Improving the revolutionary developments of the past, TAG Heuer has remained the leader of the watch market in the field of chronometry for decades, surprising the world with new records of accuracy every year.
Just 9 years after the founding of a small watch workshop in the Swiss Jura region by 29-year-old Edouard Heuer in 1869, the young watchmaker managed to shake the foundations of watchmaking by replacing the watch winding key with the winding crown that is familiar today. At that time of great industrial discoveries and the development of new technologies, humanity took a new look at the very concept of time: now every second acquired special value, which meant the beginning of the era of chronographs. Edward Heuer, who became one of the first manufacturers of pocket chronographs in 1882, patented the oscillating pinion in 1887, the so-called swinging toothed wheel, which is still used today in the manufacture of mechanical chronographs. Since then, almost every stage of the evolution of chronographs has been associated with Heuer innovations.
Continuing the work of their father, who died in 1892, Jules-Edward and Charles-August Heuer dedicated their lives to the further development of chronometry, providing reliable timekeeping devices for the legendary auto and air travelers of the early twentieth century. The twelve-hour Time of Trip chronograph for dashboards was not only extremely popular in aviation clubs, but was also trusted by Hugo Eckener, who flew around America in an airship in 1919 and around the world in 1929. In 1933, the idea of a chronograph equally useful on the ground and in the air found expression in the appearance of a stopwatch built into the dashboard with the telling name Autavia (auto + aviation).
In 1916, the Heuers introduced several stopwatches with an accuracy of 1/50 and 1/100 of a second, while earlier devices were accurate to 1/5 of a second. The introduction of inventions such as the Mikrograpf, Microsplit, Semicrograph and Semicrosplit was a major breakthrough that allowed Heuer to become the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games in the 1920s.
The arrival of racing enthusiast Jack Heuer in the 1950s determined the emergence of the legendary Heuer sports wristwatches – models that continue to improve in style and functionality every year.
The Panamericana Rally Mexico was dedicated to the first Heuer Carrera model – a line of watches that to this day remains a symbol of a unique combination of sporting dynamics and elegance. A little later, in 1969, the Monaco series was born, the first representative of which was the first automatic chronograph in a waterproof case – an advanced predecessor of the future Monaco V4 watch for its time.
The brand’s connection with the world of sports, which began with the first chronographs by Edward Heuer, has not been interrupted to this day, and it was Heuer that became the first company to sponsor a pilot participating in races: back in 1969, the Swiss racer Jo Siffert became the official representative of the brand, in whose honor a chronograph model of the same name was released. Over time, cooperation with the stars of the world of super speeds and ambitions only strengthened. Thus, Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen, who has represented TAG Heuer since 2002, is not only an ambassador of the brand, but also actively participates in the development of the collection of bright sports watches TAG Heuer Formula 1.
TAG Heuer is the number one among industrial manufacturers of 100% Swiss manufacture chronograph movements: after the Caliber 1887, an integrated movement with a column wheel equipped with a rocking pinion based on the design invented in 1887 by Edouard Heuer, the development of movements was continued and in the new manufacture, the fourth TAG Heuer manufacture in Switzerland, the Caliber CH 80 was launched into production.
In addition, the Haute Horlogerie Workshop division produces the Monaco V4 watch with a movement operating on a mini-strap transmission, the Carrera Mikrograph watch, capable of measuring time in 1/100ths seconds, the Carrera Mikrotimer, which operates with an accuracy of 1/1000 of a second, and the Carrera Mikrogirder, which has been brought to an accuracy level of 5/10,000 of a second. The company’s engineers and watchmakers also explore the basic principles of watch movement construction, replacing the conventional escapement with systems using mini-rods or magnets. TAG Heuer’s outstanding level of watchmaking excellence is confirmed by its membership in the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), an exclusive club of the Swiss watch industry.
