TAG Heuer spokesperson, actor and environment activist Leonardo DiCaprio wears the Aquaracer 500M Leonardo DiCaprio Limited Edition he designed as part of his environmental partnership with TAG Heuer.

Looking at the electric blue dial crisscrossed with meridian lines representing the earth, reminds me of images of our small blue planet floating in the infinity of space.  The watch, TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer 500M Leonardo DiCaprio Limited Edition, was designed by DiCaprio to raise money in support of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Green Cross International, two of the most influential and effective environmental organizations in the world.  In addition to the royalties generated by the watch, DiCaprio has personally donated a million dollars to the organizations.

“Each and every day, both the NRDC and Green Cross International are doing important work to protect our planet’s resources for future generations,” said actor and environmental activist DiCaprio.  “Both TAG Heuer and myself hope that this initiative will help expand their reach and raise their profile.”

Since 2002, TAG Heuer has instituted a number of measures to reduce its carbon footprint, including general recycling in its factories and offices and the development of eco-friendly buildings for manufacturing and back office functions.

With DiCaprio’s help, TAG Heuer is undertaking even more eco-friendly measures, including:

• Development of company-wide sustainability policies

• A new closed circuit laser engraving system that saves 900 liters (approximately 238 gallons) of water an hour

• Using recycled heat from the “Machines d’usinage des platines” to heat the manufacturing buildings in the winter.

• Vegetal roofs on the manufacturing buildings with water filtering properties.

• Recycling the Monaco V4 drive belt scraps to produce new belts

• In the first five months of 2009, the TAG Heuer watch case factory reduced its water consumption by 70 percent, its fuel consumption by 11 percent and cut its steel scraps to two-thirds compared to 2008.  At the same time, the company reduced its ratio of Electricity/Gross Income by 21 percent, while improving productivity.

Already renown for the durability of its products, TAG Heuer is encouraging consumers to preserve their watches and pass them on to the next generation by using TAG Heuer’s worldwide network of customer service centers.

Other ways TAG Heuer is making its partnership with DiCaprio globally felt is with the implementation of a paperless office in the Caribbean/Latin America, limited use of air conditioning in Malaysia and CLA, and a virtual internet catalog to reduce prints and paper.

So, while the dial of the TAG Heuer’s Aquaracer 500M Leonardo DiCaprio Limited Edition may be electric blue, the future is very, very green for this Swiss watch maker.