TAG Heuer: Pioneering Swiss Chronographs

For five generations, TAG Heuer has marshalled its resources and know-how in a concerted effort to master the tiniest fractions of time. This incessant drive has made the Swiss brand the unrivalled leader in high-end chronographs, mechanical complications considered among the most sophisticated and demanding in watchmaking. Examples of TAG Heuer’s prowess in this field are legion, from the 1/100th-of-a-second Mikrograph stopwatch in 1916 to the 2006 Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix winning Calibre 360, the first mechanical wrist chronograph to beat 360,000/hour. Today, this mastery is epitomized by TAG Heuer’s unparalleled line-up of 7 mechanical chronograph movements (Calibre 11 and 12 developed with Dubois-Depraz, Calibre 16 and 17 from ETA, new in-house Calibre 1887 unveiled in December 2009, Calibre 36 developed with Zenith and Calibre 360). To strengthen its longstanding leadership and continued growth in luxury chronographs, TAG Heuer needed further differentiation among the “engines” powering its masterpieces, more variety of performance and construction, and an unlimited access to high-volume movements. This is why, in early 2006, TAG Heuer started working on the design and development of the Calibre 1887, an automatic chronograph movement of superlative reliability and sophistication. Unveiled at the McLaren Technology Centre in December 2009, this powerful 21st century engine is now being launched commercially in an all-new Carrera chronograph of stunning design and performance. The TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Chronograph extends the mythical Carrera collection, which was created in 1964 by Jack Heuer. The brand’s CEO in the 60s and 70s, Jack Heuer is the creative genius behind key TAG Heuer icons like the Monaco, the Silverstone or the Aquaracer (born as the “1000 Series” in 1979). Today he is TAG Heuer’s Honorary Chairman, and as active as ever. A legend in the watch industry, he has overseen the redesign of every new generation of the Carrera family. The TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Chronograph is the 21st century design evolution of the 1964 icon, more than ever celebrating and emphasizing its original minimalism, purity, readability and understated elegance. A “Grand Classique” re-invented for TAG Heuer’s 150th Anniversary, it is faithful to the original in design and spirit, but its radical new “engine”, the Calibre 1887, turns it into a 3rd Millennium chronograph in terms of size, quality, performance and accuracy. The TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 Chronograph epitomizes TAG Heuer’s pre-eminence in mechanical movement and case manufacturing. Its key movement parts (main plate, oscillating weight plate and bridges) and case are manufactured internally in the TAG Heuer Cortech factory in Cornol (Jura), a state-of-the-art, “all-under-one-roof” workshop equipped with avant-garde Swiss machines and robots capable of stamping, milling and finishing with to-the-micron precision. Cortech also houses the first-ever Swiss robot capable of automatically selecting and setting the Calibre 1887 movement’s 39 jewels. This breakthrough in modern engineering allows for the production of a true “Manufacture” movement at a very competitive cost, a perfect embodiment of TAG Heuer’s famous “fair cost/fair price” philosophy.