to fight the wheel
on a track like that. AWESOME ! Cool cars too Tim ! Thanks !

Classic timeless beauty! Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy your TAG for many years. And Duff, thanks for the history on that timepiece.

ingoodtime wrote:

Classic timeless beauty! Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy your TAG for many years. And Duff, thanks for the history on that timepiece.

No problem Lee. It really is a cool piece and the history behind it is SMOKIN!

Very cool TAG Chris! Love the coin edge, the flieger style crown, great watch!!

Thanks guys! I really love this watch. At only 39mm it actually has a much bigger presence on the wrist. I'll work on a lume shot this weekend. It glows very green. It is a little different, I think I have enough divers. I am going to start focusing on watches like these and the Omega museum collection. . . maybe next year. . .

smellody wrote:

Thanks guys! I really love this watch. At only 39mm it actually has a much bigger presence on the wrist. I'll work on a lume shot this weekend. It glows very green. It is a little different, I think I have enough divers. I am going to start focusing on watches like these and the Omega museum collection. . . maybe next year. . .

Well Chris you just send those nasty old divers this way Brutha! You can NEVER have too many divers! LMAO!!!

Tom, a couple reasons for "fighting the wheel."

It wasn't a "track" in that sense... it was a 44 mile lap on regular two and one lane roads, that saw cars and trucks the rest of the year.
And the other reasons; no power steering, and the cars were really quite a fright to drive compared to todays cars.

As a related sidelight to all of this wonderful history Duff dug up, the reason chronographs have a very close attachment to racing (sports cars in particular) is because in the days of yore, and occasionally today, the drivers often timed themselves on course, since two-way radios were not used in the early days. Most drivers today will still be wearing a nice chrono while they're driving.



I knew of this watch, and the more limited series with Fangio's "autograph," which is what caused my initial reaction at the top of this thread. Chris is my new

Very nice Chris - missed this post yesterday and not familiar with this version at all.
Like the clean military readability coupled with the classy coin edge bezel and strap.
No worries on me mimicking you with this one - sadly no Tags here.
Congrats/Enjoy!

Oh yeah (I know, I'm a royal pain-in-the-ass), this photo is Sterling Moss (the mentioned team mate) in a MB 300 SLR at the 1955 Mille Miglia, where Moss and his navigator Dennis Jenkinson, won the 1000 mile race averaging 97.90 mph, on public roads! The number of the car 722, is Moss's start time: 7:22am.

Tim, thanks for the insight into the cars, as well as the Targa Florio
race ! I kind of figured it wasn't your usual track, and that power
steering wasn't being used in the cars. I guess that makes it that much
more impressive what these drivers were capable of. ..Also thanks
for the chronographs and racing connection explanation ! VERY cool !!!

Ha, thanks Tom. But sorry for the extra posts, everyone... this was right in my wheel house; history and sports car racing.
Duff did an awesome research job.