TAG Heuer

Edouard Heuer founded his workshop in Saint-Imier in 1860 at the age of twenty, and the company he built became the definitive maker of things that measure short intervals.

The patents came early and mattered. The oscillating pinion of 1887 remains in use in mechanical chronographs today — an elegantly simple way of engaging the chronograph train that most manufacturers still prefer to the column wheel alternative. The Mikrograph of 1916 measured to a hundredth of a second, decades ahead of anything comparable.

Heuer's association with motorsport ran deeper than sponsorship. It supplied dashboard timers to rally and racing teams for decades, and the wrist chronographs of the 1960s were named accordingly: Carrera, for the Carrera Panamericana; Monaco, for the Grand Prix; Autavia, from automobile and aviation. The Monaco of 1969 — square, water-resistant, and worn by Steve McQueen in Le Mans — housed the Calibre 11, one of the first automatic chronograph movements.

The quartz crisis hit hard. TAG, the Techniques d'Avant Garde group, bought the company in 1985, giving the current name. LVMH acquired it in 1999.

The modern house has pursued high-frequency timing seriously, producing concept movements measuring to a thousandth and a five-thousandth of a second, alongside the volume Carrera, Aquaracer, and Formula 1 lines.

TAG Heuer holds 13 models, from £1,330 to £7,000. Half cost less than £3,250, and a quarter less than £2,870. 11 of 13 are automatic. 10 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 26 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1860

Edouard Heuer founds the company in Saint-Imier.

1887

The oscillating pinion is patented, still used today.

1963

The Carrera launches, named for the Carrera Panamericana.

1969

The square Monaco debuts with an automatic chronograph calibre.

1985

The TAG group acquires Heuer.

1999

LVMH acquires TAG Heuer.