Brand Overview
Nearly 150 years old, TAG Heuer is one of the world's most prestigious luxury watchmakers, overshadowed in recognition only to Rolex and possibly Omega. A perpetual innovator in the field of chronograph timekeeping, the brand has been the official timekeeper of Olympic Games and international auto and boat races, as well as being identified with celebrity endorsement by the likes of Steve McQueen, Tiger Woods, and Uma Thurman. Today TAG Heuer is still one of the defining brands in the luxury chronograph market.
Brand History
In 1860, at 20 years of age, Edouard Heuer founded what would become the Heuer corporation, and eventually TAG Heuer, as a watchmaking workshop in St. Imier, a village in the Swiss Jura mountains. In 1869, he patented one of the first crown-winding mechanisms for pocket watches. Throughout the following decades, the company would become one of the world's first watchmakers to mass-produce chronographs. With the Heuer corporation established, the company invented the oscillating pinion for mechanical chronographs in 1886, patenting it a year later. The mechanism is still widely used in mechanical chronographs made by Swiss watchmakers.
Edouard Heuer died in 1892, and the company was taken over by Jules-Edouard Heuer, who ran the company until his death in 1911. In 1895, the company filed a patent for one of the first water-resistant pocket watch cases. By the turn of the century, the brand's craftsmanship was gaining international recognition, and the company received its first US distribution in 1910.
In 1916, the company invented the world's first sports stopwatch, which it referred to as the Micrograph. The watch featured precision to 1/1000 of a second. With the rise in popularity of wristwatches following the first world war, Heuer began to integrate its pocket watch mechanisms into wristwatches. In 1945, General Eisenhower began using a Heuer chronograph with a steel case. This would be the first in a series of high-profile associations between the company and American celebrities.
In 1950, the company launched the world's first chronograph equipped with a tide level indicator. The timepiece was called the Mareograph (Seafarer in the US). In 1955, the company introduced the Twin-Time model, a self-winding wristwatch that featured a second time zone indicator. In 1964, the Carrera model was launched. A year later, an updated edition provided a second hand and the world's first digital date display.
Heuer introduced the Monaco model in 1969, the world's first chronograph with a water-resistant square case. It was greatly popularized by its association with Steve McQueen, who favored the watch and would become the brand's official worldwide ambassador a year later. Also in 1969, the company launched the Chronomatic, the first automatic chronograph movement with a micro-roter. Two watches utilizing this technology were released shortly thereafter: the Autavia and a new edition of the Carerra. In 1975, Heuer launched the Microsplit, the world's first pocket-sized LCD quartz stopwatch, a timepiece accurate to 1/100th of a second.
In 1982, the Brand launched its 2000 Series, which brought together six features that would be influential in contemporary watchmaking: water resistance to 200 meters, a screw-in crown, a unidirectional turning bezel, the use of sapphire crystal, luminous hands, and the double safety clasp. In 1985, Heuer was purchased by Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG), a performance autosports manufacturer, and TAG Heuer was born.
In 2002, TAG Heuer launched Sport Vision, a line of luxury sports eyewear and sunglasses. In 2004, the Monaco was reintroduced as the Monaco V4, with an operation that utilizes belts, linear weight, ceramic ball-races, and four v-mounted barrels. A year later, the brand introduced the Calibre 360, the first mechanical wrist chronograph accurate to 1/100th of a second.
Recent Collections
TAG Heuer is mostly known for its sporty collection of watches. The best known collection is Link. As the watchmaker said, "the Link collection is the perfect balance of sports and prestige". Other collections are the famous Aguaracer, Carrera, Monaco and Formula 1. All these collection names speak for themselves:
- the Aquaracer is a pure sport watch, and in particular a diving watch;
- the Carrera collection was inspired by the famous Porsche car model;
- the Monaco collection is dedicated to the famous Formula 1 track in Monaco;
- and Formula 1 was designed both for the fans of Formula One Racing and for the racers themselves.
See also
External Links
Passion for Precision (TAG Heuer Fan Site)
Category
Owner: "tyson" Last edited on February 15, 2008 2:21 pm by "admin"
