Right before the new millennium, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) acquired TAG Heuer. They also made larger chronographs to cater to the trend of oversized watches, and also made some daintier models for the ladies. The 1990s became a period of experimentation for TAG Heuer, which saw the revival of some of their models from the 1950s and 1960s. In 1985, Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG), a private holding company from Luxembourg, acquired the brand, and alas TAG Heuer was born. The situation became dire enough that the company was put up for sale. However, like many of the Swiss watchmakers of this period, Heuer struggled to stay afloat during the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s. It further cemented Heuer’s reputation as the de rigeur watch brand for the race track. Things would only get bigger for the brand in the 1970s, when Steve McQueen chose to wear a square Heuer Monaco in his 1971 film, Le Mans. The greatest Formula 1 drivers all wore Heuer chronographs – Jo Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Derek Bell, and Mario Andretti, among others were constantly seen with their Autavia and Carrera chronographs. When the 1960s entered, the Heuer brand was deeply enmeshed into the auto-racing world. Jack Heuer holding one of his iconic designs: the Carrera (photo: Tag Heuer) He became head designer would eventually be responsible for the brand’s most famous creations, including the Carrera and the Monaco. The year 1958 was also very significant for the brand as it was the year that Jack Heuer, Charles-Edouard Heuer’s son, took over the company. In 1958, they introduced a slew of dashboard timepieced which included the Super Autavia chronograph, the Sebring split-second timer, and the Monte Carlo twelve-hour stopwatch. In 1948, they launched the “Auto-Graph”, a wrist chronograph with a hand that could be pre-set to point to a specific position on the tachymeter scale. The company’s split-second pocket chronographs were chosen as the official stopwatches for the following games: Antwerp (1920), Paris (1924), and Amsterdam (1928).Īfter this period, Heuer continued to manufacture instruments for the dashboards of cars, aircrafts, and boats. Through these patented creations, Heuer was named the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games for several years. The “Mikrograph” soon followed in 1916, which became the first stopwatch accurate to 1/100 th of a second. Heuer’s Mikrograph from 1916 and a vintage Heuer pocket watch (photos: Tag Heuer)Īmong these was the first wrist chronograph of the brand, which hit the market in 1914. who exclusively distributed Heuer watches in American, as well as a slew of product novelties they introduced. The company continued to grow in the next decade, driven by their partnership with Henri Freund & Bros. Three years after, the brothers successfully patented one of the first water-resistant cases for pocket watches. Establishing a reputation in sports and motor racingĮdouard Heuer eventually died in 1892, and his sons Jules-Edouard and Charles-Auguste took over. Today, this mechanism is still used by makers of mechanical chronographs. Formed by two differently toothed gears, this pinion is used to engage the chronograph, and to stop and start it using their respective push buttons. The following year, he patented the “oscillating pinion” for stop watches. Heuer was granted his very first patent in 1869 for a crown-operated winding system for pocket watches, one that did not require a key. Heuer spent the next two decades acquiring unique patents for his brand and establishing its reputation for creating highly precise and accurate timepieces. The oscillating pinion was one of Edouard Heuer’s first patents. Back then, it was only named Heuer, only in 1985 would it acquire its present name – but we’ll get to that later. The history of the brand goes way back to 1860, when Edouard Heuer established his eponymous watch manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The watchmaking giant now boasts a wide range of watches for every purpose and occasion – from everyday wear to diving and golf.Įxplore the history and collections of Tag Heuer with SwissWatchExpo’s Ultimate Guide. Luckily, you don’t have to be a world-famous racecar driver to wear one of their pieces. Siffert, Rindt, Senna, and McQueen are just a few of the best drivers in the world to famously wear Tag Heuer watches. This strong association has led many motorsport legends to wear their timepieces. Founded as Heuer in 1860, and later renamed Tag Heuer in 1985, the Swiss brand introduced some of the world’s most famous chronographs – the Autavia, the Carrera, and the Monaco. Among today’s most famous watch brands, Tag Heuer is top of mind when it comes to high levels of accuracy and performance.
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