TAG Heuer

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TAG Heuer SA

Type	Member of the LVMH group
Founded	1860 by Edouard Heuer
Headquarters	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Key people	Jean-Christophe Babin, President & CEO Jack W. Heuer, Honorary President
Industry	Watch manufacturing
Products	Wristwatches, timing devices/systems, fashion accessories
Slogan	Swiss Avant-Garde since 1860
Website	TAGHeuer.com

TAG Heuer is a Swiss watchmaker known for its mid - high range sports watches and chronographs. It is a division of leading luxury goods company LVMH.

1 History
2 Watches
3 Trivia
4 External links
5 Notes

[edit] History

Edouard Heuer founded a watchmaking company in 1860.

Some early highlights of the company's early history include the following: In 1869, Edouard Heuer patented the first crown-winding mechanism for pocket watches. In 1889, during the Universal Exhibition in Paris, the Heuer company won a silver medal for its collection of pocket chronographs. In 1911, the company received a patent for the "Time of Trip", the first dashboard chronograph.

Ed. Heuer introduced its first wrist chronograph in 1914. The crown was at the twelve o'clock position, as these first wrist chronographs were adapted from pocket chronographs. In 1916, Heuer introduced the "Micrograph", the first stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second. In 1933, Heuer introduced the "Autavia", a dashboard timer used for Automobiles and Aviation (and thus the name "Autavia"). The companion "Hervue" was a clock that had an 8-day movement (meaning that it could run for eight days without being wound).

In the early 1950s, Heuer produced watches for the American retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch. The "Seafarer" and "Auto-Graph" were unique chronographs produced by Heuer to be sold by Abercrombie & Fitch. The "Seafarers" had special dials -- with blue, green and yellow patterns -- that showed the high-tide and the low-tide. This dial could also be used to track the phases of the moon. Heuer introduced its own version of this chronograph in the late 1960s, known as the "Mareographe". The "Auto-Graph" was produced in 1953 and 1954, and was designed to compute the speed of an automobile over a measured mile.

In 1958, Heuer introduced a new line of timepieces, designed to be mounted on the dashboard of an automobile -- or an airplane or boat. Leading models of these dashboard timers included the Master Time (8-day clock), the Monte Carlo (12-hour stopwatch), the Super Autavia (full chronograph), Sebring (60-minute, split second timer) and Auto-Rallye (60-minute stopwatch). Heuer continued to manufacture this line of timepieces, into the 1980's.

During the period from the 1950s through the 1970s, Heuers were popular watches among automobile racers, both professionals and amateurs. The Autavia chronograph was introduced in 1962 and featured a rotating bezel, marked in either hours, minutes or with a tachymeter scale. The Autavia name had previously been used on Heuer's dashboard timers (described above). The Carrera chronograph, designed by Jack Heuer, was introduced in 1963, and became a design icon, known for its clean lines. Most of Heuer chronographs from this period used movements manufactured by Valjoux, including the legendary Valjoux 72 movement (for a 12-hour chronograph).

Heuer acquired the "Leonidas" brand in the early 1960's, with the combined company marketing watches under the "Heuer-Leonidas" name. One of the designs that Heuer acquired from Leonidas was the "Bundeswehr" chronograph, used by the German air force. These "BWs" feature a "fly-back" mechanism, so that when the chronograph is reset to zero, it immediately begins running again, to time the next segment or event.

In 1969, Heuer was part of a partnership (with Breitling and Hamilton), that introduced the first automatic chronographs. Heuer's first automatic chronographs were the Autavia, Carrera and Monaco. These chronographs were powered by the Cal 11 and Cal 12 movements (12-hour chronograph); Cal 14 movement (12-hour chronograph and additional hand for GMT / second time-zone); and the Cal 15 movement (30-minute chronograph). An unusual feature of these chronographs was that the winding crown was on the left, with the pushers for the chronograph on the right. The earliest of Heuer's Cal 11 chronographs (from 1969) used the Chrono-Matic name; soon after that time, Heuer discontinued its use of that reference.

In the early 1980s, Heuer introduced a series of chronographs powered by the Lemania 5100 movement. These chronographs have the minute hand for the chronograph on the center pinion (rather than on a smaller register), greatly improving legibility. This series of chronographs was considered to be very rugged and durable.

TAG Heuer was formed in 1985 when TAG (Techniques d'Avant Garde), manufacturers of high-tech items such as ceramic turbochargers for Formula 1 cars, acquired Heuer. Together they modernized the product line and became one of the biggest names in Swiss watches.

On September 13, 1999 Tag Heuer accepted a bid from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. of 1.15 billion francs ($739 million) contingent upon a transfer of 50.1% of stocks.^[1]

At the end of 2003, TAG Heuer ended its association with F1 as the official timekeeper, allowing the way the graphics are displayed to undergo a facelift in 2004 where Siemens replaced TAG as the timekeeper. It signalled the end of the large black overlays which were an icon during the late 90s and early 2000s.

Today Tag Heuer is expanding all over the world their biggest expansion being Asia. They are being endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan in India who is one of the biggest Bollywood stars in the country.^[2]

[edit] Watches

One of the world's best known wristwatch producers, TAG Heuer ranks fourth in the luxury timepiece market.^[3] The company's models include the Aquaracer, Link, Carrera, Monaco, Formula 1 and Kirium lines.

TAG Heuer has long had a strong connection with automobile racing, and in fact first became known on a worldwide basis when Steve McQueen wore a Heuer Monaco chronograph in the 1971 film "Le Mans (film)". Tag Heuer employs several brand ambassadors including:

Leisel Jones (new face as of March 13, 2007)
Tiger Woods
Jeff Gordon
Kimi Raikonnen
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Bourdais
Maria Sharapova
Shahrukh Khan
Priyanka Chopra
Uma Thurman
Brad Pitt
Steve McQueen

Today, TAG Heuer employs cutting-edge technology in creating new timepieces, reinforcing the brand's "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860" tagline. Some of the more recently announced models include the Monaco V4 (the movement of which is driven by belts rather than gears); the Carrera 360 (the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100th of a second); and the Monaco 69 (featuring both a digital chronograph accurate to 1/1000th of a second and a traditional mechanical movement, with a hinged mechanism allowing wearers to flip the watch between its two separate dials).^[4]

Pricing on TAG Heuer's 2006 models ranges from $695 to $123,000 USD.

In 2007 TAG Heuer has won the iF product design award for its Monaco Calibre 360 LS Concept Chronograph. The award was given away by the International Forum Design Hannover GMBH, which is held in Hanover, Germany. The watch received the prestigious award in the Leisure/Lifestyle category. It was chosen among more than 2,200 timepieces presented by watchmakers from 35 countries. In the period between March 15 and August 2007, the watch could be admired at iF design exhibition. TAG Heuer received the iF product design award for the second time in the last two years. In 2006 another TAG Heuer watch, entitled Professional Golf Watch, won in the same Leisure/Lifestyle category. The design of the Professional Golf Watch was developed together with Tiger Woods. ^[5]

[edit] Trivia

In 1962, Heuer became the first Swiss watchmaker in space. John Glenn wore a Heuer stopwatch when he piloted the Mercury Atlas 6 spacecraft on the first US manned space flight to orbit the earth.^[6] This stopwatch was the back-up clock for the mission, and was started manually by Glenn 20 seconds into the flight. This stopwatch is currently on display at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

A Heuer stopwatch can be seen and heard in the opening to the news program 60 Minutes. Viewers who requested them from CBS received a free sample of this stopwatch.