Right On Time

TAG Heuer’s rich legacy of chronograph development returns to the fore with the relaunch of an iconic line

- Jamie Tan

TAG HEUER MARKS THE 160TH ANNIVERSARY of its founding this year, and there is much to celebrate. From its humble beginnings in 1860, the brand has grown into a global powerhouse with a reputation for technical innovation that is worthy of its Techniques d’Avant Garde name. Along the way, it has also borne witness to – and had an outsized impact on – the changing landscape of the luxury Swiss watch industry. To commemorate this milestone, the brand has relaunched an iconic chronograph collection that harks back to its roots as a timekeeping specialist.

Keenly Honed Expertise

Chronographs have long been an integral part of TAG Heuer’s heritage. The brand was already producing large numbers of pocket chronographs in its early years, as sporting competitions proliferated in the 1880s and brought with them a surging demand for accurate timing instruments with which to measure events.

Edouard Heuer, the brand’s founder, made several contributions of his own to the development of the complication. He was most notably granted patents for his invention of the oscillating pinion in 1887. The mechanism alternates between two positions to engage and disengage the chronograph seconds wheel with the gear train’s second wheel, which in turn starts and stops the chronograph. This device remains in use even today thanks to its simplicity and reliability.

Other developments followed. In 1916, the then Heuer unveiled the Mikrograph, which was the world’s first chronograph that can measure elapsed time down to 1/100th of a second. This was succeeded by 2011’s