Ed Heuer History of the Manufactory

 

The company was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in Saint-Imier . In 1864, Heuer relocated the watchmaking workshop to his birthplace of Brügg , and in 1867 to Biel , where the company headquarters remained for well over a hundred years. The company specialized in the manufacture of chronographs and sports watches. In 1916, it launched the first stopwatch capable of measuring hundredths of a second. From 1927 it was the official timekeeper for ski, bobsleigh and car races.

In its more than 160-year history, the company's engineers have achieved a number of innovations, including:

• First patent for a stopwatch mechanism (1882)
• First hundredth-of-a-second chronograph (1916)
• First chronograph with world tide display and dial for regattas (1950)
• Third automatic chronograph movement (March 3, 1969),
• First quartz chronograph with analog display (1983)
• First mechanical movement with belt drive, linear rotor and ceramic bearings (2004)
• First mechanical wrist chronograph with hundredth-of-a-second accuracy (2005)

Edouard Heuer exhibited his chronographs at the Paris World Exhibition in 1889. The company was run by family members for four generations, most recently by Jack Heuer from 1961 to 1982. He not only led the company as an entrepreneur but also actively participated in the design of new watches such as the Carrera model.

The company's products have been used for timekeeping at the Olympic Games , the American IndyCar racing series, and Formula 1, among others. Well-known chronograph series include Carrera (1964), Monaco (1969), and Formula 1 .

In 1964, Heuer merged with Leonidas Watch and Berna Watch (both managed by Charles Jeanneret ) to form the Heuer-Leonidas Group. Following the merger with the TAG Group ( Techniques d'Avant Garde ) in 1985, the company was renamed TAG Heuer . The company was listed on the stock exchange in the fall of 1996. In 1999, the French luxury goods manufacturer Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA ( LVMH ) acquired the company.

From 1992 to 2003, TAG Heuer supplied the timing equipment for Formula 1. Today, the timing instruments in Formula 1 are used only by Red Bull Racing and McLaren. Since 2004, TAG Heuer has been the official timekeeper for the American IndyCar racing series. To mark this occasion, TH released a limited-edition chronograph with the Indianapolis Speedway logo on the dial. The Indy 500 logo can also be found on the bezel at 1 o'clock, contrasting in red.

TAG Heuer launched, among other things, three limited edition chronographs in honor of theMercedes SLR McLaren .

In 2003, TAG Heuer took over the official timing of the Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Moritz. A chronograph limited to 750 units was built for the occasion.

The company headquarters has been in La Chaux-de-Fonds since 2007.

On December 11, 2024, Sotheby's auctioned actor Steve McQueen 's "TAG Heuer Monaco " in New York . The square chronograph with a blue dial became famous worldwide in the motorsport film Le Mans . The wristwatch was estimated at between 450,000 and 900,000 euros. After a seven-minute bidding war, the watch was finally sold to an online bidder for $1,800,000—before buyer's premium. This made it the highest bid ever for a Heuer at auction, making it the most expensive Heuer wristwatch ever sold.

The company caused a stir with its intensive advertising with prominent athletes for the Kirium watch series.

TAG Heuer ambassadors include Leonardo DiCaprio , Cristiano Ronaldo , Patrick Dempsey , Martin Garrix , Delta Goodrem , Brad Pitt , Uma Thurman , Kurt Busch , Kimi Räikkönen , Fernando Alonso , Lewis Hamilton , Tiger Woods , Yao Ming , Shahrukh Khan , Sébastien Bourdais , andMaria Sharapova . Also posthumously: Ayrton Senna , Steve McQueen , Jo Siffert , and Clay Regazzoni .

In collaboration with Tiger Woods, TAG Heuer developed the Professional Golf Watch. This watch features a titanium case and a highly elastic silicone strap. The movement is designed to withstand the intense movement of golf. It is water-resistant to 50 meters.

Since the beginning of the 2016 season , TAG Heuer has also been the main sponsor of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, financing its engine leasing, among other things. The Renault engine has therefore been officially renamed "TAG Heuer."

Heuer also made significant technical advances in the development and production of mechanical stopwatches. With the advent and spread of quartz technology, and somewhat later, digital watch technology, mechanical stopwatches became obsolete, and Heuer discontinued their production. Mechanical stopwatches for the dashboards of vintage cars are now highly valued. Such well-preserved timekeeping instruments are used by enthusiasts, for example, in classic car shows, and fetch prices of up to several thousand euros on the market.

