« Portrait of the Calibre Manufacture »
Based in La Chaux-de-Fonds and known today as TAG Heuer, this watch manufacture ranks among Switzerland's most internationally renowned watchmakers. Over the course of its history, it has earned great credit for developing high-performance movements and innovative technical solutions that improved the precision of watches and expanded their range of functions. We took a look behind the scenes of the Calibre manufacture.
Quality and Innovation – the Foundation of Successful Expansion
When Edouard Heuer founded his own watch company in Saint-Imier in 1860, he laid the foundation for a success story that has now lasted more than a century and a half, although it has also had to weather some serious trials along the way.
Two factors above all drove the company's rapid market success and dynamic growth: the high quality of Heuer's watches and the numerous innovations with which the manufacturer not only made watchmaking history but also repeatedly managed to outpace its competitors. Timekeeping was a recurring focus. In 1882, Heuer's company secured its first patent for a stopwatch mechanism, and in 1916 it launched the first chronograph accurate to 1/100th of a second.
34 years later, the Heuer brand caused another sensation with the first chronograph featuring a world tide indicator and a regatta dial. The unveiling of the world's third self-winding chronograph movement in March 1969 and the first analog quartz chronograph in 1983 were further important milestones in Heuer's corporate history.
And with the first mechanical movement featuring belt drive, ceramic bearings and a linear oscillating weight in 2004, followed by the first mechanical wrist chronograph accurate to 1/100th of a second in 2005, Heuer's successors proved that they intend to play a leading role in the development of watch technology in the 21st century as well.
The Calibre Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds
Holding a place among the leading innovative makers of quality watches for so many decades requires continuous research and development, constantly optimized production processes – and, of course, a well-coordinated, dedicated team of highly specialized watchmakers and engineers.
From early on, Heuer's manufacture therefore placed great importance on having engineers, designers, mathematicians and watchmakers work under one roof, free to rethink and improve even the most fundamental and seemingly self-evident principles of watchmaking – be it rate regulation, energy transmission or any other essential aspect. The Calibre manufacture still works according to this proven principle today.
Demanding Stress Tests – the Key to High Durability
The more complex and sophisticated a watch's technology, the more important it is to shield it from disruptive influences such as magnetism, shocks, vibrations, water pressure or other mechanical stresses. The choice of materials can contribute to this just as much as the construction of the movements or other technical details. In any case, the watches must undergo demanding stress tests repeatedly, both during the development phase and throughout series production. TAG Heuer has even been granted a patent by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property for its quality tests.
During testing, every watch must withstand 16,000 shocks, a free fall and 100,000 movements simulating intense sports.
On top of that come irradiation, rotations, turns, jolts and pressure. Dive watches in particular, but also other sports watches such as chronographs, must additionally prove themselves at 200 to 500 meters underwater, at 93 percent humidity and under two weeks of exposure to sweat, so that they later live up to their wearers' expectations and suffer no damage in the rain, in the shower, while swimming or while diving. Not only the movements and cases but also the various straps and bracelets made of leather, stainless steel and other materials must undergo corresponding tests.
High-Quality Movements and Cases Take Time Despite State-of-the-Art Technology
Today, Heuer's design offices and workshops use state-of-the-art technology. The computer-aided design (CAD) office, for example, is responsible for the external design of the watches and tests it in various versions. 3D printers are used, for instance, to assess what volume a watch needs in order to match current fashion trends and tastes. Regardless of the technology employed, developing luxury wristwatches still requires considerable effort. Producing a complete product model takes a full week, and developing a complete design prototype requires as much as twelve to 18 months.
In total, around 300 projects per year are carried out in Heuer's laboratories and workshops.
High-tech automation and traditional watchmaking craftsmanship go hand in hand. Aware that the skill and expertise of its watchmakers are a key success factor for a watch manufacture, Heuer even decided to establish its own watchmaking school.
The First Examples of a New Watch: the Prototypes
One particularly fascinating area of work at the Calibre manufacture is prototype construction. This is where movements and cases first see the light of day, and only a few of them will make it into series production. What makes prototypes so fascinating is that each one exists only once. Within watch production, artisans and prototype designers form a unit that is involved in the entire process of creating a watch.
An Example of the Calibre Manufacture's Innovative Strength: the Monaco V4
One example of the innovative strength of TAG Heuer's Calibre manufacture is the Monaco V4, the world's first watch equipped with a belt drive. The Monaco is one of the legendary Heuer models from the great era of motorsport around 1970. It was the first wrist chronograph with a square case, and with its metallic blue dial, striking red hands and left-side crown, it also broke with long-established watchmaking conventions. By the time of the 1971 film "Le Mans," in which Steve McQueen wore a Monaco on his wrist, it had achieved cult status and become an icon.
A little over 30 years later, in 2004, after five years of development, its maker pulled off another spectacular coup by presenting the Monaco V4 at Baselworld. The name V4 refers to the V-shaped mainplate on which four mainspring barrels are mounted on ball bearings. Their arrangement recalls the cylinders of a Formula 1 engine, and instead of a conventional gear train, this model used an innovative belt drive that had never before existed in this form.
