The TAG Heuer Kirium series was launched in 1997 and marked the end of one era and the birth of another. For more than 15 years TAG Heuer’s designs had been rooted in the “Six Features” look- steel sports watches with a rotating bezel and “Mercedes” hands. But the Kirium was the last new series to use this philosophy, with future TAG Heuer’s being more influenced by the success of the Carrera (relaunched in 1996) and Monaco (1997). Yes, the “Six Features” look continues to evolve with today’s Link and Aquaracer, but those watches trace their lineage back to the 1980s, when they were launched as the S/el and 2000 respectively.

The watch was also the first model released by an independent TAG Heuer, with the company having listed on the Swiss and New York Stock Exchanges in September 1996. Techniques d’Avant Garde (“TAG“) would remain part of TAG Heuer in name only.

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So, the Kirium is a bridge in many ways- the “final” evolution of the “Six Features”and for the first time in more than 20 years, a new TAG Heuer series with a name rather than a numeric code or acronym.

Design

Given its importance to the newly independent company, TAG Heuer could not afford to make a mistake with the Kirium, and so appointed renowned designer Jorg Hysek for the new watch. Hysek has designed watches for many brands, including Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Cartier, Ebel, Boucheron, Seiko, HD3 and his own brand, Hysek.

The Kirium was to replace the TAG Heuer 4000 series, the mid-range watch that had been part of the range since 1990. As you can see below, the Kirium (Left) shares the same basic look as the 4000 (right), but with a more modern twist.

The Kirium has a “Liquid Metal” look, with the case, bracelet and bezel all flowing into a single shape, as if they were carved from the same block of steel. The bracelet was a return to simplicity, with its inter-locking links being far less complicated than the 6000-Series bracelet.

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The dial design was very similar to the 4000, with even the “Professional 200m” placement and script looking almost identical. In place of the baton-shaped hour markers of the 4000 were circular lume markers, shaped like drops of liquid metal.

The Kirium was not a large watch, either in diameter or thickness. The largest case was 39mm (Men’s size), with a mid-sized model at 37mm and a Ladies model (28mm). All models came with a newly designed unidirectional bezel and domed Sapphire crystal, which gives the dial a more interesting feel than the flat glass used on other series of the day.

Two finishes were offered on the case and bezel- either brushed or polished steel, with some models using a combination of these finishes, as you can see on the watch below.

While the watch is most commonly seen on its steel bracelet, the watch was also available with a vulcanised rubber strap, or a range of coloured calf-skin straps.

Advertising

Advertising for the Kirium emphasised both the connection to sport and the “liquid metal” design, with the tag line “Shaped by the Spirit of Sport“. To publicise the new range more broadly, there was also a series of fashion shoots by Herb Ritts that featured a range of athletes, including Boris Becker, Marion Jones, Colin Jackson and Marie-Jo Perec.

The Kirium also featured in a series of print ads in TAG Heuer’s “Inner Strength” campaign, again using the likes of Becker.

In the mid- 2000s, TAG Heuer used the tag line “What are you made of?“, with the Kirium being shown with drivers from the McLaren- Mercedes Formula 1 team, such as David Coulthard.

The Kirium Series

While the Kirium range was offered with a variety of movements- mechanical, quartz analogue and quartz digital- the basic Kirium shape never changed throughout its 11-year life.

To keep the look fresh, TAG Heuer made a series of running changes to each Kirium model, which we’ll take you through below.

Kirium Quartz Watch

At the heart of the Kirium range is the 3-hand quartz watch, perhaps the most elegant Kirium thanks to its clear, simple dial and thin case. The first watch models featured the traditional TAG Heuer “Mercedes” hands, and circular hour-markers, except at 6, 9 and 12 o’clock where applied numerals were employed.

The quartz watch is the only Kirium to offer a red and green TAG Heuer logo and so is quickly identifiable- beware, as many fake Kiriums have the coloured logo, even if they are pretending to be a Chronograph.

The design of the hands changed in 2000, with the quartz watch switching to the design used by the quartz Chronograph since launch.

More significant changes appeared in 2001, when the colour logo was dropped in favour of a monochrome look and the dial design was updated. A simpler inner-bezel was added with larger hash-marks to indicate the minutes, while larger applied numerals were added at 12 and 6 o’clock with lume circles at the other hours.

The final design change came in 2003/ 4 when the word “Kirium” appears on the dial, a feature that would continue until the quartz watch was discontinued in 2006.

Kirium Quartz Chronograph

Unlike the 4000 series, the chronograph was available at launch. The quartz chronograph has a bespoke hand design, which would eventually make its way across the entire range.

The 1/ 10th second chronograph has a 3-6-9 o’clock dial layout and offers a clean look- there is no outer-circle to mark out the sub-dials.

The design of the quartz chronograph changed little over its life, although in 2003, the word “Professional” on the dial was replaced with “Kirium”. The quartz chronograph was discontinued in 2005.

Kirium Automatic Chronograph

The automatic Kirium chronograph was launched in 1999, two years after the first Kirium models appeared. TAG Heuer had begun to show at least some interest in mechanical movements by this time, in no small part due to the success of the Monaco and Carrera re-editions.

The mechanical chronograph is easily distinguished from the quartz model with its different dial layout (3-6-9 o’clock layout; date at 6 o’clock) and the tell-tale “Automatic” script above the TAG Heuer logo .

In 2002-3 the word “Automatic” moved to the 6 o’clock position to make room for the addition of “Kirium” to the dial.

The automatic chronograph was discontinued in 2004.

Kirium Automatic Watch

The Kirium Chronometer was part of the launch collection in 1997 and continued through to 2004, when all mechanical Kiriums were discontinued.

The first version of the watch shared a similar design to the quartz watch- circular hour markers with numerals at 12, 6 and 9 o’clock and the then-traditional Mercedes hands. Apart from the obvious “Chronometer” marking on the dial, the mechanical watch also featured an applied monochrome logo rather than the printed colour logo of the quartz watch.

The hands were changed in 2001 when the Chronometer switched to the sword-shaped hands of the Chronograph. A more significant change came in 2002/ 3, with a re-designed dial, as you can see below. The new design uses larger numerals at the 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 o’clock positions, as well as adding the “Kirium” name to the dial.

Kirium Formula 1

The Kirium Formula 1 watch was added to the range in 2002/ 3 and features a combination analogue-digital dial. This allowed the watch to look like a normal 3-hand watch when the chronograph was not being used, with the dial lighting up to reveal a series of other functions.

TAG Heuer offered the same movement in the 2000 Multigraph.

The Kirium Formula 1 soldiered o

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