• Monaco (1969: second automatic chronograph – worn by Steve McQueen in the racing epic Le Mans , among others)
• Carrera
• Autavia
• Aquaracer
• link
• Formula 1
• Connected (Smartwatch)

At Baselworld 2015, Jean-Claude Biver , CEO of TAG Heuer, announced the development partnership with Google and Intel . As part of this partnership, a smartwatch will be sold through the Tag Heuer distribution network for $1,400. The battery life is expected to be 50 hours. The smartwatch was presented to the public in November 2015. ^{[ 7 ]} After the warranty period has expired, TAG Heuer Connected users have the option of exchanging the smartwatch for a mechanical TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 Special Edition 46mm for an additional payment of $1,500. ^{[ 8 ]} Production of the Tag Heuer Connected has since been discontinued and replaced by the Tag Heuer Connected Modular in sizes 41 mm and 45 mm. ^{[ 9 ]}

Autavia is a combination of AUT for Automobile and AVIA for Aviation. Heuer's Autavia series represents the Heuer line with the greatest model diversity. The most famous watch is the so-called Jo-Siffert Autavia (named after the Swiss racing driver Jo Siffert, who was one of the first to wear this watch – probably for Heuer marketing purposes) with a white dial and blue markers. This watch with an automatic movement was introduced in 1969. However, after just a year, the dial of this model changed because Heuer used the word Chronomatic on the dial. However, the term Chrono-Matic was already used by Breitling on their watches. As a result, Jo-Siffert watches with the imprint Chronomatic are very rare. Today, only about 5-6 examples of this model are known. One of them is in the TAG Heuer Museum (not open to the public).

Along with the Jo Siffert, the models from 1984 are particularly popular. This year marked the beginning of the transition from Heuer to TAG and the later TAG Heuer brand. These models were not very popular at the time, partly because the era of LCD and electronic watch movements was also dawning. One of the rarest watches from this period is the Diver 100 Autavia : Here, Heuer adopted design attributes from Rolex (Mercedes hands; dial with round markers, bezel insert à la Rolex) and combined them with the Heuer look in a single watch. The Diver 100 is one of the rarest Heuer Autavia watches ever, with approximately 8 to 12 known examples worldwide.

On the right, you can see a beautiful collection of so-called Viceroy Autavias . These were launched in the US as part of a collaboration between Heuer and the cigarette brand Viceroy. Consumers of Viceroy cigarettes were able to purchase the corresponding watch for just $ 88 through a collection campaign. The rush for this watch was so great that Heuer assembled everything that was still available at the end of the promotion:

The watches therefore differ primarily through the use of different bezel inserts: tachymeters and MH (hour/minute) were used. Instead of the expensive original GF bracelet with HLF end pieces, a so-called economy bracelet was used. This had HLF end pieces but no GF clasp. The bracelet was produced in Japan and, in addition to the clasp, also featured cheaper links. This sales promotion, organized by Jack W. Heuer during difficult times, resulted in the sale of approximately 16,000 of these watches.

Autavia was a sport in Switzerland in the 1920s and 1930s that involved airplanes and automobiles. Whether the TAG Heuer watches have any connection to the sport is uncertain.

This Heuer automatic watch is equipped with both a stopwatch function and a slide rule .

The Carrera Mikrograph is the first mechanically operated chronograph that worked to an accuracy of one hundredth of a second. This record was surpassed by the Mikrotimer Flying 1000, which was announced by TAG Heuer just three months later and could time the watch to the thousandth of a second. Already in January 2012, TAG Heuer surpassed this mark again with the Mikrogirder model, which displayed the time to 1/2,000 of a second.  

• Monaco
• Monza
• Professional 1000/2000/4000/6000 Series
• Season
• Skipper
• pulsar
• Easy Rider
• Daytona
• Silverstone
• Kentucky
• Indy 500
• S/el Series
• Chronosplit Manhattan GMT
• Calculator Series
• Montreal
• Film Master
• Camaro
• Monte Carlo
• Jackie Ickx
• Cortina
• Verona
• (Bundeswehr) Pilot's Chronograph 1550